Keith L. Lee currently serves as  the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS), located on the campus of the University of Central Florida. Previous to his current appointment, he served as the Western Regional Director of the NCAS, while on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno. Keith is the former Associate Director Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society.  Keith joined the Center in 1986, as the School Outreach Coordinator.   He was instrumental in the development of the NCAS; a nation wide network of over 300 colleges and universities that implements educational and support programs for student-athletes.  Keith has been with NCAS since its inception in 1985.  The has experienced major growth and development over the last 25 years.  The NCAS features 8 major personal and professional development programs for athletes, coaches and administrators.  With 7 regional offices and a national staff, Keith and his team have assisted more than 27,000 student-athletes return to school to complete their degrees. Over the past 25 years, over 14,000 student-athletes have graduated through the NCAS Degree Completion Program.  Student-athletes represented the NCAS members have worked with more than 15 million children in various community service programs.  He is highly requested to host workshops on diversity education, leadership and athletic disengagement and transition.

His First Steps

Keith was born in San Antonio, TX but spent most of his developmental years in Los Angeles, California. Though his first love was baseball, he eventually made football the center of his attention.  He attended   Gardena High School where he excelled and gather numerous awards including being voted All-City as 1st Team quarterback.  His collegiate football career began in 1976 at Santa Monica Community College where he established numerous records as a quarterback and became a junior college All-American.   As a student-athlete at Colorado State University from 1978-80, he quarterbacked the CSU football team and received All-WAC honors.  As a senior, Keith was elected student-body vice-president, thereby becoming the first black student to hold a student government position at CSU.

Learning to Walk

As a young athlete with diverse skills, Keith was often asked to switch his position from QB to wide receiver or defensive back.  He felt his skills were as good or better than his competitors.  After his senior year in 1979, Keith thought his football career was over and was preparing to start his coaching career.  But 1980, he had to make a major decision. Should he go to the Canadian Football League and play QB or pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. He decided to stay in the US when was he drafted in the 5^th round as a defensive back by the Buffalo Bills. Keith left the Bills in 1981 and spent the majority of has football career with the New England Patriots and ended his career with the Indianapolis Colts. Keith's professional football career spanned six years, ending in 1986. For more of the story,  http://www.onyxmagazine.com/aspx/keith_lee.aspx

Teaching Others to Run

Even though Keith retired from the football relative healthy, his drive to play the game left him.  Yet his love of the game itself did not leave him.  Coaching is in his blood.  He has coached on every level of competition, including Minor League Professional Football.  Both during and after his football career, Keith developed or assisted with youth football camps all over he US. In 1988, Keith helped coach a small high school in Massachusetts to its first championship in 37 years.  In 1989, as defensive coordinator for the Baystate Titans of the Minor Football League, Keith's defense became the number defense in the league.  In addition to having the number one defense, Keith coached Eric Swan, at the time was the only first round NFL draft pick to have never play college football.  He spent one season under Keith's defense and made his way to the NFL.  Lately, he has coached his daughter's softball team and his proud of her matriculation to intercollegiate softball.  Keith is the founder of Athletic Career Enrichment (ACE).  ACE is a personal sports skills training for athletes on all levels.

Along the Way

He has been featured nationally in such publications as USA Today, New York Times and Indianapolis Star.  Keith has made numerous appearances on television shows including Nightline, ESPN “Outside the Lines”, and ABC Nightly News  addressing issues such as drug and alcohol abuse in sport, diversity in sport, and disengagement from sport. Keith is working on the production of his first book noting his experiences in the world of sport, to be titled, “And another thing…..”.