University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Frank Bolden 1963 - Football, Track and Field
A four-year letterwinner in football and also a second-team All-Yankee Conference track and field athlete, Frank Bolden, a 2000 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, has used his success in athletics at the University of Vermont well. A Vice President for Headquarter Services at Johnson & Johnson, Bolden also was Chairman of the Board of Trustees for three tyears of the University of Vermont in February.
Known for his consistently aggressive and effective play on defense and ability to catch the tough pass or make the key block on offense, Bolden received numerous honors and awards in football while at UVM. As a junior, he led the team in pass receptions with 11 catches for 125 yards. As a linebacker on defense, Bolden called the plays from the field. After the season, he was named All-State as well as to the Associated Press All-New England (small colleges) and All-Yankee Conference Teams as an honorable mention. Bolden was also picked by many teams as a member of the all-opponent team, and was named honorable mention All-American by one organization.
Bolden served in the US Army from 1963 to 1969 as an Airborne Ranger Infantry Officer with tours in Germany, the United States South Vietnam. He graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1972. While there, he was a Martin Luther King Jr. Fellow and a Charles Evans Hughes Fellow. He was also vice-president of the Black American Law Students Association, and a defensive line coach for the freshman football team. Bolden received his MBA from Columbia in 1972. He practiced law with the Wall Street firm of Cahill Gordon and later joined the Corporate Law Department at Johnson & Johnson. He became Secretary of Johnson & Johnson in 1984 and was promoted to Vice-President in 1986.
Bolden has provided many hours of community service in the areas of education, health care and the arts. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for UVM and Union County Community College in New Jersey. He also has served on the Board of Trustees for Moorestown College and on advisory committees for the Florida A&M and UVM schools of business.
In health care, Bolden served as Chairman of the Board of Overlook Hospital. In the arts, Bolden is a former Chair of Crossroads Theatre, Vice President of the New Jersey State Opera and a former trustee of the State Theater in New Brunswick, N.J.
Bolden has also served on many state and county communities and task forces in New Jersey. In addition, he has received numerous awards for outstanding community service, including awards from the NAACP and the National Conference of Christians and Jews for outstanding service. He was selected as an Outstanding Young Man of America in 1979.
