A three-year starter for the Kean lacrosse team, Robert Blakely earned All-Knickerbocker Conference honors each season.

An outstanding defenseman, Blakely led the Squires to the Knickerbocker Conference Championship in 1974 and 1975. The 1974 team went 9-4 en route to their first-ever postseason appearance in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship. As a senior the following year, Blakely captained a squad that went 7-5.

Blakely was the first player from both Kean and from the Knickerbocker Conference to be selected to compete in the North-South Game, a lacrosse all-star game comprised of 45 of the best seniors in the United States. He continued his lacrosse career following graduation by competing on club teams in North and Central New Jersey.

Blakely earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Kean in 1976.