The passing of United States Sports Academy Founding President Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich

The United States Sports Academy is mourning the loss of its beloved

Founding President, Trustee, and longtime global sport education leader Dr. Thomas P.

Rosandich, who passed away from natural causes on Saturday, 29 August 2020 at age 88.

A native of Sheboygan Falls, Wisc., Rosandich served as the Academy’s president and chief

executive officer for 43 years until 2015, when his son, Dr. T.J. Rosandich, was named president

and CEO. Rosandich’s enduring legacy is that the Academy continues to thrive and serve the

profession as an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission Sports University created to

serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research, and service.

Rosandich was a member of Christ the King Catholic Church in Daphne, Ala. A mass in

celebration of his life will be held at Christ the King Catholic Church at 4 p.m. on Thursday, 3

September, 2020 followed by a reception on the campus of the United States Sports Academy.

Interment at Fairhope Memorial Gardens will follow at a later date.

Rosandich founded the Academy in 1972 in response to a poor performance by the United States

Olympic team in the 1972 Munich Games. Research suggested that American athletes were

lacking quality coaching and training, which Rosandich believed could best be remedied through

education.

Rosandich relocated the Academy to Alabama in 1976 as the only free-standing and accredited

sports university in the United States. Over the past 45 years, the Academy has conferred

thousands of sport-specific degrees to its students and has enriched the lives of countless more

through its education and outreach programs that have been delivered in some 67 countries

around the world. The Academy now offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs

as well as a wide array of non-degree sport education programs.

The Academy campus, located in Daphne, Ala., which has won architectural awards for its

beauty, also houses the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA). Founded in 1984

by Rosandich, ASAMA embodies the enduring connection between sports and art. Through

tireless effort, Rosandich built the collection into a world-recognized museum housing more than

1,700 pieces in all mediums. It is thought to be the largest museum of the sport genre in the

world and is open free-of-charge as a public service to the community.

Rosandich brought to the Academy a storied career in sport. He starred in football and track and

field at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he graduated with a degree in physical

education and history in 1954. His alma mater has recognized his contributions by his induction

into the UW-La Crosse Athletic Wall of Fame in 1983, naming him the Maurice O. Graff

Distinguished Alumnus in 1989, and honoring him annually by presenting the Rosandich Thesis

Award, which recognizes the student with the best master’s degree thesis of the year. Rosandich

went on to earn a master’s degree in sport administration from the National School of Sport at

the University of Indonesia and a Ph.D. in research at Union Graduate School in Ohio.

Following graduation from UW-La Crosse, Rosandich began a 20-year career of service in the

United States Marine Corps Reserve, where he coached numerous world record and Olympic

track and field athletes. He was the founder and director of the inaugural Marine Corps Schools

Relays in Quantico, Va., and was named the All-Marine Track and Field Coach, All-Marine

Cross Country Coach and All-Service Coach in 1956 in which capacity he coached the military

track and field athletes in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.

Between 1956 and 1976, Rosandich coached in some 50 countries preparing national teams for

international games as part of the U.S. State Department’s "U.S. Ambassadors of Sport"

program. In this role, Rosandich was charged with using sport to elevate America’s relationship

with nations around the world.

Before founding the Academy, he also served as director of athletics at the University of

Wisconsin system at Parkside and Milwaukee. His substantial contributions to track and field

earned him induction in the Helms Track and Field Hall of Fame. He has also been active in

professional organizations such as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics

(NACDA).

Though fully engaged in building the Academy into America’s premier school of sports,

Rosandich still found the time to contribute to the profession in many ways, including serving as

a supporter, leader and advocate for the global advancement of sport, earning numerous national

and international honors. For his work in the Olympic Movement, Rosandich was awarded the

highest International Olympic Committee honor, The Olympic Order, in 1997.

Rosandich’s impact in Southwest Alabama has transcended sport and education and has included

initiatives such as the creation of "Operation Bounce-back", the first cardiac rehabilitation

program in Mobile. Through the Academy’s outreach programs, the institution is the only

enterprise in the area that has brought six foreign heads of State to the Port City.

Rosandich also created the Academy’s Awards of Sport program, which each year serves as "A

Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete." The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those

who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the

athlete in several different arenas of sport.

The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission

sports university created to serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research and

service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of

sports.

The Academy is based in Daphne, Ala. For more information, call (251) 626-3303 or visit

www.ussa.edu.

United States Sports Academy Founding President Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich.

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