Thomas P. Rosandich, PhD

Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich, founder and president of the United States Sports Academy, has been a major figure in sport around the world for over 40 years as a coach and an educator.

        A native of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse in 1954, where he starred in football and in track.  He earned a degree in physical education and history.  Dr. Rosandich was inducted into UW-LaCrosse's Athletic Wall of Fame in 1983, and received the Maurice O. Graff Distinguished Alumnus Award from the school in May of 1989.

        Following graduation, Dr. Rosandich entered the United States Marine Corps, in which he served for 10 years.  He was founder and director of the first Marine Corps Schools Relays in Quantico, Virginia, and he was named the All-Marine Track and Field Coach, the All-Marine Cross Country Coach, and the All-Military Service Coach in 1956.  He was appointed to the Olympic Track and Field Committee for the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia in 1956.

        As a result of his work in coaching with the Marine Corps, Dr. Rosandich was named by the U.S. State Department to participate in a specialist program, "U.S. Ambassadors of Sport."  For the next 20 years, between 1956 and 1976, Dr. Rosandich coached in 50 countries, preparing the teams in nations from Indonesia to Iran for international competition.

        He was a national track coach for Malaya, Laos, Singapore, Borneo, and Indonesia in Olympiads from the 1956 Games in Melbourne to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.  He was a consultant for the Panamanian Olympic Team in 1968, attended the 1972 Munich Olympics as a consultant for the Philippines, and was a Bahrain representative at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.  In 1995 Dr. Rosandich was Team Leader of the U.S. Team Handball teams at the Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

        During the early sixties, Dr. Rosandich was an early proponent of the Peace Corps in Southeast Asia and was extensively involved in developing policy for that organization because of his extensive experience in that area of the world.  He was directly responsible for bringing the Peace Corps to Indonesia, which became the Sport Corps.  During the same era, Dr. Rosandich was also responsible for the founding of what is now called the South East Asia (SEA) Games.

        Dr. Rosandich is also the founder of Olympia Sport Village (1966) for training Olympic athletes, and he founded the Paavo Nurmi Marathon in 1971, the Golden Midwest in 1968, the All-American Prep Championships in 1970, and the International Prep Meet in 1971.  He was inducted into the Helms Hall of Fame in 1972 for his significant contributions to track and field.

        Dr. Rosandich served as athletic director of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (1967-72) and the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (1972-76).  At Milwaukee, Dr. Rosandich founded the United States Sports Academy in 1972.  He has served as its Chief Executive Officer since 1976.

        In 1976, Dr. Rosandich stepped down as UWM athletic director and relocated the Academy to Alabama, first to Mobile and then in 1986 to Daphne.  Under the leadership of Dr. Rosandich, the Academy, America's only freestanding, graduate school of sport, has grown to become the largest graduate program in sport education, not only in the United States but also throughout the world.  Students graduate in the sport disciplines of coaching, medicine, management and recreation management, at the Master of Sport Science level.  In September 1990, the Academy began its doctoral program in Sport Management.  For Dr. Rosandich, it has been the culmination of a lifetime of achievement in sport.

                January 1995 saw Dr. Rosandich elected as president of the U.S. Team Handball Federation, and concurrently appointed as their representative on the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC).   He presently serves on the USOC's Education Committee, the Athlete Identification and Development Committee, and the International Relations Committee.

        In 1997, Dr. Rosandich received the highest award of the International Olympic Committee, The Olympic Order.  The Olympic Order is "bestowed upon persons who have illustrated the Olympic ideal through his action, has achieved remarkable merit in the sporting world, or has rendered outstanding services to the Olympic cause."

        Dr. Rosandich was elected to the Executive Committee of the International World Youth Games Committee in 1998, and continues to assist that organization with their mission.

        In 1999, Dr. Rosandich was appointed as President for North America, F.I.S.p.T. (Federation International Sports for All).  In addition, he was appointed to the International Olympic Committee's Commission for Culture and Olympic Education. 

        Dr. Rosandich has received more than three dozen decorations for his work in sport, including the Order of Bahrain (that country's highest honor) in 1998, and the Pestalozzi Fellow Award from the European University in Montreaux, Switzerland in 1999.  Most recently, Dr. Rosandich was bestowed the highest honor given by the United States Olympic Committee when he was awarded the President's Medal during the USOC's Annual Board meeting in Boston in April, 2000.