Dr. Guohua Yan the Vice President of the Federation of University Sports of China toured the United States Sports Academy with the leaders of 12 Chinese universities. They met on campus with Academy President Thomas P. Rosandich and University of South Alabama President Gordon Moulton, exploring America’s approach to managing university athletics.

The leader of the Federation of University Sports of China (China’s NCAA) has been traveling in the U.S. with the presidents of Beijing Foreign Study University, Guangdong University of Technology, Harbin Normal University, Harbin Physical Education Institute, Jilin University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Wuhan University of Technology, and others.

The Academy hosted an educational seminar and reception for the delegation with a special showing of its art exhibit “The Road to the Beijing Olympics 2008 Through Art.”

Earlier, the delegation stopped in Washington, D.C., where the Academy arranged a meeting with University of Maryland President Dan Mote and Athletic Director Debbie Yow. The Academy has arranged for the Chinese delegation to visit the University of Southern California and Tiger Woods Learning Center.

“The Road to the Beijing Olympics 2008 Through Art” combines sport-themed works by the Chinese master calligrapher Gu Gan (who is the Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year 2008 in Graphics) and Olympics-inspired pictographs by American environmental artist Wyland (a U.S. Olympic Committee official artist for the Beijing Games) with a striking series in which the terra-cotta army (bing mah yong) from the tomb of China’s first emperor are painted as modern Olympians, the work of Australian Charles Billich, Sport Artist of the Year 2000.

In its 35-year history the Academy, known around the world as America’s Sports University, has delivered academic programs in more than 60 countries.

In the past few years, Tony Dungy has received numerous honors, written a best-selling book and coached the Colts to a Super Bowl victory. On Saturday, he was honored yet again.

Dungy, the Colts’ head coach the past six seasons, received the United States Sports Academy’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award on Saturday shortly before the beginning of the 2008 NFL Draft. Academy President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich presented Dungy the award during a press conference at the club’s training facility.

"Your team accomplishments always come first," Dungy said. "Obviously, winning championships and being there with your group is special, but when you get an award like this where they talk about the learning part of it, the teaching aspect, the off-field things - that’s what makes this special. It’s quite an honor and something that kind of takes you back, when you get one like this.”

The award is presented to an individual who has experienced outstanding achievement as a coach while exhibiting a “high standard of propriety, imagination and innovation as a character-builder in the tradition of great teacher-coaches.”

“I don’t think there has been a better choice than Tony Dungy,” Rosandich said. “The awards committee looks to this award as what sports should be and what sport is all about. The example of this man - all the good things that he does, and the way he represents sport – is really what the award is all about.”

The award has been presented annually since 1985 as part of the Academy’s Awards of Sport Medallion Series, which pays “Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” Past recipients include Tommy Lasorda, Phil Jackson, Joe Paterno and John Wooden.

“It’s quite an honor and a privilege, to be named by the United States Sports Academy,” Dungy said. “When you talk about John Wooden, I think that says it all in terms of coaching, winning with class and integrity, and making sports a learning experience. That’s something I’ve strived to do and I’m humbly honored by this award.”

Dungy received the Academy’s Order of the Eagle Exemplar medal and Academy Rosette. The medallion was designed by the Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year 1990, Blair Buswell. The rosette is modeled after the Legion of Honour, instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. A rosette is a symbol of recognition and affiliation.

Dungy, 52, has directed the Colts to a 73-23 regular-season record, six playoff appearances, five AFC South titles, two AFC Championship game appearances and a Super Bowl victory.

The Colts’ 29-17 victory over Chicago in Super Bowl XLI made Dungy the first African-American head coach to win the Super Bowl. Time Magazine listed Dungy on its top-100 Heroes and Pioneers joining leaders such as Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey. Dungy, in 12 seasons as a head coach, has taken 10 teams to the postseason.

United States Sports Academy National Faculty member Dr. Pete Mathiesen will travel to Abu Dhabi on 11-15 May 2008 to teach a course in Sports Business & Personnel Management prior to traveling to Dubai on 18-22 May to teach a course in Sports Marketing.

Both courses are being taught in conjunction with the Unlimited Sport Academy and the General Authority of Youth & Sports Welfare for the United Arab Emirates.

The course in Dubai is the third in a six-part series, while the course in Abu Dhabi is the fourth in a six-part series to be hosted by the Unlimited Sports Academy for the Academy’s International Certification in Sports Management (ICSM) program.

For the past 35 years, the Academy has taught sport programs in over 60 countries and to more than a quarter of a million people. The Academy has delivered over 100 sports education programs with ministries of youth and sport, Olympic committees, international sport federations, national governing bodies, and universities both in the U.S. and around the world.

International sports are nothing new to Dr. Mathiesen, who used to coach the Geelong Cats of the National Basketball League in Australia. In the United States, Mathiesen has coached basketball at California State University in Chico, where he currently serves as a professor of physical education, as well as the College of the Redwoods, South Fork High School and Canden High School. He is among the top 30 head coaches in NCAA Division II in career wins. Dr. Mathiesen has written more than 20 published articles on basketball and has organized and directed three summer camps for more than 17 years.

Steve Creech (l) from the Wyland Foundation, Academy Trustee Jack Scharr (second from left), Academy Sport Artist of the Year 2008 – Sculpture Xikun Yuan (second from right) and He Zhenliang (right), who is the honorary chairman of China’s Olympic Committee and an executive member of the Beijing Organizing Committee for Olympic Games (BOCOG).

Two of the world’s great artists, one from China and one from the U.S., brought together children of those two nations to create a symbol of unity for the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. American environmental artist Wyland and Chinese artist Professor Xikun Yuan each worked with more than 1,000 children from their respective countries to create giant postcards wishing athletes good luck at the upcoming Games.

Wyland and Xikun teamed up for the project through efforts of the United States Sports Academy. Earlier this year, Wyland was honored by the Academy as its Environmental Sport Artist, while Xikun received the Sport Artist of the Year Award in the sculpture category.

The two postcards measure more than 32 feet tall and were unveiled 19 April during a ceremonial exchange supported by SeaWorld Adventure Parks of the United States, Chinese National Geography, the Wyland Foundation, and the China Youth Center. The artworks debuted at the Beijing International Sculpture Park in Shijingshan District in west Beijing. They will be displayed publicly in China and the United States over the months leading up to the Olympic Games.

“Teaching children on both sides of the ocean to become good stewards of our environment is one of the most important lessons we can provide; doing that through art is a powerful first step,” said Wyland, who is an official artist for the U.S. Olympic team. The exchange of the works was intended to highlight the beauty and importance of the oceans, as well as children’s future role as their protectors.

The postcard by Wyland and children from the United States embodies the international Olympic motto, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” showing three bottlenose dolphins racing through open seas. Wyland and the U.S. children created their ocean-themed artwork in January at SeaWorld Adventure Park in Orlando, Florida. The giant postcard created by Xikun and the Chinese children features a polar bear, symbolizing the need to protect world oceans.

Attending the unveiling ceremony was He Zhenliang, who is the honorary chairman of China’s Olympic Committee and an executive member of the Beijing Organizing Committee for Olympic Games (BOCOG). Chairman He also heads the International Olympic Committee’s Commission for Culture and Olympic Education, on which Academy President Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich serves.

Xikun is a renowned painter and sculptor who founded the Jintai Art Museum, located in Beijing’s Chaoyang Park. Wyland’s marine life murals are seen by more than one billion people around the world each year. The Wyland Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit committed to protecting our planet’s oceans, lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands through public art, classroom education and community events. For information, visit www.wylandfoundation.org.

Wyland created “Mobile Bay,” an 8 x 20–foot canvas on the Academy’s campus in October, with help from schoolchildren from Spanish Fort, Daphne, Fairhope, Robertsdale, Gulf Shores, Foley, Mobile and Satsuma. While visiting the Academy, Wyland also painted a 30-foot-tall mural of three dolphins on the main building of the Academy.

United States Sports Academy National Faculty member Dr. Rick LaRue will travel to Bangkok, Thailand on 26-30 May 2008 to teach a course in Sports Facilities and Event Management, in conjunction with the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT). The course is the third in a six-part series to be hosted by the SAT for the Academy’s International Certification in Sports Management (or ICSM) program.

In its 35-year history, the Academy has delivered sports programs in more than 60 countries around the world. It has a long-standing relationship with the SAT, sending instructors to Thailand to teach certification courses in the sports management and sports coaching programs. The SAT is Thailand’s primary sport organization and plays a vital role in developing sport.

Dr. LaRue received his undergraduate degree in Physical Education and Health at the University of Northern Iowa. He then served as a YMCA Director four years before accepting an adjunct teaching position. Dr. LaRue earned both his master’s and doctorate degrees from Springfield College and has taught continuously for 23 years at four different colleges. He is currently a tenured Professor and Chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Performance at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. Dr. LaRue is the President-Elect for the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation (AAPAR), which is a division within the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD).

Appalachian State Head Football Coach Jerry Moore (l) and Academy Sport Artist of the Year Daniel Moore (r)

Academy Sport Artist of the Year 2005 Daniel Moore presented Appalachian State Head Football Coach Jerry Moore with the 2007 College Football Game of the Year award at a booster club meeting in Atlanta on 22 April. Appalachian State earned the award for their dramatic win over the University of Michigan on 1 September.

Appalachian State received a General Scholarship Award of $5,000, a shadow box encasing a medallion and proclamation and Artist Proof #1 of foremost college football artist Daniel A. Moore documenting Appalachian State’s dramatic upset win.

The College Football Game of the Year Award is part of the Academy’s Awards of Sport, which pay “Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” For this award, the Academy created a special voting committee consisting of leading college coaches and administrators.

Believed to be the biggest upset in football history, Appalachian State became the first Division I-AA team to defeat a ranked Division I school. Julian Rauch kicked a 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining as Appalachian State took a 34-32 lead over fifth- ranked Michigan. However, Michigan stormed down the field to set up a game winning field goal with 6 seconds remaining that was blocked by Corey Lynch, who ran the kick back to the Michigan 5 yard line as time ran out.

Following the historic win, Appalachian became the first current football member of the Southern Conference and the first college football team from the state of North Carolina to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated in the last 35 years.

"Appalachian State did the unthinkable by defeating Michigan in the season opener. It really set the tone for one of the most exciting and unpredictable college football seasons in history,” said Moore.

The Academy has commissioned Moore, the Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year 2005, to capture this great moment in a painting. Over the years, collegiate football players and coaches have achieved many spectacular moments on the gridiron. Since 1979, Moore has ensured that such awe-inspiring events are preserved for posterity through his super-realistic oil paintings.

Moore became nationally renowned for his work with the University of Alabama. “The Sack” is a key piece in the Paul “Bear” Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa. Moore’s painting entitled the “Gamebreaker” graces the walls of the American Sport Art Museum and Archives, housed on the campus of the Academy.

The voting committee for the College Game of the Year reads like a Who’s Who in college football. It includes the Executive Director of the National Association of Collegiate Director’s of Athletics Mike Cleary, Boston College Director of Athletics Gene DeFlippo, Temple University Football Coach and current Alabama State Director of Athletics Ron Dickerson, University of Georgia football coaching and administrative great Vince Dooley, Legendary Broadcaster Keith Jackson, Marshall University Football Coach and U.S. Naval Academy Director of Athletics Jack Lengyel, University of Washington Director of Athletics Mike Lude, Sport Artist Daniel Moore, Georgia Tech Director of Athletics Homer Rice, Alabama Coach Gene Stallings, Missouri Director of Athletics and All American football player at Michigan State Dick Tamburo and longtime Oklahoma State Director of Athletics Dr. Richard Young, who played defensive back at Ohio State under Woody Hayes.

In 2006, Rutgers won the College Football Game of the Year for their dramatic win over Louisville, which Moore commemorated in his painting entitled "Resurgence."

About the Artist: Moore has been documenting great moments in sports on canvas since 1979, when he released his first limited edition fine art print entitled "The Goal Line Stand." The painting commemorated Alabama’s great defensive stand against Penn State in the Sugar Bowl to clinch the 1979 National Championship. These prints quickly became collectors’ items and have appreciated to well over 5000% in value, currently selling for upwards of $2,500 each on the secondary market.

Moore has been commissioned to create paintings by the SEC, NFL, MLB, NBA, USGA, PGA, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Citrus Bowl, the Liberty Bowl and numerous universities. In addition, his talent has been sought out by the US Postal Service, which commissioned him to create the paintings for the 1997 "Legendary Football Coaches" commemorative stamp series. These handsome stamps feature coaches Vince Lombardi, "Bear" Bryant, George Halas and "Pop" Warner.

Academy Trustee Jack Scharr presented Chinese calligrapher Gu Gan with the United States Sports Academy’s Sports Artist of the Year 2008 in the graphics category during a ceremony in Bejing.

Gu Gan has created a series of 33 sport calligraphy paintings including a piece depicting the five Olympic rings that was created to commemorate the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing, China.

Gu Gan was born in 1942 in the Hunan Province of China, and he attended art school in Beijing. During the Cultural Revolution, he served in the printing industry for 10 years. He considers himself to be an “indigenous modernist.” The chairman of the Modern Calligraphy and Painting Society in China, Gu Gan was one of the forerunners of the Modernist movement in calligraphy.

His abstract renderings embody a blending of traditional form and modern style. His diverse influences, from Chinese to German masters, create a global, harmonious unity throughout the body of his work. His works have been shown worldwide in locations such as the British Museum and the Museum for Eastern Art in Cologne.

Gu Gan studied painting and calligraphy with Ye Qianye, Huang Miaozi and Zhang Zhengyu. In addition, he has given lectures at the University of Bonn and the Fine Art Institute in Hamburg.

In respect to the traditions of China, as the host the 2008 Olympic Games, the Academy is expanding its traditional Sport Artist of the Year award to include a painter, a calligrapher and a sculptor. Chinese Sculptor Xikun Yuan was named the Sports Artist of the Year – Sculptor.

The Academy, home to the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA), houses what is believed to be the largest collection of fine sport art in the world. It is dedicated to the collection, display and preservation of sports history, art and literature. Since its inception, ASAMA has recognized the importance of the cultural connectivity of athletic competition and artistic expression.

The Sport Artist of the Year award has been presented by ASAMA for a quarter of a century as part of the Academy’s Awards of Sport program, honoring the artist and the athlete. Past recipients include Ernie Barnes, Charles Billich, Hans Erni, LeRoy Neiman and Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki. To learn more, visit www.asama.org/awards/sportartists.

This is embodied by the Sport Artist of the Year, which is presented annually to an individual who captures the spirit and life of sport so that future generations can relive the drama of today’s competition. Recipients have used a variety of art media including oil and canvas, photography, illustrations, sculpture and assemblage to depict the breadth and scope of both the agony and ecstasy in sport.

The United States Sports Academy recently signed a protocol for cooperation with Manipal University in India. Academy Vice President Dr. T. J. Rosandich traveled to India to meet with senior officials from Manipal University, including the president, Dr. Ramdas Pai.

The United States Sports Academy recently signed a protocol for cooperation with Manipal University in India. Academy Vice President Dr. T. J. Rosandich traveled to India to meet with senior officials from Manipal University, including the president, Dr. Ramdas Pai.

The protocol lays the groundwork for future students at Manipal University to take sports courses delivered online by the Academy and apply them toward Manipal University’s M.B.A. degree with emphasis in sports management or its master’s of physical therapy degree with emphasis in sports medicine.

The protocol also paves the way for the development of an articulation agreement between the Academy and university, under which Manipal University students will be able to transfer into an Academy graduate program in sports management or sports medicine or into the Academy’s bachelor’s degree program (once all general education credits have been earned).

In its 35-year history, the Academy has delivered sports programs in more than 60 countries. The Academy features the largest sports education program in the world, and courses can be taken at any time and from any place.

Manipal University is a public institution established in 1993. There are 32,000 students at the main campus in Manipal, Karnataka, India. The university (www.manipal.edu) collaborates with universities in the U.S., Australia, Germany, and Nepal to prepare graduates in areas of engineering, medicine, biomedicine, and communication.

Over the years students from India have earned their degrees at the Academy. One such student is Academy graduate Dr. Anant Joshi, a sports medicine consultant and orthopedic surgeon in India, who was recently appointed to the International Cricket Council (ICC) medical committee. The ICC is the international governing body for cricket.

Dr. Joshi received his master’s degree in sports medicine from the Academy in 1984 and has headed the medical committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India for nearly 20 years. Dr. Joshi also earned a master of surgery degree from the University of Mumbai in 1982.

Baldwin County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Faron Hollinger (left) and Academy President and CEO Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich sign a protocol.

Baldwin County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Faron Hollinger and United States Sports Academy President and CEO Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich have signed a protocol to jointly develop international-relations and cultural-exchange programs in the schools.

With Baldwin County Public Schools set to deliver the International Baccalaureate Program beginning in August, the school system is also pursuing other world-class opportunities that cultivate an interest in all countries, cultures and customs.

The Academy and Baldwin schools will immediately begin work on a program to teach an Olympic values program, the universal values championed by the Olympic Movement, in local schools. Olympic values are designed to promote cultural exchange and understanding among nations participating in Olympic sports. An online course on the Olympic values has been designed by the Academy, in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee, and will be piloted by Baldwin Schools at no cost.

The course is a resource guide for teachers, equipping them with information needed to create lesson plans covering the Olympic values. Course materials introduce teachers and students to the Olympic values of respect for self and others, fair play, excellence, and joy in effort, as well as balance of body, mind and will. These values are universal and thus can be taught globally and in a variety of contexts, not just sports-related contexts.

The new protocol will also see the school system and the Academy developing cultural exchange programs surrounding the arts. The American Sport Art Museum and Archives, located on the campus of the United States Sports Academy, is dedicated to preserving sports history, art and literature.

In October, the Academy hosted world-renowned environmental artist Wyland on campus. Helped by hundreds of schoolchildren from Mobile and Baldwin counties, Wyland created a 10 x 20-foot mural celebrating Mobile Bay. In April 2008, Wyland will present a three story tall mural to the children of China that was created by school children at Sea World in Orlando. Children in China will in-turn create a mural that will be presented in the U.S.

The current featured exhibit at the American Sport Art Museum and Archives is “The Road to the Beijing Olympiad 2008 Through Art,” featuring calligraphy by the Chinese master Gu Gan, Olympic pictograms by Wyland and the Bing Ma Yong series by Charles Billich.

Over the past 35 years, the Academy has delivered its education programs in more than 60 countries to more than a quarter million people. It is through this international experience that the Academy and BCPS have agreed to share resources.

In 2005, the United Nations, through its Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, presented Rosandich and the Academy with the first annual Harmony Award for his long record of advocating cross-cultural good will through sport.

Academy Trustee Jack Scharr (left) presents Xikun Yuan with the Academy’s Sports Artist of the Year award.

Chinese sculptor Xikun Yuan was named the United States Sports Academy’s Sports Artist of the Year 2008 in the sculpture category. Academy Trustee Jack Scharr presented Xikun with the award during a ceremony at the Jin Tai Museum in Beijing on 17 April.

"I am extremely honored to receive this award from the prestigious United States Sports Academy," said Xikun. "This honor will motivate me to continue creating sculptures that unite cultures through sports."

Known as a portrait diplomat, Xikun has depicted more than 200 heads of international organizations, including face-to-face renderings of political and social celebrities such as former United Nation Secretary General Kofi Annan, former United States President Bill Clinton, Cuban President Fidel Castro, former South African President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and International Olympic Committee Honorary Life President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Following the announcement that China would host the 2008 Olympics, Xikun launched a project titled the 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture Designs Contest. The contest in his words would, "Make the Olympics more vivid and popularized in China." "Mr. Yuan Xikun’s important contributions have combined art and the Olympics," said Samaranch. "It is significant for sports to promote the development of culture."

Born into a well-known family of traditional Chinese painters, Xikun built the Jin Tai Art Museum as a venue of frequent gathering for political visitors to China. It is a platform for bringing together Western and Chinese cultures. The museum features unique five-pyramidal roofs that symbolize metal, wood, water, fire and earth. "Painting infuses sculpture with new blood and sculpture is a succession of painting," believes Xikun. His sculptures resonate with classicism, romanticism and realism.

In respect to the traditions of China, as the host the 2008 Olympic Games, the Academy is expanding its traditional Sport Artist of the Year award to include graphics and sculpture.

So that children in China would understand the contributions of people from other cultures, Xikun designed bronzes of some of the world’s greatest scientific and cultural minds including Albert Einstein, Aristotle, Darwin, Louis Pasteur, Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln, Johann Mendel and Sigmund Freud.

The Academy, home to the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA), houses what is believed to be the largest collection of fine sport art in the world. It is dedicated to the collection, display and preservation of sports history, art and literature. Since its inception, ASAMA has recognized the importance of the cultural connectivity of athletic competition and artistic expression.

The Sport Artist of the Year award has been presented by ASAMA for a quarter of a century as part of the Academy’s Awards of Sport program, honoring the artist and the athlete. Past recipients include Ernie Barnes, Charles Billich, Hans Erni, LeRoy Neiman and Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki. To learn more, visit http://www.asama.org/awards/sportartists.

This is embodied by the Sport Artist of the Year, which is presented annually to an individual who captures the spirit and life of sport so that future generations can relive the drama of today’s competition. Recipients have used a variety of art media including oil and canvas, photography, illustrations, sculpture and assemblage to depict the breadth and scope of both the agony and ecstasy in sport.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), in conjunction with the United States Sport Academy, announced that Legacy 12, a music group composed of 8- to 12-year-old students at Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Fla., has won the inaugural USOC Sport and Singing Contest.

The dozen young singers in Legacy 12 performed “I Stand Amazed,” a song reflecting the spirit of Olympism. Their performance can be viewed at http://67.207.133.181/video_1.

The song was written by Gerry Williams, Cheryl Sims and Pamela Reynolds, who teach at Lake Highland Preparatory School. Williams has worked with performers such as Celine Dion, Justin Timberlake, Carlos Santana, TLC and the Backstreet Boys.

The singing contest was the national phase of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sport and Singing Contest, a cultural component of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad being held in Beijing in August. U.S. artists of all ages were invited to submit original songs with a theme related to the Olympic Games.

Legacy 12 advances to the international competition, conducted by the IOC. Winners of that phase will be invited to perform their winning songs at the Beijing Olympics.

No strangers to the stage, Legacy 12 has performed three times at the White House along with performances at Walter Reed Medical Center. The group also traveled to Hawaii to sing in the Pearl Harbor Naval Winterfest and performed at the National VFW Convention in Reno, Nev.

The Legacy 12 singers are John Dwyer, Erica Forbes, Julian James, Michaela Kayaleh, Jameson Malugen, Alejandro Nodarse, James Overmeyer, Jeanne Plakon, Mercedes Sapp, Christina Schreiber, Parker White and Martha Yergey.

As a part of the celebrations planned for the 2008 Olympic Games, the IOC and its Commission for Culture and Olympic Education encourage all National Olympic Committees to heighten awareness of the link between sport and art through participation in contests such as IOC’s Sport and Singing Contest and Sport and Art Contest.

A strong proponent of culture and education, the Academy partnered with the United States Olympic Committee in 2008 to conduct the national qualifying round of the IOC Sport and Art Contest and IOC Sport and Singing Contest. Both contests are administered by the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education, a committee on which Academy President Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich serves.

San Diego artist Kadir Nelson won in the graphics category of the national competition, while Pacific Grove, Calif., native Edward Eyth won in the sculpture category. Both artists will be judged against international competition on 15 May in Switzerland. The winning works will be displayed at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Academy CEO and President, Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich

The United States Sports Academy announced that President and CEO Thomas P. Rosandich, Ph.D., will receive the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in a ceremony 10 May 2008 on the famous island in New York Harbor.

The medal is presented by NECO (formerly the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations), a nonprofit founded in 1984 to showcase Americans’ diversity as the source of their nation’s greatness and to cultivate leadership.

Since 1986 the annual medals have honored U.S. citizens of various ethnic backgrounds, in homage to the immigrant experience. Each medalist owns a remarkable résumé of personal and professional achievement benefiting others, and has furthermore acted to preserve the richness of his or her family heritage.

Rosandich was the child of Croatian immigrants, Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin’s, only such household. In college at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, he majored in history and physical education and starred in track and football. Rosandich was inducted into the university’s Athletic Wall of Fame in 1983, and he received the Maurice O. Graff Distinguished Alumnus Award from UW-La Crosse in May 1989. UW-La Crosse awards a scholarship in each of their five colleges. A scholarship given annually to the outstanding graduating senior in the university’s College of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Dance and Teacher Education is named for Rosandich.

Following graduation, he reentered the Marine Corps as an infantry officer. During his tour, Rosandich also fulfilled such assignments as All-Marine Track and Field coach and All-Service coach for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. During this time, the majority of the U.S. Olympic track and field team came from the U.S. Armed Forces. He also founded the Marine Corps Relays. Later, Rosandich joined the U.S. State Department’s “Ambassadors of Sport” program, through which he would coach athletes in some 50 nations the first of which was the Kingdom of Laos. Rosandich was directly responsible for bringing the Peace Corps (which he turned into the Sport Corps) to Indonesia in the early 1960s. During this same era, he founded what is now called the South East Asia (SEA) Games.

During his tour with the State Department, Rosandich would participate in ten different Olympic Games from the 1956 Melbourne Games through the 1996 Atlanta Games as a coach or consultant. In 1996, Rosandich was the President of U.S. Team Handball for the Atlanta Games. The only Games Rosandich missed was the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. For his major contributions to track and field, he was inducted into the Helms Hall of Fame in 1972.

In 1972, Rosandich founded the Academy, which today is known around the world as America’s Sport University. Originally housed on the campus of the University of South Alabama, the Academy moved to its permanent campus in Daphne, Alabama, in 1986. For nearly four decades, the Academy has made significant contributions to the world in the area of sport higher education. The Academy has grown to become the largest graduate school of sport in the world.

In establishing its position as the world’s largest sports university, the Academy has worked with over 60 nations to develop fitness and sport education programs. In the last century, four heads of state from foreign countries have visited the Mobile Bay area, and each was a special guest of the Academy. The Academy secured its first major international contract in 1976, with the Kingdom of Bahrain. Later, that nation would present Rosandich with the Order of Bahrain, its supreme honor. It is one of some 40 decorations Rosandich has received worldwide.

In 1984, Rosandich founded the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA), located on the campus of the Academy. ASAMA is dedicated to the preservation of sport history, art and literature and features the largest collection of sport art in the world.

Rosandich also founded the Academy’s Awards of Sport, which pays “Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” Originally emceed by the great Howard Cosell, the Awards of Sport series honor those that have made significant contributions to sport. The Academy also hosts an international online vote for Athlete of the Year presented by USA Today and MSNBC.com.

For his service to the Olympic Movement, the International Olympic Committee in 1997 bestowed upon Rosandich its highest distinction, the Olympic Order, which honors commitment to the Olympic ideal through action, such as achievement in sporting competition or exceptional work for the Olympic cause. He also holds the United States Olympic Committee President’s Medal, that body’s highest honor. Additionally, in 2005 the United Nations, through its Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, presented Rosandich and the Academy with the first annual Harmony Award for his long record of advocating cross-cultural good will through sport.

NECO’s Ellis Island past medal recipients include six presidents (among them Ronald Reagan, in tribute to whom the Academy presents an annual award of excellence in sport media) as well as Nobel laureates and business leaders. Among sport greats preceding Rosandich as Ellis Island medalists are Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Lou Holtz, Tommy Lasorda and Arnold Palmer.

Academy Trustee Jack Scharr speaks at the launch of The Sport Supplement in China.

The United States Sports Academy announced that on 16 April, Worldteam a sports management company in Beijing, China, hosted an official ceremony launching the Chinese-language version of the Academy publication The Sport Supplement.

The Sport Supplement is published quarterly online by the Academy. The journal is designed to further knowledge about issues of sport, fitness and health for professionals in these fields. To read the spring issue, visit http://sportsupplement.org.

In 2007, Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich, Academy President and CEO, met with Worldteam President Jack Guo in Beijing to integrate the international resources of the Academy and Worldteam to advance sport education, academic research and sport services in China.

Guo, a co-chairman for Red Bull energy drink, developed Worldteam from a three-on-three street basketball league into a major international sports marketing group. Surpassing the old Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), Worldteam has become China’s largest organized amateur basketball league, with 150,000 players competing on 10,000 teams that play more than 100,000 games in 188 cities each year. From its basketball beginnings, Worldteam has expanded its capabilities to deliver goods and services to over 800,000 members throughout China.

International Olympic Committee President Dr. Jacques Rogge

International Olympic Committee President Dr. Jacques Rogge has reappointed United States Sports Academy President Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich to the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education.

Dr. Rosandich was originally appointed to the IOC Commission in 1999. He is the only American on the 32-member commission, which is one of the IOC’s largest commissions.

In ancient times, sport and culture were closely linked. Cultural events were held in conjunction with sporting events. The modern Olympic Games revived this principle to create an opportunity for exchange between cultures. The IOC acknowledges its particular responsibility to promote culture and Olympic education and regards culture as the second dimension of Olympism.

The Commission for Culture and Olympic Education was created in 2000 by the merger of an existing IOC Cultural Commission and IOC Commission for the International Olympic Academy and Olympic Education. The new body advises IOC’s executive board on measures the IOC and the Olympic Movement should employ to promote cultural exchange and Olympic education. Members of the Commission for Culture and Olympic Education support the IOC’s work in these areas.

The Commission for Culture and Olympic Education is chaired by Zhenliang He, of China, and is composed of IOC members and representatives of numerous national Olympic committees, international federations and the Paralympic Movement. Other members are athletes and individual experts.

In 2008, the Academy and the United States Olympic Committee conducted the national qualifying round of the IOC Sport and Art Contest and IOC Sport and Singing Contest. Both contests are administered by the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education.

San Diego artist Kadir Nelson won in the graphics category of the national competition, while Pacific Grove, Calif., native Edward Eyth won in the sculpture category. Both artists will be judged against international competition on 15 May in Switzerland. The winning works will be displayed at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Legacy 12, a group of 8- to 12-year-old schoolchildren from Lake Highland Prep School in Orlando, Fla., won the U.S. phase of the singing competition with its song “I Stand Amazed.” Like Nelson and Eyth, Legacy 12 moves on to face international competition, with the winning contestant receiving an invitation to perform at the Beijing Games.

Academy President and CEO Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich

The International Olympic Committee has invited Academy President and CEO Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich to serve as an official judge in the IOC Sport and Art Contest on 15 May in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Rosandich, a member of the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education, will serve on the panel deciding winners of worldwide competition in a graphic category and sculpture category. Winners in each category will receive a cash prize of $10,000–$30,000. Winning works will be displayed at the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

The Commission for Culture and Olympic Education was created in 2000 through the merger of an existing IOC Cultural Commission and IOC Commission for the International Olympic Academy and Olympic Education. The new body advises IOC’s executive board on measures the IOC and the Olympic Movement should employ to promote cultural exchange and Olympic education. Members of the Commission for Culture and Olympic Education support the IOC’s work in these areas.

In ancient times, sport and culture were closely linked. Cultural events were held in conjunction with sporting events. The modern Olympic Games revived this principle to create an opportunity for exchange between cultures. The IOC acknowledges its particular responsibility to promote culture and Olympic education and regards culture as the second dimension of Olympism.

The Commission for Culture and Olympic Education is chaired by Zhenliang He, of China, and is composed of IOC members and representatives of numerous national Olympic committees, international federations and the Paralympic Movement. Other members are athletes and individual experts.

North Carolina State Women’s Basketball Coach Kay Yow, who has bravely battled cancer since 1987 while crafting one of the most successful coaching legacies in basketball, received the Mildred “Babe” Zaharias Didrikson Courage Award from the United States Sports Academy.

Academy Board of Visitor member and President of the U.S. Sport Alliance Joe Szlavik presented Coach Yow with the award during the Wolfpack team banquet on 13 April at the McKimmon Center on the NC State Campus in Raleigh, N.C.

There is no right place to begin when talking about Coach Yow. Her accomplishments extend beyond the basketball world, but it is within that world that she has become so accomplished.

Completing her 37th year in the college coaching ranks in 2007-08, Yow has achieved what most coach’s only dream of. She is one of the most admired and respected coaches on the national and international scenes. Coach Yow is one of only six Division I head women’s basketball coaches to achieve 700 career victories.

Yow missed 16 games during the 2007 season to receive treatment for cancer that was first diagnosed in 1987. Upon her return to the team in 2007, she led the Wolfpack on an inspirational run to the ACC Championship game and to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.

In 1975, Yow was hired by Willis Casey to be the head coach of the women’s basketball program at NC State. She was installed as the head coach of both the softball and volleyball teams and was the coordinator of women’s sports - all while developing women’s basketball in its infancy. As a female leader amidst a mostly male coaching staff, Yow took her first squad to the WNIT and completed the season with a 19-7 record. Since that first year, Yow has coached some of the nation’s most well known players of all-time, including WNBA All-Stars, Andrea Stinson, Chasity Melvin, NC State’s all-time leading scorer, Genia Beasley and current assistant coach, Trena Trice-Hill.

Yow is part of an elite group of eight Olympic coaches chosen to lead USA Basketball in the pursuit of an Olympic gold medal in women’s basketball. As an assistant coach, Yow was on the gold medal winning 1984 coaching staff in Los Angeles. In addition, she was an assistant on three more gold medal-winning teams, including the 1979 World University Games, the 1983 Pan American Games and the 1984 R. Williams Jones Cup. Yow also was part of the 1983 World Championship club that earned a silver medal.

Yow was the head coach of the gold medal-winning Olympic team in Seoul, Korea in 1988. She also headed up gold medal winners at the 1981 World University Games, the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1986 World Championship Games.

She has the distinction of being the first coach to win two Olympic gold medals since the first women’s basketball Olympic year in 1976.

The Mildred “Babe” Zaharias Didrikson Courage Award is named in honor of the former Olympic track and field gold medalist and champion golf pro that won five tournaments, including the U.S. Open, after being diagnosed with cancer during the prime of her career.

Yow received the Academy’s Order of the Eagle Exemplar medal and Academy Rosette. The Academy’s Order of the Eagle Exemplar medallion was designed by the Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year 1990, Blair Buswell. She also received the Academy Rosette, modeled after the Legion of Honour, which was instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. A rosette is a symbol of recognition and affiliation.

The award has been presented annually since 1986 as part of the Academy’s Award of Sport Medallion Series, which pays “Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” Past recipients have included Rocky Bleier, Jim Abbott, Lance Armstrong, Roy Campanella and Scott Hamilton. For a complete list of honorees, please visit www.asama.org.

Faulkner State Community College (FSCC) and the Academy signed an agreement this week that paves the way for the Baldwin County, Ala., schools to develop two academic programs.

The agreement expands the Academy’s Associate’s-to-Bachelor’s program to FSCC, and it initiates development at the Academy of a bachelor’s-level academic emphasis in golf that will complement FSCC’s program in golf course/turf management.

The agreement on the Associate’s-to-Bachelor’s program will provide students the opportunity to complete an associate’s degree at FSCC and then enroll at the Academy with their course work transferred toward a bachelor’s degree.

The bachelor’s with an emphasis in golf is intended to train and educate future golf professionals and coaches of high school or college golf teams. The flexible program can also prepare students to run all aspects of a golf course, including instruction, marketing, merchandising, accounting, and pro shop and course management. The one-of-a-kind baccalaureate degree with an emphasis in golf will become part of the Academy’s current sports coaching and sports management majors.

The Academy’s degree programs are available entirely online, so students can complete degrees from home or on the FSCC campus. Under the agreement, application fees and transcript-evaluation fees are waived for students transferring from FSCC. The Academy has over 35 similar Associate’s-to-Bachelor’s articulation agreements with junior and community colleges around the country.

The Academy’s upper-division bachelor’s degree completion program features majors in sports coaching, sports management and sports studies. The degree completion program consists of the final 60 of 120 required semester hours, and the Academy accepts between 49 and 90 semester hours of transfer credits.

The Academy, known worldwide as America’s Sports University, features the largest sport education program in the world, and courses can be taken at any time and from any place. For more information, please visit www.ussa.edu. To register, contact admissions@ussa.edu or call (800) 223-2668.

Faulkner State Community College, a public two-year institution located in Baldwin County in southwest Alabama, has three campuses, located in Bay Minette, Gulf Shores, and Fairhope. FSCC was one of the original 13 two-year colleges created by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1963. Faulkner State is a member of the Alabama College System, which now comprises 31 public two-year colleges.

Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the Academy features one of the largest alumni networks in the sports profession. Over the years thousands of students have graduated from the Academy. Many have moved into the upper echelons of sport, where their influence is felt every day. In the ultimate compliment to an institution, research shows that alumni are the Academy’s top source of new student referrals.

Academy alumni include Iowa State University Head Basketball Coach Greg McDermott, Texas Tech Head Football Coach Mike Leach, San Antonio Spurs Assistant General Manager Dennis Lindsey, Western Michigan Head Basketball Coach Steve Hawkins, ESPN Senior Director of Business Administration Linda Moore, University of Kentucky Assistant Basketball Coach Jeremy Cox, Texas Christian Head Women’s Basketball Coach Jeff Mittie, Brandon Buckley of the Oakland Athletics, University of Texas Associate Athletic Director Lynn Wheeler and Nashville Predators Director of Hockey Operations Michael Santos.

United States Sports Academy National Faculty member Les Dutko will travel to Bangkok, Thailand, on 21–25 April to teach a course in sports medicine, in conjunction with the Sports Authority of Thailand. The course is the third in a six-part series being hosted by the SAT for the Academy’s International Certification in Sports Coaching (or ICSC) program.

In its 35-year history, the Academy has delivered sports programs in more than 60 countries around the world. It has a long-standing relationship with the SAT, sending instructors to Thailand to teach certification courses in the sports management and sports coaching programs. The SAT is Thailand’s primary sport organization and plays a vital role in developing sport.

Dr. Dutko is a nationally certified athletic trainer (ATC) and a state-licensed athletic trainer (LAT) and co-founded a sports medicine clinic on the campus of a hospital. Currently, he is a corporate/occupational ATC/LAT. He has worked with athletes from all sports and with physically active individuals of all ages and skill levels to prevent, evaluate, treat, and rehabilitate injuries of all types. He has taught health and physical education for 25 years at the high school level.

Dr. Dutko earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He obtained a master’s degree in physical education as well as an athletic training degree from West Virginia University, and he graduated from the Academy’s doctoral program.

Dr. Dutko’s certifications were issued by the National Athletic Trainers Association Board of Certification and by the Board of Medicine of the state of Virginia.

United States Sports Academy Vice President Dr. T. J. Rosandich (right) and Ali Hassan Al Shenasi (left) of the Unlimited Sports Academy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, sign an agreement expanding the scope of the U.S. Sports Academy’s educational presence in the UAE. Al Shenasi is the chairman representative of the Dubai organization.

Under their newly signed agreement, the Academy and its partner in Dubai will develop a sport and physical education program for various organizations in the UAE. The two will also work with the UAE’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research toward approval of Academy degree programs in the UAE. Upon approval, the Unlimited Sports Academy will recruit students for the Academy’s online bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs.

In January, a first Academy instructor from the U.S. traveled to Dubai to teach in the International Certification in Sports Management (ICSM) program. The ICSM program has since expanded to a second emirate, Abu Dhabi.

Over the past 35 years, the United States Sports Academy has taught sport programs in over 60 countries and to more than a quarter of a million people. The Academy has delivered over 100 sports education programs with ministries of youth and sport, Olympic committees, international sport federations, national governing bodies, and universities in the United States and around the world.

The Unlimited Sports Academy is an educational component of the Unlimited Technology Training Center (UTTC) and the Dubai Knowledge Village. In 2004, the UTTC was established at the Dubai Knowledge Village, with a vision to provide unique training services through a “three-way training approach.” The UTTC offers high quality education and training services in a wide variety of fields, such as information technology, sports and media.

Auburn swimmer Cesar Cielo has been named the United States Sports Academy’s Alabama Athlete of the Month for March. Last month, former Auburn swimmer Kristy Coventry won the honor for breaking one of the oldest world records in swimming.

Cielo, a junior from Santa Barbara, Brazil, set three NCAA and U.S. Open records while winning four national titles (to total an Auburn-record 10 for his career) at the NCAA swimming championships. He broke his own record (18.69 seconds) in the first leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay (18.47) and also in the 50-yard freestyle sprint (18.52).

Cielo became the first man ever to swim the 100-yard freestyle in less than 41 seconds (40.92). Cielo, a two-time NCAA Swimmer of the Year, has earned seven All-America honors. He swam on two championship relay teams, the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley.

University of South Alabama senior guard Demetric Bennett finished second behind Cielo. Bennett was named First Team All-Sun Belt Conference for the second straight year and is ranked among the conference leaders in nine statistical categories, including scoring (19.9), rebounding (6.0) and steals (1.3). A two-time Player of the Week honoree by the league, Bennett was named Rivals.com National Player of the Week following a career-high 39-point effort against Mississippi.

The Academy’s Alabama Athlete of the Month is selected by a voting committee comprising former Alabama athletes, members of the statewide media and representatives of Alabama sport organizations. Each winner is automatically added to the Alabama Athlete of the Year ballot at the end of the calendar year.

The Alabama Athlete of the Year Award is given to an athlete beyond the high school level who was either born in the state or who participates currently or has participated previously in sports at any level within the state of Alabama.