Phil Raschker honored by tiny Alabama sports university
USATF’s News & Notes yesterday trumpeted another honor for Phil Raschker. She won a Distinguished Service Award from the United States Sports Academy, which calls itself “an independent, non-profit, SACS accredited sports university” and adds: “The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.” (Mainly coaching, I gather.) The school, based in Daphne, Alabama, is pretty small. In 2007, it had only 522 students (just 97 undergrads). So this wasn’t exactly a Sullivan Award. Another DSA recently went to an Italian sports media mogul. (In fact, the academy hands out more awards than Phil has medals.) Ironically, I can’t find any athletics at the Sports Academy. No track team, in other words. Hey, there’s an idea! Recruit Phil (who is more famous than the academy) and make her a one-woman track powerhouse! Now that would be an honor!
The school puffs itself up, but an award is an award. Congrats, Phil!
The school could use all the positive publicity it can get.
In May, the school’s vice president (and son of the USSA president) was busted for drunken driving:
United States Sports Academy vice president charged with DUI
By Marc Anderson
July 13, 2009, 2:56PMThomas J. Rosandich, vice president of United States Sports Academy in Daphne, is set to face prosecution in September after being charged with driving under the influence this spring.
Rosandich, son of the Daphne-based school’s founder, Thomas P. Rosandich, was stopped by an Alabama state trooper on May 16 after he allegedly failed to halt at a stop sign on Baldwin County 32, according to court documents. Rosandich refused to take a breath-alcohol test, according to the documents.
Rosandich spent one night in jail before being released on $1,000 cash bail. The case is set to be heard Sept. 28 before Baldwin County District Court Judge Jody Bishop. Efforts to contact Rosandich were unsuccessful.J. Clark Stankoski, a Fairhope lawyer representing Rosandich in the case, said he and his client are “looking forward to our day in court.”
Rosandich is in charge of the college’s administrative and financial functions, chairs its technology committee and is responsible for international programs, according to the academy’s Web site.
Daddy Rosandich was a track star in college, this site says.
2 Responses
The school does a marvelous job of coaching education, particularly for students from other countries. I am currently volunteering on a Ph.D. committee at the United State Sports Academy for a young man who is developing physical fitness norms for children from Sierra Leone. The student is also head of of the Sierra Leone Olympic committee and head of their track and field program.
I don’t know much about the program, but it looks as though they do a lot for promoting sports around the world. The academy also teaches courses to sports groups around the world — particularly in the Middle East and Asia.
Let’s hope the next time she’s nominated for the Sullivan Award, Phil wins it (third time’s a charm). Her performance in Sydney was stellar as reported, but what some may not know is that she had injured herself badly at the beginning of the meet…and still gutted it out to win Gold in multiple events. What’s equally impressive is to watch Phil interact with her competitors…always supportive, always offering words of encouragement. There are many components to the word “sportsmanship” and all of them apply to Phil.
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