DAPHNE — Dr. Thomas Rosandich has a unique world-view of sports, a global perspective that helped him found the United States Sports Academy.

Now in its 35th year, the Sports Academy is “the only accredited, free-standing sport university in America and the largest graduate sports program in the country,” he said. “There’s nobody like us in the world.”

Although it is locally based, on a green space off U.S. Highway 98, that location doesn’t adequately reflect the Sports Academy’s international projects or the many lives it has touched abroad.

Its southern Alabama location also doesn’t limit Rosandich or his staff from teaching internationally and developing new contacts in foreign countries, he said.

In addition to its sports education curriculum, the Sports Academy has “developed research and service programs in more than 60 nations worldwide,” Rosandich said.

“The majority of the academy’s efforts have led to the development of national sports academies in many countries — first with the Bahrain Sports Institute and more recently with the Malaysian Sports Science Academy,” he said.

And his work isn’t finished yet.

For example, Rosandich’s schedule for the next month will take him to New York City before he heads to Greece, Bahrain and China.

August means he will be traveling abroad again; this time to the World University Games in Thailand, he said.

But none of this would have been possible without his earlier experiences, Rosandich said.

A former “goodwill ambassador” with the U.S. State Department, Rosandich said he traveled the globe coaching teams internationally.

One of the major events that helped shape his future — and that of the Sports Academy — was the United States’ dismal performance in the 1972 Munich Olympics, he said.

At that time, he was concerned about the poor performance of the American team and the American approach to sports, Rosandich said.

“The United States tends to focus on physical education, but there is a big difference between teaching sports education and physical education,” he said.

With those thoughts and experiences still fresh in his memory, Rosandich founded the academy in 1972.

While its roots are in Wisconsin, moving the Sports Academy south to a warmer climate was the right thing to do, Rosandich said.

In 1976, it was located at the University of South Alabama and then moved to Daphne 10 years later, he said.

Billed as a “university without walls,” the Sports Academy uses technology to reach, and teach, its students, Rosandich said.

Students can earn a bachelor of sports science, master of sports science or doctor of sports management degree.

Programs of study include: sports coaching, sports management, sports fitness management, sports studies, sports coaching and sports medicine.

The academy is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Some of its more well known graduates include: Mike Leach, Texas Tech football coach; Brandon Buckley, Oakland A’s catcher; Steve Hawkins, Western Michigan University men’s basketball coach; Greg McDermott, Iowa State University men’s basketball coach; and Tom Smith, Orlando Magic NBA trainer.