Dr. Eugene W. Anderson (1932-1997)

Dr. Eugene W. Anderson was Professor and Chair of the Department of Exercise, Sport and Health Studies at The University of Texas at Arlington from 1978-1994. At the time of his death, Dr. Anderson was in the cherished position of a modified service-retired Professor (50% employment) in his 19th year in our Exercise, Sport and Health Studies department. His professional career of over 40 years included service as an assistant vice-president for academic affairs, university department chair, college coach, high school instructor and high school coach.

Eugene W. Anderson received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education in 1954 and the Master of Science in 1959 from Fort Hays State University in Kansas. He received the Doctorate in Education in Physical Education from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona in 1970.

Dr. Anderson’s Sport Performance career began with the Kinsley, Kansas Coyotes where he participated in four years each of football, basketball and track. He continued in the athletic world at Fort Hays State University by participating in football (one year), basketball and track where he finished fourth in the high jump at the NAIA National Meet. After serving two years in the United States Army in Fort Bliss, Texas, Dr. Anderson taught history, health, drivers’ education, boys and girls physical education and coached the Wildcats in Hanover, Kansas. He then was a high school instructor of history and coached football, basketball and track for two years in Hays, Kansas. Upon the completion of his Masters’ Degree, he was employed at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan from 1960-64 as an assistant professor of physical education and assistant football coach, head basketball coach and golf coach. He then became an assistant professor of physical education and basketball coach at Chico State College in Chico, California (1964-68). In 1968, Dr. Anderson became Chair of the Physical Education Program and subsequently in 1972, Professor and Chair of the Division of Health, Physical Education and Athletics at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota. In 1977-78, he was the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at the same institution.

Dr. Anderson was very prominent in the development of our current Department of Kinesiology academic program. During his tenure at UTA, the Health Education and Dance minors were developed. The Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science degree was started for students in the Allied Health Sciences. The physical education-athletic coaching degrees, along with certification for teaching K-12 were shaped and refined. Dr. Anderson’s expertise and appreciation for science in sport and performance created the popular Biophysical Principles of Human Movement class (there are currently two lecture and six laboratory sections per semester). His understanding of the acquisition of motor skills dramatically influenced the pedagogy curriculum. His experiences in sport and coaching directly impacted the departmental performance curriculum. Perhaps Dr. Anderson’s most intense interest, in addition to curriculum, was in how the curriculum affected facility development. In the 1981-85 academic years, he gave numerous hours to the planning of an educational facility for our ESHS academic unit. The facilities’ blueprint included numerous laboratories, classrooms, learning centers, student, faculty and activity areas that would have provided an educational setting that would be comparable to the academic program he helped create. The facilities’ plans continue to be a model for our departmental future.