Recreation, Sport, and Tourism | Page 8 | College of Applied Health Sciences

What makes RST’s ‘Hall of Fame tour’ course click?

Aug. 20, 2024 | Sam Rink

*Students visited many noted tourism sites during the RST180 course this summer (Photo provided)*

The Hall of Fame tour that serves as the essence of the Recreation, Sport and Tourism 180 experiential course has been the subject of much discussion since it was introduced in 2016.

The 12-day excursion component of the course—led by RST Clinical Associate Professor Mike Raycraft—spans more than 2,000 miles and has drawn attention from local news channels, magazines and newspapers over the years. Students visit notable tourism sites including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Baseball Hall of Fame and the NFL Hall of Fame as well as historic destinations in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

But what makes the course so beloved by its participants? Students who took the course and went on the spring 2024 trip along with a few RST professionals who lead tours on the trip weighed in.

For Axel Mueller, a sophomore studying sport management, getting to know other students was what made RST 180 truly special.

“I was able to meet so many other people within the RST department and get a better understanding of the recreation and tourism side, because at school, I don’t ever see those people much.”

Mueller recalled one of the trip’s hiccups where the lift on their charter bus broke down during a rainy day in New York. The group had stopped for lunch at the famed Anchor Bar, the birthplace of Buffalo chicken wings, and on the way out the lift that was supposed to help Kendall Speaks, an RST major and wheelchair basketball team member, get onto the bus broke, leaving the group stuck in a parking lot for more than an hour.

“I had to squat down, have her wrap her arms around my neck, pick her up, and then carry her to her seat on the bus,” Mueller said. “Of course, Dr. Raycraft was able to arrange another bus that day.”

It was that type of attitude, from Mueller and others in the group, that turned what could have been a deeply frustrating situation into a humorous anecdote, and the tour continued without major issues after that point.

Another aspect of the course Mueller appreciated was getting the opportunity to talk to experts in his prospective field of sports management.

“It definitely opened my eyes a little bit—there’s so many things I can do with a sport management major,” he said. “I would say it broadened my perspective rather than narrowed it.”

Carter Blount, another sophomore in RST, put his perspective on the tour plainly:

“Professor Raycraft makes the trip,” he said. “ He’s done this for so long. He knows all these people and has crazy connections, and he definitely makes it enjoyable.”

Blount went on Raycraft’s spring break study abroad course to London, and despite the exhausting overnight flight and packed schedule, he enjoyed it and was influenced to enroll in the RST 180 course for the second half of the semester. Blount wasn’t alone in this; he said around 20 students who went to London that spring also enrolled in RST 180 this year.

A few fond memories for Blount included cramming into one hotel room with everyone to watch the NBA playoffs, walking the Princeton campus at night where he coincidentally met a student who had gone to the same high school as he did, and watching the sun set over the lake in Cooperstown, New York.

“I can’t think of a single night where I wasn’t in someone else’s room,” Blount said, referring to the close-knit evenings the group spent together after the day’s tours were done.

“It reaffirms my perspective that there are Illinois people everywhere, but also in places you would never think of,” Marshall said. “It’s a reminder to just keep my eyes open and look for connections wherever I can find them.

Todd Marshall

RST student

Blount spoke about the positive experiences the group had with their hosts, with the students who were able to ask questions about internships, careers and their own experiences breaking into the industry. He also discussed how the class itself enhances the trip, saying “you spent eight weeks studying the places you’re going to visit, so it’s cool to go see them all at the end.”

Todd Marshall, an RST graduate student at the University of Illinois, had a slightly different experience than the other students on the trip. As a graduate student working closely with Raycraft, he got an inside look at what it takes to organize and deliver experiential learning opportunities that will serve him well as he enters the field. Marshall was heartened by the large number of alumni they connected with at the locations they visited, taking the opportunity to learn from people not much older than him who successfully made it in the sport management industry.

Chris Willis first met Raycraft in 2019, while he was doing research for his book on Red Grange, an Illinois alum who played for the Chicago Bears from 1929 to 1934 and is one of the most famous NFL players of the 20th century. When they met, Raycraft mentioned the tour, leading Willis to offer his expertise as head archivist at NFL Films in New Jersey. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic preventing the addition to the tour for a few years, eventually students were able to visit the studio, libraries and research facilities at the headquarters.

“We provided an overview and general information about what NFL Films does, and the facility is a big part of that,” Willis said. “We have everything under one roof.”

Willis is no stranger to hosting tours at the facility, saying they have around five or six per year, usually with friends or family of employees or groups of students like the ones from the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism. Willis confessed he enjoys leading student tours the most, saying he prefers “talking to a younger crowd.”

“Some of the subjects we study are between 50 and 100 years old, so it’s fun to interact with younger students or fans and show them what we do or talk to them about NFL history or the history of NFL films,” he said.

The highlight of the tour was the studio, according to Willis. Many students, sports fans themselves, recognized the place where many of the NFL’s talk shows are filmed and enjoyed seeing the back end of their favorite sports productions.

Mark Thomas found his love for working at parks while working at a summer camp in Rockford as a teen. After graduating from the department of Parks and Recreation (now RST) in 1975, he managed the grounds of a college campus for seven years until it closed. For a long time, Thomas found jobs outside of the industry, doing work in consulting, retail and politics before he was able to work his way back into parks, where he was asked to host RST 180 at Niagara Falls in 2016. At that point, he had been serving as the western regional director of state parks in New York since 2007, with a main office in Niagara Falls.

“I have a tremendous amount of experience,” Thomas said. “The students have a lot of great questions about the park, and so I’m able to elaborate on that for them.”

When the RST 180 students first arrived at Niagara Falls at night, the lights (a $4 million system whose installation Thomas took part in overseeing) shined orange and blue to welcome the tour, an experience cited by many students who went on the trip. They saw the natural landscape and participated in the Maid of the Mist boat tour offered by the American side of the park. Thomas said the students were curious and engaged with the tour, regarding both the history of the falls and the logistics behind managing them.

“They love the tourist experience—who wouldn’t, right? It’s a great experience, but they also embrace the learning aspect of the visit as well.”

Grace Burns, a senior majoring in statistics and minoring in RST with hopes to go into sports analytics post-graduation, was excited by the prospect of the course but admitted to feeling anxious about going on a long trip with complete strangers. Her worries ended up being unfounded.

“Going into it not knowing anyone, I was definitely really nervous,” she said. “I was like ‘Oh my gosh, what did I get myself into?’ But I met so many people. I’m almost glad I didn’t go with my friends because it allowed me to branch out more.”

Burns’ favorite memories from the trip include a night she and several other members of the tour went out for karaoke in Albany, and listening to a panel at the NCAA headquarters where she was able to speak to someone with a career in sports analytics and recordkeeping.

“That’s what initially got me into sports analytics,” she said. “I love all the records in sports, especially baseball—there seems to be a stat for everything. So, it was really neat to hear from him.”

RST 180 exemplifies the passion for educating, events and entertainment, and accommodating all who travel, whether they are sports fans, history buffs, or national park enthusiasts. The class and tour provide a unique experience for students that puts them on both sides of this transaction.

“I would encourage everyone to look into the class even if you’re not RST affiliated and even if you don’t know anyone,” Burns said. “It sounds clichéd, but it was really awesome, even if you’re not into sports.”

Tags: AHS Newsletter Fall 2024, Mike Raycraft, RST Newsletter Fall 2024, RST180

RST’s Hobby mulls coaching after graduation

June 11, 2024 | Sam Rink

Camille Hobby’s life has always revolved around sports. She grew up moving from city to city as her father, Marion—currently the defensive line coach for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals—coached at various colleges and in the NFL, but her personal passion was always for basketball. Now, at 23, graduating with two degrees, three ACC tournament wins and a Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament championship under her belt, the 6-foot-3-inch center is ready to start a new chapter in her basketball career.

*Camille Hobby ultimately wants to be a coach. (Photo by Fighting Illini)*

“I think it was kind of just a natural progression,” Hobby said. “I’ve been around sports my whole entire life. I definitely want to stay in sports—college athletics, professional, whatever the case is, so in the future I want to be a coach. I want to get into coaching, and I thought it was the best idea for me to go into (the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism).”

Hobby graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a master’s degree in recreation, sport and tourism in May 2024 after spending her fifth year of eligibility with the Fighting Illini women’s basketball team. Hobby earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management from North Carolina State University, where she would have played all four years, had COVID-19 not taken a season away.

“I had one year [of eligibility] due to COVID, so I transferred primarily because of basketball, because of having that extra year. But then I wanted to continue that sports management realm of study, so that’s how I ventured my way to the RST department.”

In deciding where to spend her last year of eligibility, a few key aspects drew Hobby to choose Illinois. She said the school’s reputation was one factor in her decision, giving a nod to the iconic “Block I” impact on a resume.

“Everyone sees the I. Everyone knows the logo, you know, and that’s extremely important, especially when you’re going into jobs and looking for future places of work.”

She also highlighted the university’s emphasis on community and academics that impacted her decision.

“It’s a tight-knit community—definitely a college town. So, that played a huge role into that [decision], especially playing basketball in an environment that supports the needs of the team, and having great academics was important to me.”

After college, Hobby wants to play professionally in Europe before moving on to coach basketball, putting both her degree and lifetime of experience playing basketball to use. She said coaching would allow her to have a positive impact on the lives of other young athletes, something she has not only experienced from an athlete’s perspective but also witnessed through her father’s own career.

“He played a huge part in that,” Hobby said. “I’ve seen the incredible players that he’s coached in the past and he’s been influential in their lives and that’s something that I want to do, is to make an impact on young people’s lives and get them to be the best versions of themselves.”

Hobby also reflected on how her experience earning a degree in RST aided her service-oriented view of coaching, saying “I’ve always been a person that wants to help people and be of service to others and make them better, and I feel like that’s kind of what the RST department is; it is in the service business of helping others and showing them things and that’s kind of where my heart lies. That’s where I know my dad’s heart lies as well, helping those around us, and the best way, I feel, to do that, is through coaching.”

The program not only helped Hobby prepare for coaching as a public service, but it also emphasized to her the importance of diversity and inclusion in coaching.

“I feel like the biggest part of being a coach is the diversity and equity part of it—universal design and making sure that there’s a space for everyone. I feel like that’s so important, especially as a coach. You want to make sure that your players feel like they are important, feel like they are accepted, whoever they are, what makes them different and unique.”

One specific experience in the program stuck with Hobby: watching wheelchair basketball club teams compete. She recalled how it made her re-think diversity in sports, saying, “that was completely eye-opening for me. I think a lot of the time we hear about having that inclusion, having diversity, but a lot of the time there’s not much action behind it. To see them and see how competitive they are was really inspiring, and it just allowed me to get into that—finding equity and inclusion for everyone. Not just in terms of race or gender, but for someone who has challenges that limit them from playing traditional sports.”

Hobby intends to follow in the footsteps of the people she has looked up to: her father and her own coaches, who she said inspired her on and off the court.

“Having people who advocate for you, people who are just good people who want to see you succeed, that’s important. To see them, it makes me want to be like that in the future: always encouraging my players, believing in them, and wanting the best for them.”

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Long-time RST faculty member Espeseth remembered for work and friendship

May 22, 2024 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

*Bob Espeseth was an RST faculty member for three decades (Photo provided)*

It’s no surprise that a man who was as outgoing as Bob Espeseth dedicated his life to creating opportunities for others to be outdoors.

“When we grew up, we were always doing stuff, always camping a lot, being outdoors,” said Robert Espeseth, one of Bob’s five children with wife Mary Anne. “That was just us. Part of the trips was to get to see the country … we got to grow up seeing a lot of the parks and a lot of the country and different things.

“He was always happy to meet everybody. He went out of his way when he traveled to look up people and stop in and visit, or at the very least call when he was in the area.”

Espeseth, who was a faculty member in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at Illinois from 1973-95, died on Dec. 15, 2023 at the age of 93.

Espeseth grew up in Wisconsin and earned a degree in landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin, all while serving in the ROTC. Espeseth’s ROTC commitment sent him into the Navy, where he was on active duty for three years. He was an ensign in the Navy when he was the films officer for the USS Purdy, a destroyer that traveled around the world to provide support in the Korean War.

“After he got out of the Navy, he went back and got his master’s degree, and then he started working for the Wisconsin parks system,” son Robert said. “He was instrumental in developing and modernizing a lot of the Wisconsin State Parks, the rails to trails.”

Espeseth also worked in parks administration in Michigan before coming to the University of Illinois, where he was a professor of leisure studies. Colleagues remembered him as warm and helpful.

“He was kind and fun-loving. He was very quick to laugh. Most of my memories are I would go for a run in the morning and he and Mary Ann would walk from their house on Healy Street down to Prospect Avenue.”
RST faculty member Kim Shinew

“And they were standing in front of this tree on Healy one day. And just something about it made me stop, which was unusual. When I run, I usually don’t stop. I stopped, and he said, ‘Do you know what kind of tree this is? And I said, ‘I have no idea, Bob. And he said, ‘It’s a ginkgo tree. They lose their leaves in one day.’ And he said, ‘Long after I’m not around, when you go by this tree, you think of me. And I always have. I always just thought of him when I ever go by that tree.”

In addition to his academic endeavors, Espeseth volunteered for more than 45 years for the Champaign County Forest Preserve District, first as an elected official and later as a foundation board member. His volunteer work and philanthropic endeavors played a significant role in establishing and caring for nearly 4,000 acres of preserves, the Museum of the Grand Prairie, and the Kickapoo Rail Trail.

“He knew the important role that public parks and places like forest preserves, the role that they play in overall life satisfaction and quality of life and places of exercise,” Shinew said. “I know that he really valued and appreciated the outdoors. He was an advocate for that in communities.”

“When I came and Bill McKinney was the (RST) department head, Bill’s area was public parks and recreation. Bob played a big role in that.”

Even now, Shinew said, the connection between landscape architecture and community planning and engagement—two other significant RST industry fields—is significant, a testament to Espeseth’s pioneering work.

Espeseth was also, not surprisingly, an advocate for environmental causes and helped to launch the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, which support coastal, marine and Great Lakes communities through research, extension and education. The Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, one of 34 Sea Grants in the United States, is focused on the southern Lake Michigan region—104 miles of heavily urbanized and industrialized shoreline in Illinois and Indiana. Espeseth was at the helm of IISG from 1982 through 1994.

But family and greenspace were really Espeseth’s loves. He was part of the National Parks and Recreation Association, and thanks to that, he took his family on many trips.

“We stopped at every state park and national park in the country,” Robert said. “Well, he would pose us, all of us—my brothers and I—in front of the sign to the park, the entrance to the park to take a picture of the entrance. Part of it was he wanted this file of information, but then he also could use it as family pictures. We used to joke that our father has the best collection of park entrances and bathrooms, because he’d always shoot the restroom facilities, how they were designed, how they were landscaped with natural stone or other things.

“So we’re posed in front of stuff, whether it was in Yosemite, whether it was Yellowstone, whether it was in Grand Teton, whether it was in Craters of the Moon Park, you name it. We used to joke he has the most amazing collection of bathroom pictures in the United States.

“That was how practical and frugal he was.”

Tags: RST Newsletter Spring 2024

How Black distance runners shaped the sport from the shadows

May 22, 2024 | Ethan Simmons

While Black American athletes such as basketball’s Bill Russell, baseball’s Jackie Robinson and tennis’s Althea Gibson received significant coverage in the newspapers of the day, ‘marathoning was on the margins’

*Long-distance runner Ted Corbitt, center, was the first Black American to represent the U.S. in the Olympic marathon. (Photo provided)*

The world of competitive long-distance running took off in the 1970s. But stories of the sport’s Black architects and pioneers who laid its foundation have been largely untold for decades.

Teaching Assistant Professor Jake Fredericks in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the University of Illinois has dedicated a significant part of his research to uncovering the legacies of successful Black long-distance runners who grew the sport “from the shadows” while challenging enduring racial stereotypes.

“The explosion of running in the 1970s could not have happened without the efforts of the earlier generation, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, to lay the groundwork for the races in the first place,” Fredericks said. “These are the men who established the marathon courses or put the structures in place for organizations that could support bigger and bigger races.”

This Memorial Day Weekend, he’ll co-lead a panel presentation on Black running history to an academic audience at a conference for the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH). Fredericks will present papers alongside Gary Corbitt, an archivist and son of legendary long-distance competitor Ted Corbitt, and Suzuko Morikawa, associate professor of History and Africana Studies at Chicago State University.

Dave Wiggins, the former NASSH president and professor emeritus from George Mason University, will co-moderate the discussion.

Fredericks’ paper, titled “When is it Okay to Run Around Your Neighborhood in Shorts?: Representations of Black Running at the National Marathon Championship,” examines the country’s perceptions of race and long-distance running through the prism of the AAU National Championship in Yonkers, New York, the nation’s second-oldest marathon.

From 1938 until 1966, Yonkers was the site of the country’s preeminent championship marathon race, and several Black American runners—such as Louis White, Ted Corbitt and Harold Harris—posted some of its best times, more than a decade before long-distance running grew beyond its niche, community-driven status.

In 1952, Corbitt became the first Black American to represent the United States in the Olympic marathon. Two years later, Corbitt was crowned champion in the 1954 National Marathon Championship.

“That victory is so sparsely covered across the newspapers in the United States, that he’s mostly forgotten. Ted Corbitt is not a name that we often say alongside Jackie Robinson, even though they’re competing at the same time and had similar levels of success,” Fredericks said. “My research looks at how these Black Americans really shaped the sport, even from the shadows.”

Chicago’s Harris posted his best performance in the 1964 Yonkers Marathon, finishing fourth—just one spot removed from a bid to compete in that year’s Summer Olympics.

Compared to the more “glamorous” track and field events such as sprints and jumps, long-distance running lacked institutional support, Fredericks said. So, in 1958, many of the sport’s top competitors formed the Road Runners Club of America, opening chapters with running enthusiasts in major American cities.

Harris became one of the founding members of the Midwest Road Runners branch based in Chicago, which fostered a multiracial community of runners in the city, Fredericks said. Meanwhile, based in New York City, Corbitt pioneered techniques to measure more accurately the 26.2-mile marathon races.

Back when Harris competed, marathons were lucky to run 100 participants, Fredericks said. The “marathon boom” of the 1970s changed all of that.

A confluence of factors led to marathoning, and running writ large, to hit the mainstream. Medical science backing the health benefits of exercise had steadily grown while Cold War-era pressures to increase Americans’ fitness continued. Then, in 1972, Frank Shorter won the marathon at the Munich Games, scoring the United States’ first gold medal in the event since 1908, and first medal since 1924.

Ted Corbitt is not a name that we often say alongside Jackie Robinson, even though they’re competing at the same time and had similar levels of success.

Jake Fredericks

Teaching Assistant Professor, RST

Shorter’s success was lionized in the media, and his profile—a white, educated American man—suddenly became the prototypical image of the long-distance runner.

“We lose the image of Ted Corbitt, who could have just as easily been the image of running, or somebody like Harold Harris, in Chicago, could have been the image of running,” Fredericks said. Those kinds of pioneering figures get replaced throughout the ‘70s, by a Frank Shorter-esque, well-to-do upper middle-class person.”

The lack of recognition these Black American pioneers faced also played into athletic racial stereotypes. Fredericks’ dissertation, “Great Speed and Great Stamina,” in part challenged the lasting notion that Black athletes were “built” for explosive, powerful feats but couldn’t win in tests of endurance.

The stereotype seemed to build from the sport of boxing, where analysts alleged that Black fighters couldn’t “go the distance” in the ring. Jesse Owens’ prodigious success in the sprints and long jump Olympic events of the 1930s shattered racial barriers in the sporting world but reinforced some of the same athletic stereotypes that dogged Black American athletes of the day.

These Black runners’ success, however, “disproves these stereotypes that, unfortunately, have lasted 100 years. They’ve just been so hard to remove in the minds of the public,” Fredericks said.

Part of the mission of Fredericks’ research, along with Gary Corbitt’s new Ted Corbitt Institute for Running History Research, is to document the history of the sport’s development more accurately and recognize the oft-forgotten figures who laid its framework.

What stands out to Fredericks is many of these early organizers’ foresight: “They knew that road running had this potential to engage the masses,” he said. Even when races were lucky to field a dozen runners, they kept pushing to host events and spread the word.

“Black Americans are a huge part of the story of long-distance running. Today, we reap the benefits of their efforts to establish and grow the sport of running, yet that part of the history often gets left out.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Ethan Simmons, email ecsimmon@illinois.edu.

Tags: College of Applied Health Sciences, Jake Fredericks, RST Newsletter Spring 2024

Get to Know: Miki Sato, RST assistant professor

March 07, 2024 | Ethan Simmons

Get to Know: Miki Sato, assistant professor in Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the College of Applied Health Sciences

Miki Sato joined the College of Applied Health Sciences in 2020, after six years at James Madison University.

How would you describe your primary research interests?

My primary line of research focuses on exploring how and why engagement in sport-related consumption activities, such as sport participation and sport spectatorship, can contribute to improved health, health-related behaviors, and overall well-being.

I have conducted research in various sport settings, including participatory sport events (e.g., running events, walking events), fitness clubs, spectator sport events, and the Olympic Games.

What are you working on right now?

I am involved in research projects that examine the health benefits of sport participation and park and recreational facility availability within communities. Additionally, we are working on projects that explore the distinct roles of various sport participation locations, such as parks, fitness clubs, and community recreation centers, in promoting sport participation behaviors and enhancing well-being.

Regarding sport spectatorship, we are conducting projects that examine how engagement in professional sporting events, both through behavioral live spectating and psychological identification with professional sport teams, is associated with consumer well-being. We recently published a paper that provides evidence supporting sport spectatorship as a form of experiential consumption that fosters happiness among sport fans.

What’s a fun fact you’d like to share about yourself? What do you like to do in your free time?

I am a big fan of track and field and long-distance running. One of my childhood idols was Carl Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals in sprint and long-jump events. I am also a recreational runner.

Since moving to Illinois, I have participated in the Illinois Marathon’s 10k race twice. The event was incredibly well-organized, and I recommend it to runners of all levels, from novices to experienced athletes!

Editor’s note:

To reach Ethan Simmons, email ecsimmon@illinois.edu.

Tags: College of Applied Health Sciences, Get To Know, Miki Sato

Outdoor Recreation Consortium: An RST trip to the Smokies—for class credit

April 03, 2024 | Ethan Simmons

After a long hiatus, Illinois is back in the fold for the Outdoor Recreation Consortium

*Assistant Professor Nick Pitas (first row on left) poses with RST 199 students at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute in Tennessee.*

Kiara Frausto thinks she might’ve been “kind of spoiled” in her first visit to a national park.

That’s because the University of Illinois junior was treated to a week full of hands-dirty field research at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute—where students banded birds, caught salamanders and listened to Appalachian folk stories—and it all counted for course credit.

“It’s probably going to be hard to beat this one,” Frausto said. “Now I want to see all the other national parks.”

Buses full of students from seven universities rolled into the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont in Tennessee just after spring break, ready for a week of experiential learning in the country’s most visited national park.

For the first time in more than a decade, University of Illinois students got to join the group, known as the Outdoor Recreation Consortium. The roster of involved universities has shifted over the years; Illinois dropped out years ago without a faculty member to run the trip.

But now, with second-year Recreation, Sport and Tourism Assistant Professor Nick Pitas at the helm, Illinois has returned to the fold.

This year, nine students took the eight-week RST 199 course: Outdoor Recreation Consortium, which culminated in a six-day stayaway visit to the Smokies.

Students and faculty from six other schools took part this year, including Penn State University, North Carolina State, East Carolina, University of Missouri, Texas A&M and Western Illinois.

Pitas is well-traveled alumnus of the course, which has been around in some form for 46 years. He enrolled and visited the Smokies while he was a student at Penn State, then rejoined the trip as a teaching assistant—twice—before eventually teaching it as a faculty member.

“This was my fifth time going,” Pitas said. “But first time as a faculty here at Illinois.”

What kept him returning to the trip were the rich, hands-on experiences that embodied all the concepts the course had prepared them for. Once in the Smokies, students hear from real National Park Service rangers and administrators, natural resource scientists and community partners, all while assisting them with field research data collection.

At Illinois, RST 199’s eight week were spent introducing students to the operations of a national park, through its history and cultural context, the wide biodiversity in the region, and the management of the park’s record visitor numbers. Students also broke off into “committees” to help organize the trip, from transportation logistics all the way to morale-boosting exercises.

“From a professional standpoint, I think it opens their eyes, hopefully, to the breadth of opportunities that are available in the outdoor recreation, natural resource, and tourism space,” Pitas said. “But the bulk of the learning is when we’re there. It’s like going to summer camp except with an extra learning component baked into it.”

Michela Ossola, a senior in natural resources and environmental sciences at ACES, helped map the ideal driving route to the Tremont Institute in Blount County, Tennessee. Once there, daily trips to the forest and engaging learning sessions kept the time flying by.

“It’s a week detox of being off your phone, and every evening we’d have people come by, folk storytellers, folk music, a bear caller. A lot of those things you don’t get for free these days,” Ossola said. “It’s definitely a highlight in the four years I’ve gone to U of I.”

Many of the students this year, like Ossola and Frausto, came from the College of ACES. Undergrad students in the college are required to complete a field experience before they graduate.

But Pitas would like to grow the number of Applied Health Sciences students who come through the class, like Genna Peters, a junior in RST who’s interested in pursuing an outdoor recreation career post-graduation.

Peters loved getting to know the professionals from the Appalachia area, like a park ranger who was enrolled in the Western Cherokee tribe and mingling with students from all the other universities.

“The biggest experience for me being around all these other people my age who shared in the same interest and wanted to go into the same field as me,” she said. “It was really cool to know this park has this giant history of all these different people who work there, but they also really truly treasure the culture and history of the park itself.”

As much as the field knowledge broadens horizons for the students who go, Pitas knows the relationships they build are just as important.

“It’s not always the case that an adult has a chance to have a camp experience and just go and be with people they know and people they don’t know, and have that of connection and experience together,” Pitas said.

“I feel very lucky to have the chance to do it, would be my overarching feeling this semester. This is awesome. Can’t believe I get to do this for work.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Ethan Simmons, email ecsimmon@illinois.edu.

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Tags: Nick Pitas

AHS Get to Know: Miki Sato, Ph.D.

March 07, 2024 | Ethan Simmons

Miki Sato joined the College of Applied Health Sciences in 2020, after six years at James Madison University.

*Miki Sato, assistant professor in Recreation, Sport and Tourism (Photo provided)*

How would you describe your primary research interests?

I have conducted research in various sport settings, including participatory sport events (e.g., running events, walking events), fitness clubs, spectator sport events, and the Olympic Games.

What are you working on right now?

What’s a fun fact you’d like to share about yourself? What do you like to do in your free time?

Editor’s note:

To reach Ethan Simmons, email ecsimmon@illinois.edu.

Tags: Get To Know, Miki Sato

Fredericks: How Black American distance runners shaped the sport from the shadows

Feb. 29, 2024 | Ethan Simmons

Black American distance runners played a pivotal role in the sport’s early growth. A professor in Recreation, Sport and Tourism is helping to uncover their hidden histories.

*Ted Corbitt (bib #999) runs in the 1952 Olympic marathon in Helsinki, Finland. Retrieved from the International Olympic Committee database.*

The world of competitive long-distance running took off in the 1970s. But stories of the sport’s Black architects and pioneers who laid its foundation have been largely untold for decades.

Dave Wiggins, the former NASSH president and professor emeritus from George Mason University, will co-moderate the discussion.

In 1952, Corbitt became the first Black American to represent the United States in the Olympic marathon. Two years later, Corbitt was crowned champion in the 1954 National Marathon Championship.

Chicago’s Harris posted his best performance in the 1964 Yonkers Marathon, finishing fourth—just one spot removed from a bid to compete in that year’s Summer Olympics.

Ted Corbitt is not a name that we often say alongside Jackie Robinson, even though they’re competing at the same time and had similar levels of success. My research looks at how these Black Americans really shaped the sport, even from the shadows.

Jacob Fredericks

Teaching Assistant Professor of Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Back when Harris competed, marathons were lucky to run 100 participants, Fredericks said. The “marathon boom” of the 1970s changed all of that.

Shorter’s success was lionized in the media, and his profile—a white, educated American man—suddenly became the prototypical image of the long-distance runner.

“We lose the image of Ted Corbitt, who could have just as easily been the image of running, or somebody like Harold Harris, in Chicago, could have been the image of running,” Fredericks said. “Those kinds of pioneering figures get replaced throughout the ‘70s, by a Frank Shorter-esque, well-to-do upper middle-class person.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Jacob Fredericks, email jfred@illinois.edu.

Tags: Department of Recreation Sport and Tourism, Jake Fredericks, Olympics

RST Alumni Collaborate on Children’s Book

Dec. 12, 2024 | Sam Rink

Two graduates of the Recreation, Sport and Tourism online master’s program never met in person, but it didn’t stop them from collaborating on a book.

Some find online classes to be isolating, but for two graduates of the College of Applied Health Sciences’ Recreation, Sport and Tourism online master’s program, the opposite was true. Charlie Hoffmann and Sean Baptist got to know each other while participating in the program in 2023, and it led to an artistic collaboration.

Hoffmann and Baptist, who have never met in person, spent the past year writing “Your First Ski Trip! A Kid’s Guide For Your First Ski Adventure,” an illustrated children’s book centering around ski and snowboarding knowledge and safety.

“We live a couple hours away from each other, but we’ve never been in the same room,” Hoffmann said. “And we both kind of have that same RST philosophy where we’re happy to do a million hours of work, just so kids—young people—can enjoy themselves.”

Hoffmann and Baptist both had established careers in the recreation-sport-tourism industry before they chose to enroll in the online master’s program in 2022, but they came from very different backgrounds. Hoffmann, currently the director of recreation for the Borough of Rumson, New Jersey, found his love for recreation studies organizing basketball tournaments for his friends as a child.

Baptist, on the other hand, has a background in art, working as a freelance illustrator before he transitioned into children’s books. He got involved in community programming in New York City after taking on a position as an art educator with the parks department and subsequently helping start a rugby program.

“I decided I wanted to devote myself to recreation and public programs,” Baptist said.

So what drew them together?

They connected over skiing and snowboarding in their final semester in the program. Hoffmann got hooked on skiing at age 11, ran a ski club at a high school for several years as part of his career in recreation and still skis and rides for leisure today. Baptist said he didn’t click with skiing initially, but after falling in love with skateboarding, his father convinced him to get back on the slopes in his home state of Michigan and try snowboarding. It quickly became a passion.

The idea for the book wasn’t a new one. When Hoffmann led the ski club, he noticed how little families knew about the sport. “I heard people say, ‘How come a chair is moving? What does ski patrol do? What’s a black diamond?’ And that’s when I was like, ‘Wow. People really don’t know this.’ And the concept sat in my brain for a long time before it got to paper.”

So, when Baptist talked about his love of snowboarding and background as an illustrator to their shared class, it only made sense to collaborate.

“Light bulbs went off in my head because I had the book partially written,” Hoffmann said. “I went online and looked at some of his stuff, and it was so perfectly in line with what I was looking for.”

Both of them are excited to be able to share their passion with other kids through this book in the same way they do running public sport and recreation programs in their careers.

“When a cool project comes across my desk, I’ll jump on it and say, ‘Hey, this is something I want to be a part of,” Baptist said. “I really want to educate people on how to safely do this, and how it can be fun, and everything they need to experience.”

They credit the RST online master’s program for bringing them together and elevating their knowledge and network as RST professionals. Hoffmann said he particularly enjoyed the collaborative work he did in the program as a contrast to his day-to-day work life.

“I’m literally a department of one,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to play well with others in the sandbox, but it was so much better, because they [other students] bring more to the table than I do.”

The convenience of an online education allowed Baptist to maintain his career and life in New York. Being in a master’s program has also proved useful for pursuing employment in parks, a field in which he didn’t have much experience.

“The program was not only rapidly catching me up with everyone else, but Illinois has just been the gift that keeps on giving,” he said. “And it just kind of opened up this world of opportunity where people were like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s an achievement on its own, that this guy’s in grad school.’”

The two still haven’t met in person, but their shared experience in the program led to a friendship and fulfilling professional collaboration for both. The book’s unlikely conception is due not only to their time at Illinois, but the values and passions that brought them to the program in the first place.

“We kind of share that mentality of just doing selfless acts just to help others fall in love with stuff like we did,” Hoffmann said.

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Tags: Charlie Hoffmann, RST Newsletter Spring 2025, Sean Baptist

Spurred to succeed: RST alum Larson knows importance of dedication to his craft

Feb. 02, 2025 | Adelyn Mui

*RST alum Josh Larson is general manager of the Austin Spurs, the G-League affiliate of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. (Photo provided)*

Many sports fans only see the athletes arriving at games, ready to take the court. However, the logistical and behind-the-scenes work often goes unnoticed. When a plane is delayed, causing the team to miss a connecting flight, or someone arrives 20 minutes late, it’s Josh Larson’s responsibility to ensure everything continues running smoothly.

That emphasis on service and hard work has propelled Larson to where he is today. He was immersed in basketball, almost from birth. His mother, Jenny, was an assistant athletic director at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and his brother played basketball collegiately. Today, Josh Larson serves as the general manager of the Austin Spurs, the G-League affiliate of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

Raised in Tolono, Illinois, Larson attended the University of Illinois, where he earned a B.S. in Recreation, Sport and Tourism.

“What you learn in college isn’t necessarily all the Xs and Os of sports like how to coach basketball, how to work a salary cap, how to negotiate contracts and things like that,” Larson said. “To me, what was really beneficial, and I think it applies to not only my profession but a lot of other ones, was how they teach you to problem solve.”

Although the fast-paced lifestyle might seem stressful, Larson sees it as a rewarding challenge.

“That’s kind of the beauty of sports in general, or even recreation. It’s never perfect,” Larson said. “You have to be able to think, do things your own way, problem-solve and figure out how you feel best fits your team, your culture, your park district.”

Larson emphasized that the RST program equips students to handle real-world situations. One hallmark of the program is its focus on practical experience. Reflecting on his coursework, Larson recalled a group project where he and his peers organized a kids’ day for the Stephens Family YMCA in Champaign.

“That was a good reminder of what it means to be service driven,” Larson said. “In the moment, you think, ‘Group project,’ and you have to go hang out with kids for four hours, and I probably wasn’t as excited to do it. But I felt like afterwards, I got a lot out of it, purely because it forced me to be in a mindset of serving others.”

After his sophomore year, he landed a summer internship with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. Through that experience, he made connections with the Spurs organization, which led to an internship in Austin after graduation. However, Larson noted that it didn’t begin with fun and glamour.

“You just do the laundry, you do the film, you do all the grunt work, and drive the players and vans … and clean apartments,” Larson said.

He then spent two years as the basketball operations assistant for the San Antonio Spurs before becoming the general manager of the Austin Spurs last May. His current responsibilities include managing players and coaches and supporting the coaching staff with resources for team building and player development.

Larson’s dedication to basketball was evident long before he entered the professional world. He started volunteering at Illinois men’s basketball summer camps the summer before he began college, eventually becoming a team manager for four years and serving as head manager his senior year. His relentless work ethic caught the attention of the coaching staff, and through networking within the program, he was able to make key connections that helped propel his career forward.

Jenny Larson said dedication has always been a part of her son’s work ethic.

“He was the first one in the office when he interned at the Charlotte Hornets, and he was the last one to leave,” Jenny Larson said. “It’ll be 7 at night when I call him, and he’d say, ‘I’m still in the office,’ and I’d ask him, ‘Why are you still in the office?’ and he’d say, ‘Because my boss hasn’t left.”

Josh showed his dedication to his mom on another occasion when he was in high school and met with Mike Raycraft, a clinical associate professor in the RST program. Raycraft helped Larson figure out his interests and potential career paths.

“He dressed up in a suit. He’s a junior in high school and he walks into meeting him, and he’s serious,” Jenny Larson said. “Josh put himself out there. He had to be extremely nervous, going in and talking to a professor. But he did it and I know it helped him grow and get to where he is today.”

Josh Larson said Raycraft was one of the most influential figures in his career.

“For him to do that, it meant a lot to me,” Larson said. “He was a massive influence, not only going to the university, but even after I got there. His care and attention to his students, not only with me, but you could see it with other people too.”

Another enduring takeaway from the RST program was its strong sense of community. Larson said he frequently encounters former classmates while traveling for work.

“A lot of people—we stay in touch still, so I think that, again, is a testament to the quality of people that the major tracks,” Larson said. “You get to have lifelong connections with people that you know you’re going to be working with. You can call for advice—they know what you’re going through and they can probably give you better advice than anybody.”

Larson explained that the program introduces students to diverse perspectives, which become invaluable when collaborating with others in the future.

“Even aside from just the classes and the curriculum that you learn, I think the people you meet is what makes it worth the while in the end,” Larson said.

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Tags: alumni, Josh Larson, RST Newsletter Spring 2025

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