President and CEO Dr. T.J. Rosandich and Joe Gottfried
Mobile Sports Hall of Fame chairman and former University of South Alabama athletic director Joe Gottfried has been presented the United States Sports Academy’s 2018 Distinguished Service Award (DSA).
Given for outstanding contributions to sport, the award was presented to Gottfried at the home of Academy Founding President Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich. Academy trustee and Art Committee member Susan McCollough presented the award to Gottfried.
Gottfried joined the University of South Alabama Department of Athletics in 1981 as assistant athletic director, then held the post of athletic director for 25 years beginning in 1984.
Gottfried’s tenure at the South Alabama was marked by success, as Jaguar athletic teams won more than 100 Sun Belt Conference championships and 10 Commissioners’ Cups for most successful overall program. Under his leadership, South Alabama’s athletic facilities grew tremendously, including completion of the 10,000-seat Mitchell Center, football practice fields and field house.
Gottfried currently serves as the chairman for the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame, which works to recognize and honor outstanding athletes and sports personalities from Mobile, Ala.
The Distinguished Service Award is part of the United States Sports Academy’s Awards of Sport, which each year serve as “A Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas of sport. The awards honor exemplary achievement in coaching, all-around athletic performance, courage, humanitarian activity, fitness, and media, among others. The Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) annually recognizes these men and women through its Sport Artist of the Year, Honorary Doctorates, Distinguished Service Awards, Medallion Series, Outstanding Athletes, and Alumni of the Year awards.
