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Bob Rosencrans (kneeling, center) helped coach Wittenberg football to two national titles in the 1970's. In this photo, fellow assistant coaches Ron Murphy (left) and Dick Fahrney (right) are kneeling. Head Coach Dave Maurer is standing in the back.
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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - First as a player at Wittenberg University in the 1950’s, later as a coach and director of athletics, Bob Rosencrans defeated many opponents. But on Monday, Aug. 18, Rosencrans met a foe even he couldn’t topple, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Rosencrans was a fixture in and around Wittenberg for more than 35 years. A Columbus, Ohio native, Rosencrans lettered three years in football, swimming and track and field before graduating from Wittenberg in 1958 with a bachelor of science in health and physical education. He also earned a master of education in administration and supervision in 1962 at a time when he was teaching and coaching at several area high schools.
“Rosy,” as he was affectionately known, coached and taught at various levels for 37 years, including 29 years in football. As an assistant at Wittenberg, he was part of the school’s two national titles in 1973 and 1975 as well as the two national runner-up squads in 1978 and 1979. He also had short coaching stints at Springfield Shawnee and Kettering Fairmont East High Schools and Denison University and Kent State University before returning to Wittenberg for good in 1970.
Along with coaching football, Rosencrans coached the wrestling team in 1971 and 1972, the swimming team in 1973 and the golf team from 1971-84 and 1992-95. It was on the links that he had his greatest successes outside of football, guiding his teams to several Ohio Athletic Conference titles and placing his players on the national scene repeatedly. To top it all off, some of his greatest contributions to the university were made as athletic director from 1982-92, especially as he guided the university from the OAC into the North Coast Athletic Conference in 1989.
During his years of coaching and working as an administrator, he was elected to the NCAA Council in 1992, was a chair of the NCAA Division III All-American Golf Committee and Ohio Conference Men’s Athletic Directors, a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics executive committee, a member of the American Golf Coaches Association Board of Directors, Tournament Director of the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Final Four from 1989-92, and Tournament Director of the NCAA Division III Golf Championships in 1976 and 1981.
“The entire Wittenberg community, not just the department of athletics, owes Bob Rosencrans a great debt of gratitude,” said current Director of Athletics and Recreation Garnett Purnell. “We are all greatly saddened by his passing. Bob helped forge and establish the rich athletic tradition that continues today. He will be greatly missed.”
Purnell's sentiments were echoed time and again by those who knew Rosencrans best.
"We've lost somebody very special," said Millikin University Football Coach Doug Neibhur, who coached at Wittenberg from 1989-95 and became a personal friend of the Rosencrans family. "He was so kind-hearted. I was fortunate to know him for many years.
"Bob represented the best in Division III athletics."
Retirement in 1995 hardly slowed Rosencrans down. Since then, he has been a member of the Springfield Recreation Board of Directors, the Miami Valley Golf Association, and co-owner and vice president of Mike & Rosy’s Deli, Inc. He was inducted into the Wittenberg Athletic Hall of Honor in 2000.
Earlier this summer, the first Rosy’s Golf Outing to Strike Out Lou Gehrig’s Disease raised more than $37,000 for the Western Ohio Chapter of ALS. It attracted numerous local and even national celebrities, including former Wittenberg and current University of Akron men’s basketball coach Dan Hipsher, Wittenberg graduate and current College of Wooster men’s basketball coach Steve Moore and Cincinnati Bengals players Carson Palmer and Neil Rackers.
Rosencrans is survived by his wife of 46 years, Sharon, also a 1958 Wittenberg graduate, their three daughters, Amy, Beth and Julie, and eight grandchildren, Megan and Kyle Dean, Molly, Alyssa and Shannon Delaney and Gabe, Hannah and Abby Rastatter. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21 at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1801 St. Paris Pike, Springfield. Private committal services will be held for the family in Ferncliff Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to ALSA Western Ohio Chapter, 1810 MacKenzie Dr., Columbus, Ohio 43220 or to Mercy Hospice, 1343 North Fountain Blvd. Springfield, Ohio 45504. The family is being served by the Littleton & Rue Funeral Home in Springfield. Details and directions are available on their Web site at www.littletonandrue.com.
