Editor's Note: This is the sixth in a series of eight stories on the Slippery Rock University Athletic Hall of Fame's 2012 induction class.
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Former Slippery Rock University men's soccer student-athlete Dr. Todd Olsen will be included in a group of seven individuals honored Saturday, Sept. 29, by induction into the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame.
Induction into his alma mater's Hall of Fame will take place four months after Olsen became the first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference student-athlete to join the Capital One Academic All-America® Hall of Fame.
As a Capital One Academic All-America® Hall of Fame inductee, Olsen joins a select group of individuals who attained Academic All-America® status during their collegiate careers and then went on to achieve success in their personal and professional life.
The Academic All-America® program is coordinated by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Olsen was a second-team Academic All-America® selection in 1985 and has gone on to become one of the most successful NCAA Division III women's soccer coaches in the nation. He has recorded 275 wins and had only one losing record in 18 seasons at Lynchburg College in Virginia. Olsen has led the Hornets to 12 NCAA tournaments in the last 15 seasons and, since 2000, his squads have earned five Sweet 16, three Elite Eight berths and one Final Four berth.
Before joining the Lynchburg staff, Olsen coached Elderton High School to a Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) boys soccer championship and was assistant and head men's soccer coach at the University of Pittsburgh's Johnstown campus.
Hand-in-hand with his coaching success, Olsen has made a mark as a humanitarian.
Partnering with Sports Outreach Institute as a community public health epidemiologist, Olsen has worked in several underdeveloped areas to assist residents attain clean drinking water and fight the spread of malaria and other diseases.
Olsen has led Lynchburg students, including student-athletes, and members of his family to lend a helping hand in Argentina, Costa Rica, Kenya, and Uganda as well as locations in the United States.
In addition to the bachelor's degree he earned in 1985 from SRU as a health and physical education major, Olsen is also the proud owner of three advanced degrees. He earned a Master of Science degree in physical education and recreation/exercise physiology from Loughborough University of Technology in England in 1987, a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1993 and a Ph.D in epidemiology from Pitt in 1993.
Olsen is currently employed as a full professor in Lynchburg's Department of Health and Human Performance in addition to his coaching duties.
Olsen, who attended Loughborough on a Rotary International Scholarship, was a summa cum laude graduate from SRU with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. He was the recipient of SRU's 1984 Physical Education Major of the Year honor and earned the honor of being a speaker at December 1985 graduation ceremonies.
Induction ceremonies for the Hall of Fame's Class of 2012 will be held Saturday, Sept. 29, in the Robert M. Smith Student Center Ballroom and coincide with a Rock home football game against Kutztown University.
Festivities start at 1:30 p.m. with a social hour, followed by dinner and the formal induction event set to start at 2:30 p.m. The induction class will also be recognized during halftime of the football game.
Tickets are $40 each and can be purchased online at
www.rockalumnicafe.com/halloffame or by sending a check made payable to “SRU Hall of Fame” to the SRU Alumni Engagement Office, Russell Wright Alumni House and Conference Center, 1 Morrow Way, Slippery Rock, PA 16057. For more information on tickets, contact Pearl Shaffer at
pearl.shaffer@sru.edu or 724.738.2768.
Other members of the hall's Class of 2012 include former football student-athletes Gene Collodi (Class of 1963), Ron Hunt (Class of 1973, '75-M) and Jim Ward (Class of 1998), wrestling All-American Anthony Calderaio (Class of 1983), two-sport student-athlete Ken Denne (Class of 1959) and women's soccer All-American Sonya Maher (Class of 1999).
The 1989-90 PSAC-Western Division champion men's basketball team coached by Bob Barlett will also receive special recognition.
With the addition of the Class of 2012, the Hall's 29th induction class, a total of 189 former Rock student athletes, coaches and supporters will have been inducted.
