Bob Rosencrans Fitness Center

Rosencrans Fitness Center, a state-of-the-art facility open to all students, faculty and staff year-round.

About This Facility

The Bob Rosencrans Fitness Center has served the entire Wittenberg community since its completion in 2005.

A $750,000 project and the centerpiece of a $2 million HPER Center renovation, the Fitness Center occupies a prominent spot at the front of the HPER Center, representing the importance of physical well-being in the Wittenberg mission.

Overlooking the north end of campus, including a beautiful view of Weaver Chapel, Thomas Library and Tower and Firestine Halls through seven large windows, the Fitness Center is constantly awash in light. The center is fully air-conditioned and features mirrors along the north wall and weight-resistant flooring.

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Rosencrans Fitness Center serves the fitness needs of hundreds of students, faculty and staff every day.

The center features treadmills, standard bicycles, upright bicycles, recumbent bicycles, stairclimbers, elliptical machines, rowing machines and a line of Hammer Strength weight machines. The Fitness Center is equipped with six televisions, viewable from throughout the facility, broadcasting audio on short-range FM radio signals, which can be listened to using any portable radio device.

At the east end of the Fitness Center, Excel Sports Medicine maintains a therapy room, convenient for student-athletes or other members of the Wittenberg community rehabilitating an injury.

Use of the Fitness Center requires a Wittenberg student ID or HPER Center pass, available to faculty, staff and a limited number of alumni. The pass also includes access to the Strength Center, racquetball courts, natatorium, locker rooms and gymnasium.

Rosencrans Fitness Center was built by Thomas & Marker Construction of Bellefontaine, Ohio, working with Beasley Architect and Design, also of Bellefontaine. The construction coincided with numerous improvements to the HPER Center's Legends Lobby. In addition, Edwards-Maurer Field and Earl F. Morris Track were both resurfaced as part of the project.

To read more about the dedication of the facility, visit the original press release here. Also available are releases announcing the construction of the Fitness Center and the opening of the facility on August 1, 2005.

Accessibility: Rosencrans Fitness Center and the HPER Center complex are fully accessible to individuals with disabilities, and the Athletics staff is happy to make accommodations for interested patrons.

Bob Rosencrans '58

Bob 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 while 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 as well as 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 (OAC) titles and placing his players on the national scene repeatedly. Rosencrans rose to the position of Athletic Director in 1982, where 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.

After retiring in 1995, Rosencrans became 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.

In 2004, 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. The outing has been held ever since, with proceeds from the 2005 event helping construct the Rosencrans Fitness Center.