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Robert N. Singer

President Morrow and fellow members it is an honor to be able to introduce Robert N. Singer as the recipient of the Clark W. Hetherington Award. On behalf of the Academy, I'd like to thank the award committee which is comprised of Allen Jackson (chair), Gary Kamen, Claudine Sherrill, Chuck Corbin, Jessie Jones, and Brenda Bredemeier.

Being selected to be a member of the Academy is a significant professional honor. Being selected to be the Academy's president is a benchmark of the respect colleagues hold for a member. Being selected to receive the Academy's highest award, the Clark W. Hetherington Award, is the "crème de la crème" of professional achievement. Professor Robert Singer, my friend Bob, has earned each of these recognitions, and I'm delighted to share with you a little more about the storied career of this remarkable man.

Robert Singer emerged from the "bowels of Brooklyn" to become a world-renowned sport psychologist and motor behavior specialist. He's made a huge contribution to the research and professional literature in the field. He's authored 14 books - and I regret to say that we never got to publish any of them - and nearly 300 research and professional articles and chapters in books. His motor learning texts in the early 1970s were widely adopted.

He's served on the board of 8 scholarly journals and has delivered over 370 presentations at professional meetings in more than 50 countries.

After receiving his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1965, Professor Singer began his academic career at Illinois State, and then moved to Michigan State. An aficionado of tennis, he discovered the sunshine state and moved to Florida State in 1970 where he remained for 17 years. As he aged, it was still too cold for him in the Florida panhandle, so he moved further south, accepting the chairpersonship at the University of Florida in 1987, where he completed his career and retired in 2003. During that 15-year tenure he built one of the largest and most exciting exercise and sport science programs in the country.

Professor Singer served as the President of our Academy during the 1995-96 year. He knew what to do with this leadership position because he had served as president of the International Society of Sport Psychology from 1985 to 1993 and president of American Psychological Association's Division 47, Exercise and Sport Psychology, from 1995-1997. During his tenure as your president Bob initiated many projects that positively influenced the Academy, including the Doctoral Program Evaluation project.

Professor Singer is well recognized by his peers for his significant contributions to the field. He received the Distinguished International Sport Psychologist Award from the International Society of Sport Psychology in 1997, an award that has been bestowed on someone only three times in the 40-year history of the Society. The North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity honored him with its President's Award for long-term service to the Society in 1997. He received the prestigious R. Tait McKenzie Award in 1991 from AAHPERD and the Distinguished Service Award from the International Relations Council of AAHPERD in 1994. His peers selected him as one of the top 10 sport psychologists in North America.

Robert Singer has been an enormously productive scholar, an outstanding teacher, and prolific writer. His scholarship not only influenced the field in the past, but influences it today and will do so for many years to come. Professor Singer has also been an outstanding leader in the field by building a great department of sport and exercise science at the University of Florida, and by working with many professional societies to achieve their objectives. What I've admired so much about Bob is his positive outlook on our profession, and life in general. He's always seen the challenges in the profession, not the problems.

Although Professor Singer will have many legacies, arguably his greatest legacy will be his international ambassadorship with scholars and professional societies from many nations. Without doubt he's the best-known, most respected sport psychologist in the world. Years ago a book was published titled the Ugly American, which described the despicable behaviors of some Americans in foreign lands. If a book would be written titled the Beautiful American, it should have a chapter about Robert Singer!

Bob, as many of you know, has lived life to the fullest. He's worked hard and played hard, and here's a brief message that I think aptly describes Bob.

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming WOO HOO - what a RIDE!"

Robert - you've made a difference, a very positive difference to our profession. Ladies and gentlemen, it's my privilege to present to you Robert N. Singer, your choice for the distinguished Hetherington Award.

Rainer Martens
September 11, 2004

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