LOWELL PITZER – Health and Kinesiology Coordinator
Lowell
Pitzer is a native of West Virginia, where he attended both high school and
college. While in college, Alderson-Broaddus, he played basketball and majored
in Biological Sciences and Physical Education. Lowell earned his Masters
of Education degree from West Virginia University.
After twenty years coaching in both public and prep schools in West Virginia and Virginia, teaching and working in administration in a Baptist affiliated prep school in Virginia, and serving as a basketball coach in a small college in Mississippi, Lowell joined the staff of Missouri Baptist College in 1990.
In 1992, Lowell was voted American Midwest Conference Men’s Coach-of-the-Year and led the Missouri Baptist Men’s basketball team to the NAIA men’s national championship tournament in 1993-94 after compiling a 25-9 record. As Athletic Director at Missouri Baptist University for six years, Pitzer was chosen as Administrator-of-the-Year for District Sixteen in 1992 and Region V Administrator-of- the-Year in 1997. While coaching the Lady Spartans at Missouri Baptist University for a period of five years, Lowell was selected Women’s Coach-of-the-Year in 2000.
Lowell was a member of the NAIA Council for Affiliated Conferences and Independents in 1996-97 and has served as the Commissioner/President of the AMC conference since 1993. As the Coordinator of the Health and Kinesiology programs within the Health and Sport Sciences his experience as a coach and an administrator in the field give him valuable insights into the concepts discussed in his classes. Lowell envisions the Health and Kinesiology programs achieving national recognition in the next few years as they continue to fall in line with state and national certification standards and move towards approval from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
DR. GREG COMFORT – Division Chair
Greg came to Missouri Baptist University with several years of secondary
school teaching/coaching experience and fifteen years of teaching experience
in higher education. From 1988 to 1999, Greg co-developed and taught in the
undergraduate sport management program at Liberty University and served as
a consultant for a number of organizations and institutions including the
Professional Golfers Association (PGA), the YMCA (sport psychology), and
the California University of Pennsylvania (SMPRC program approval). Greg
accepted the position of undergraduate coordinator for sport administration
at Wichita State University in 1999 where he continued to hone his abilities
as a teacher of online classes, serve his profession at the local, state,
regional, and national level, publish and co-publish numerous articles, and
present professionally at the local, state, regional, and national level.
Greg was commissioned by the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) in the fall of 2000 to create an organizational website. As web manager and member of the NASSM Executive Council, Greg continues to receive, revise, and post pertinent materials on the NASSM website, supervise the annual online voting by NASSM membership, and attend Executive Council meetings. Greg served as a Folio Reviewer for the Sport Management Review Council (SMPRC) from 2001 to 2003 and vacated that post for a position on the SMPRC in 2003. As a voting member of the SMPRC, Greg assists in the ongoing improvement of the sport management program approval standards and processes and meets bi-annually with six other Council members to determine which undergraduate and graduate sport management programs meet those same stringent standards.
Greg enjoys speaking to groups about sportsmanship and youth sport opportunities. He has been asked by numerous sport organizations including the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), the YMCA, and several city recreation leagues throughout Kansas to address topics such as motivation, anger management, sportsmanship, and parent-coach relationships. Speaking to groups such as these allows Greg to share his faith in God and pursue his scholarly interests in sport psychology and sport sociology.
As Chair of the Health and Sport Sciences Division and Coordinator for the Sport Management program, Greg feels strongly that the St. Louis area has a lot to offer students interested in pursuing careers in health, physical education, sports medicine and sport management. Program accreditation and building bridges between the academic and the business communities continue to be Greg’s passion for the HSS Division as he and the other HSS faculty work towards properly preparing students for careers in their individual fields of study.
MR. DAVID PIERCE – Undergraduate Sport Management Coordinator
Dave began teaching at MBU in 2004 as an Adjunct Professor in sport management and accepted a full time position of undergraduate sport management coordinator in 2006. Dave retired from Maryville University as Director of Intercollegiate Athletics on December 13, 2002. He was a member of the Maryville University family for over 26 plus years. Pierce holds a BS Degree in Education and a MS Degree in Sport Management.
Before Dave came to Maryville University he spent five years in the public high school system teaching History, Physical education, Health and one year of Elementary Education. He holds life time certificates in Elementary Education, Health, history and Physical Education. He also coached Basketball and baseball. He began his career at Maryville in 1976 as the head basketball coach and assistant director of admissions. He was appointed director of athletics in 1983. He was the head basketball coach for 15 years and head golf coach for 8 years. His basketball teams won four conference championships, holds the school record for most wins 22 and he was named conference coach of the year once. His golf teams won three conference championships, hosted the 2001 NCAA Division III National Championships of which his team was a participant and was named conference coach of the year three times.
Dave has been a pioneer in athletics helping and being a part of building the athletics and facilities programs from the ground up beginning in 1976. He is most noted helping with the following:
- Researching and giving input for joining the NCAA Division III in 1978
- Founded the Maryville Sports Hall of Fame
- Founded the Student Athletic Advisory Committee
- Founded the Citizens Committee on Athletics
- Revamping the sports celebrity dinner and hosting 24 of them
- Initiated team travel Internationally and Hawaii
- Founded and established the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1991 serving as president for four years (Inducted into the SLIAC Hall of Fame 2002)
- Initiating and overseeing the St. Louis Rams Football training camp at Maryville
