Covenanter Finds Sidelines a Unique 'Mission Field'

Jeff Anderson views what he does as more than a job - he believes he has a unique mission, too.

Anderson knows that his "mission field" would be considered an enviable one by many people: he works at one of the most successful college athletic institutions in the country doing something he loves to do.

A 1986 graduate of North Park University (then college), Anderson is the director of sports medicine for the University of Connecticut division of athletics, an operation that treats some 700 athletes during an average academic year. Anderson has served in this capacity since August 1994 after accepting a fellowship position in sports medicine during the 1993-94 academic year.

"We're all basically called to be extensions of Christ - we're called to be like Jesus as He lived on earth," Anderson said. "Jesus spent a lot of time with people that others didn't pay attention to. The recognition I get is basically because of the men's and women's basketball programs. But, I love taking care of people and being available to people who aren't going to be famous and who are facing lots of pressures being a college student," he continued.

Anderson says the most important part of his job is to care for the athletes who must perform for a variety of people each day. "They have to perform for their teachers, they have to perform for their coaches and fans, and a lot of times they have to perform for their parents, too. What I try to be is one of the few places where they don't have to perform, a place where they can simply be taken care of."

Anderson has always been interested in sports, having played high school football under his father, Arvin, now a retired coach. When Anderson arrived at North Park, he didn't plan on being involved in athletics or medicine. "I went to North Park with the intention of going into chemical engineering," he said. "I began to realize it sounded pretty boring to me. My advisor asked if I was interested in medicine and suggested I take an Introduction to Biology course."

Following graduation, Anderson went to medical school at the University of Michigan. He remained until 1990, then moving to Connecticut to serve a family medicine residency. It was there Anderson says he discovered "sports medicine as something that could be part of family medicine."

Anderson administers the medical care programs for men's basketball and football, women's soccer, field hockey, track and field, men's ice hockey, baseball and rowing. He travels with the football team to all of its games - football has the highest injury rate, according to NCAA statistics. He supervises medical care for home games and selected away games for the men's basketball and both hockey programs, as well as any post-season contests.

This season, the nationally ranked women's basketball program had two All-America players suffer season-ending injuries during games, with Anderson's picture appearing in numerous newspapers attending to Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph.

The University of Connecticut has been the place to be for college basketball junkies in recent years. The men's team won the 1998-99 national title and the women achieved the national title a year later. Anderson traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, to watch the Huskies women's team lose in the NCAA semifinals to Notre Dame.

Connecticut's basketball teams have combined to win 85 percent of games since Anderson arrived on campus. Anderson says he has enjoyed working with quality athletes like NBA All-Star Ray Allen and WBNA and gold medal winning Olympic basketball player Rebecca Lobo.

A resident of Tolland, Connecticut, Anderson and wife, Chris (the granddaughter of long-time Covenant missionary and North Park Prof. Sigurd Westberg and a North Park graduate herself), have two sons, Erik and Luke. He says he is thankful for the blessings that have come with his job. He may be on the sidelines when it comes to athletics, but sometimes the sidelines are exactly where he wants to be.

"I always dreamed of getting a ticket to the NCAA basketball finals," Anderson said, recalling the national title won by the Huskies men's team two years ago. "And here I was, standing on the court at the men's Final Four with a pass around my neck, watching my team win the national championship. I never sought things out - things just opened up for me. I never dreamed I'd be doing this."

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