David B. Tuuk
During his 36 years as a member of the Physical Education Department* (1952-1988), Dave Tuuk helped guide the development of the physical education program from a P.E. minor and basic core activity courses into a department that offered a full complement of courses for future physical education teachers, exercise physiologists, coaches and recreators.
Concurrently, the athletic program also grew from 5 to 22 intercollegiate teams. Although “Tuuker” (as he is affectionately known) coached other teams at Calvin, he is best known for his coaching of men’s cross country and men’s track and field where he led Calvin to 13 MIAA titles in men’s cross country and 11 in men’s track and field. As of the fall of 2005, Coach Tuuk’s total of 24 MIAA titles was the sixth-best combined total of any coach in MIAA athletics history.
Tuuk’s greatest strength however was administration, which is why he was so successful as the athletics director/facilities manager. Of special note is his significant role in the development of the beautiful, first-rate sports facilities that make up the northwest corner of Calvin’s campus. Tuuk was also known as the “Grand Tournament Host,” as he played an integral role in bringing two (2) NCAA III Track and Field Championships (1977, 1978) and six (6) NCAA III Men’s Basketball Final Four(1982-1988) to the Calvin campus during his tenure as men’s athletics director.
It is this legacy that we celebrate with the David B. Tuuk Sport Management Scholarship. Since sport continues to play a significant role in our society, Calvin College is committed to preparing students who will be actively involved in shaping and renewing this socio-cultural activity. Calvin’s mission statement declares, “we seek to be agents of renewal in the academy, church and society." An “agent of renewal” is a representative of God’s kingdom who produces or is capable of producing effect or change. It is Coach Tuuk’s vision that this scholarship will contribute to preparing agents of renewal who are educated and called to the field of sport management and athletic administration to bring to it a distinctively Christian perspective of justice, honesty, stewardship, and compassion. In the spirit of David Tuuk’s legacy, it is his hope that scholarship recipients will actively and effectively address such issues in sport as gender and racial equality, ethical decision-making, legal issues, and competition and that these actions will provide a significant socio-cultural challenge to, and change in our society.
*The Department is currently known as the Kinesiology Department