Dr. Andrew Joseph “Andy” Kozar, Sr. was born to Frank M. and Barbara Bede Kozar in St. Michael, Pa. on May 11, 1930. He was one of seven children. He married Marian V. Higgs in 1954, and the couple had three children: Mary Anne, Andrew Joseph, Jr., and Amy Elizabeth. Dr. Kozar died on April 29, 2010 in Knoxville, Tenn. at age 79. He is buried in the Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery.

Dr. Kozar received a scholarship to play football for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and enrolled in 1948. He played as a letterman for the Volunteers all four years, as a starting fullback between 1950 and 1952, and as a member of the 1951 National Championship team. He was named All-SEC in 1951 and 1952, and Most Outstanding Back of the 1951 Cotton Bowl. He made the 1952 Associated Press second team All-America listing. He played in the College All-Star Game against the Detroit Lions in 1953.

After graduating from UTK, the U.S. Army drafted Dr. Kozar into the Korean War in 1953. He served two years in Fort Benning, Ga. as an infantry school physical training instructor and later as a company commander. He was honorably discharged in 1955, leaving the Army as a First Lieutenant.

Dr. Kozar resumed playing football, participating in the pre-season with the Chicago Bears. Before being traded, he ended his football career and enrolled in graduate studies in physical education at the University of Michigan. He earned his Master’s degree in 1957 and his Ph.D. in 1961. Dr. Kozar stayed on at U-M as part of the physical education faculty from 1962-1966.

UTK hired Dr. Kozar as the department chairman of the Men’s Physical Education Program beginning in 1966. One of his major accomplishments as department chair included developing and implementing a laboratory dedicated to studying the role of physical activity in preventing and treating chronic diseases. He also recruited renowned faculty to improve the physical education curriculum, including Henry Montoye, with whom he established the Southeastern Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine in 1973.

Dr. Kozar’s early research interests included youth and adult fitness, and he was one of the nation’s leading authorities on paddleball and racquetball. His research in these subjects have been published in the Aethlon, the Proceedings of the National Sports Medicine Conference, the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, and The Research Quarterly, among many publications. His interests then shifted to studying athletics in art, especially the sculptures of R. Tait McKenzie. Kozar’s research on McKenzie and his only apprentice, Joe Brown, led to him acquire, establish, and serve as director for the Joseph B. Wolffe Collection of R. Tait McKenzie Sculpture of Athletes at UTK beginning in 1973. Dr. Kozar published a book on the university’s collection: R. Tait McKenzie: The Sculptor of Athletes (1975). He also compiled a complete catalog of McKenzie’s work in The Sport Sculpture of R. Tait McKenzie (1992).

Dr. Kozar later became the executive assistant for UTK President Edward J. Boling, from 1975-1986. He then resumed his teaching and research as a university professor of the exercise science department until his retirement as distinguished professor emeritus in 2001. Before he retired, Dr. Kozar researched his football coach during his time as a UTK student, Gen. Robert R. Neyland. The resulting book, Football as a War Game – The Annotated Journals of General R. R. Neyland, published in 2002.

Honors and Awards: American College of Sports Medicine Fellow; National master’s paddleball champion, 1972; First president of the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine, 1973; NCAA Silver Anniversary Award recipient, 1978; Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame inductee, 1979; Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame inductee, 1989; All American Football Foundation All-American Legends Award recipient, 2002; Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame inductee, 2005