John Gerdy
Dr. John R. Gerdy serves as founder and executive director of Music For Everyone a non-profit dedicated to cultivating the power of music as an educational and community building tool in Lancaster County. Since 2006, MFE has invested over $1 million in school and community arts organizations and initiatives to enhance music programs in Lancaster County, PA.
He has authored five books, among them, Ball or Bands: Football vs. Music as an Educational and Community Investment (2014), Sports: The All-American Addiction (2002) and Air Ball: American Education's Failed Experiment with Elite Athletics (2006). He has also been extensively published in journals and periodicals such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Sporting News, Trusteeship, NCAA News and College Board Review.
John's background and experience have afforded him a unique perspective. He grew up in Little Falls, NJ, the son of a high school football coach, who also was the school's physics teacher. John was an all-state basketball player at Passaic Valley HS where his jersey number is retired. A 1979 graduate of Davidson College, he received all-American honors and graduated as the career-leading scorer in school history, a record that stood for 30 years. Davidson retired his jersey in 1979 and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1994. Davidson also awarded him the John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service in 2014. He was drafted by the NJ Nets and played professionally in the Continental Basketball Association for one season. John served as the youth sports program director at the Johnston YMCA in Charlotte NC for two years before enrolling in Ohio University where he earned his MA in sports administration (1983) and Ph.D. in Higher Education (1986). From 1986-89, Gerdy worked at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a legislative assistant before serving six years at the Southeastern Conference as Associate Commissioner for Compliance and Academic Affairs.
With the birth of their first child, John left the SEC to be a stay-at-home Dad. During this time, he began teaching as a Visiting Professor in Sports Administration at Ohio University and began writing in earnest. In 2007, he was chosen one of America's Most Influential Sports Educators by the Institute of International Sport. A life long musician, he has served as an "artist in residence" at the New School of Lancaster, teaching the Blues to children from first to fifth grades, conducted summer music camps and performs in public regularly under the stage name of Willie Marble. In 2015 he was awarded the Central Penn Business Journal's Non-Profit Innovation Award for Leadership Excellence.
He resides on a farm in Conestoga, PA with his wife, two children and a bunch of dogs and cats.
Dr. John R. Gerdy serves as founder and executive director of Music For Everyone a non-profit dedicated to cultivating the power of music as an educational and community building tool in Lancaster County. Since 2006, MFE has invested over $1 million in school and community arts organizations and initiatives to enhance music programs in Lancaster County, PA.
He has authored five books, among them, Ball or Bands: Football vs. Music as an Educational and Community Investment (2014), Sports: The All-American Addiction (2002) and Air Ball: American Education's Failed Experiment with Elite Athletics (2006). He has also been extensively published in journals and periodicals such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Sporting News, Trusteeship, NCAA News and College Board Review.
John's background and experience have afforded him a unique perspective. He grew up in Little Falls, NJ, the son of a high school football coach, who also was the school's physics teacher. John was an all-state basketball player at Passaic Valley HS where his jersey number is retired. A 1979 graduate of Davidson College, he received all-American honors and graduated as the career-leading scorer in school history, a record that stood for 30 years. Davidson retired his jersey in 1979 and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1994. Davidson also awarded him the John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service in 2014. He was drafted by the NJ Nets and played professionally in the Continental Basketball Association for one season. John served as the youth sports program director at the Johnston YMCA in Charlotte NC for two years before enrolling in Ohio University where he earned his MA in sports administration (1983) and Ph.D. in Higher Education (1986). From 1986-89, Gerdy worked at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a legislative assistant before serving six years at the Southeastern Conference as Associate Commissioner for Compliance and Academic Affairs.
With the birth of their first child, John left the SEC to be a stay-at-home Dad. During this time, he began teaching as a Visiting Professor in Sports Administration at Ohio University and began writing in earnest. In 2007, he was chosen one of America's Most Influential Sports Educators by the Institute of International Sport. A life long musician, he has served as an "artist in residence" at the New School of Lancaster, teaching the Blues to children from first to fifth grades, conducted summer music camps and performs in public regularly under the stage name of Willie Marble. In 2015 he was awarded the Central Penn Business Journal's Non-Profit Innovation Award for Leadership Excellence.
He resides on a farm in Conestoga, PA with his wife, two children and a bunch of dogs and cats.
Ball or Bands: Football vs. Music as an Educational and Community Investment
As a result, school and community leaders, as well as parents, will be forced to determine how to allocate increasingly scarce extracurricular dollars, particularly in the areas of athletics and the arts. In such an environment, the fundamental question is which...
Sports: The All-American Addiction
Can organized sports be...
The Arts as a Community Investment
Drawing on his extensive experience as an non-profit entrepreneur and founder and executive director of Music For Everyone, Dr. John R. Gerdy offers a provocative analysis of the value of community investment in the arts in four key areas: Education, Community Building, Economic Development and Public Health.
This presentation will challenge the...
What's Next After "Success"?
