Professor Emeritus Dr. Wayne Paul Dawson (aka Wayne, Dr. Dawson, Coach, Stein, Dad, Grandpa), of Chico, California, died quietly and peacefully at Enloe Medical Center on May 19, 2016, after a steady decline in health. He was 85 years old.
Wayne was born on July 26, 1930, in Pacific Grove, CA, to Paul Eugene and AtheleneVernita (Spoon) Dawson, joining his sole sibling, Keith. Wayne grew up in Sonora, CA, but spent his summers with family in Pacific Grove. His first taste of competitive sport was in a fourth-grade basketball league. He graduated from Sonora High with letters in basketball (league MVP and all-conference team), football (all-conference team), track (all-conference team), tennis, and skiing. He was also an outstanding student, a member of the boy’s chorus and tenor in the school quartet. He was reared in a hunting, fishing, and camping family and was most comfortable in the outdoors or engaged in sports.
He enrolled at University of California at Berkeley (1949), spent a year at Modesto Junior College, and then returned to Cal, where he finished in 1953 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education. While attending Berkeley, Wayne was a multi-sport athlete excelling in football, basketball, track, tennis, and volleyball. He played football for Berkeley’s legendary football coach Pappy Waldorf.
In the summer of 1949, Wayne married Donna Jean Peckham, whom he had known since the fourth grade. After graduation in 1953, Wayne taught high school PE and coached at King City, CA; then in 1955, he moved to Paradise where he taught and coached at Paradise High School. While teaching in Paradise, Wayne earned his Master’s degree in Physical Education at Chico State, and he joined the University’s Physical Education Faculty in 1965. He earned his Doctorate in Health and Physical Education from the University of Utah in 1968.
During his tenure at Chico State, Wayne taught a variety of activity and professional courses, supervised student teaching, served as the Graduate Coordinator, and was the Department Chair. He served on numerous professional committees, departmental, collegiate, and university. Wayne was a strong supporter and a powerful advocate of gender equality in sports and physical education. He was the Head Tennis Coach, coached the Men’s Collegiate Ski Team, started collegiate league volleyball in the North State, and was a strong supporter of Intramural Sports. Wayne retired as a full professor from Chico State in 1992. He was inducted into the Paradise High School Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Chico State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. Wayne was an ardent supporter of Chico State Athletics and was still attending volleyball and basketball games as late as the spring of 2016.
Wayne was a gentleman of deep principles, who embodied holistic education, and his philosophy of Body, Mind, and Spirit set him apart from many of his colleagues. This is exemplified by a course objective from one of his 1970s syllabi: “Self-realization through the medium of the game.”
Wayne considered himself a jack-of-all sports and a master of none. Most, however, will agree that his non-mastery was generally well above the norm. He was an adventurer who enjoyed testing his physical and mental limits by tackling any new sporting challenge. In addition to the aforementioned sports, he competed in softball, springboard diving, soccer, golf, trampoline, handball, racquetball, badminton, and ping-pong. Recreationally, he enjoyed free diving, scuba diving (including cave diving), hunting, archery, fishing (all sorts), backpacking, sailing, sail boarding, body surfing, water skiing, snow skiing (cross country, downhill racing, jumping, helicopter drop), rafting, mountain biking, and wallyball. Whether competitive, recreational, or outdoors-sportsman activities, they were all “play” for Wayne.
Wayne’s passion for the outdoors brought many of these lifelong activities to the curriculum of the Physical Education Department. Indeed, Wayne was an early influence on the inclusion of the Outdoor Education program into the Department of Physical Education and later Kinesiology. His influence on teachers was a major contribution to the success of the university’s Teacher Educational Program. He was a master teacher and expected a lot from any student who signed up for one of his classes (activity or professional). He never relaxed college-level rigor because he was teaching an activity class or working with athletes. Gary Towne, the Cross Country Coach, described receiving a “B” in a volleyball class taught be Wayne with the comment . . . “it was the only B I ever received in a PE class at Chico State.” Longtime friend Bob Russ had this to say about Wayne,
Wayne was a mentor, colleague, adventure friend, and a great influence on my career at Chico State and the life I have tried to live. He was one of the finest teachers I ever knew and was an inspiration and example to me, and so many students who had the pleasure of saying, “Wayne was my teacher.” He will be missed, but the world is for sure a better place because of who Wayne was and what Wayne gave us all.
Soft-spoken yet uncompromising, Wayne challenged his students, as he did himself, to perform their best. Wayne always considered himself a teacher and coach, not a professor, and saw sport as the perfect vehicle for personal and social development, learning the lessons of life, becoming a more capable, disciplined, ethical, intelligent, independent, observant, and present human being. As a lifelong teacher, coach, and mentor, Wayne was the epitome of insightful guidance, keen analysis, clear vision, independent thinking, and integrity. Even those who disagreed with his—at times unorthodox—paradigms and approaches admired and respected the intellectual rigor and analysis behind them and the strong connection between his words and actions.
At all times, Wayne was never happier than when he was surrounded by his close family or friends, and atop a mountain or enjoying a sport—testing the limits of his body, mind, and spirit … while at play.
Wayne is survived by his wife of 67 years, Donna Peckham Dawson; their children, Brooke Dawson of San Francisco, CA; Blake Dawson of Aix-en-Provence, France; Dawn Dawson of Altadena, CA; and Kimberly Kurnizki of Chico, CA; his five grandchildren, living in Chico, Portland, OR, and Santa Barbara, CA; and his brother, Keith Dawson, 90 years old.
Published in Chico Enterprise-Record on Aug. 13, 2016
Wayne was born on July 26, 1930, in Pacific Grove, CA, to Paul Eugene and AtheleneVernita (Spoon) Dawson, joining his sole sibling, Keith. Wayne grew up in Sonora, CA, but spent his summers with family in Pacific Grove. His first taste of competitive sport was in a fourth-grade basketball league. He graduated from Sonora High with letters in basketball (league MVP and all-conference team), football (all-conference team), track (all-conference team), tennis, and skiing. He was also an outstanding student, a member of the boy’s chorus and tenor in the school quartet. He was reared in a hunting, fishing, and camping family and was most comfortable in the outdoors or engaged in sports.
He enrolled at University of California at Berkeley (1949), spent a year at Modesto Junior College, and then returned to Cal, where he finished in 1953 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education. While attending Berkeley, Wayne was a multi-sport athlete excelling in football, basketball, track, tennis, and volleyball. He played football for Berkeley’s legendary football coach Pappy Waldorf.
In the summer of 1949, Wayne married Donna Jean Peckham, whom he had known since the fourth grade. After graduation in 1953, Wayne taught high school PE and coached at King City, CA; then in 1955, he moved to Paradise where he taught and coached at Paradise High School. While teaching in Paradise, Wayne earned his Master’s degree in Physical Education at Chico State, and he joined the University’s Physical Education Faculty in 1965. He earned his Doctorate in Health and Physical Education from the University of Utah in 1968.
During his tenure at Chico State, Wayne taught a variety of activity and professional courses, supervised student teaching, served as the Graduate Coordinator, and was the Department Chair. He served on numerous professional committees, departmental, collegiate, and university. Wayne was a strong supporter and a powerful advocate of gender equality in sports and physical education. He was the Head Tennis Coach, coached the Men’s Collegiate Ski Team, started collegiate league volleyball in the North State, and was a strong supporter of Intramural Sports. Wayne retired as a full professor from Chico State in 1992. He was inducted into the Paradise High School Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Chico State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. Wayne was an ardent supporter of Chico State Athletics and was still attending volleyball and basketball games as late as the spring of 2016.
Wayne was a gentleman of deep principles, who embodied holistic education, and his philosophy of Body, Mind, and Spirit set him apart from many of his colleagues. This is exemplified by a course objective from one of his 1970s syllabi: “Self-realization through the medium of the game.”
Wayne considered himself a jack-of-all sports and a master of none. Most, however, will agree that his non-mastery was generally well above the norm. He was an adventurer who enjoyed testing his physical and mental limits by tackling any new sporting challenge. In addition to the aforementioned sports, he competed in softball, springboard diving, soccer, golf, trampoline, handball, racquetball, badminton, and ping-pong. Recreationally, he enjoyed free diving, scuba diving (including cave diving), hunting, archery, fishing (all sorts), backpacking, sailing, sail boarding, body surfing, water skiing, snow skiing (cross country, downhill racing, jumping, helicopter drop), rafting, mountain biking, and wallyball. Whether competitive, recreational, or outdoors-sportsman activities, they were all “play” for Wayne.
Wayne’s passion for the outdoors brought many of these lifelong activities to the curriculum of the Physical Education Department. Indeed, Wayne was an early influence on the inclusion of the Outdoor Education program into the Department of Physical Education and later Kinesiology. His influence on teachers was a major contribution to the success of the university’s Teacher Educational Program. He was a master teacher and expected a lot from any student who signed up for one of his classes (activity or professional). He never relaxed college-level rigor because he was teaching an activity class or working with athletes. Gary Towne, the Cross Country Coach, described receiving a “B” in a volleyball class taught be Wayne with the comment . . . “it was the only B I ever received in a PE class at Chico State.” Longtime friend Bob Russ had this to say about Wayne,
Wayne was a mentor, colleague, adventure friend, and a great influence on my career at Chico State and the life I have tried to live. He was one of the finest teachers I ever knew and was an inspiration and example to me, and so many students who had the pleasure of saying, “Wayne was my teacher.” He will be missed, but the world is for sure a better place because of who Wayne was and what Wayne gave us all.
Soft-spoken yet uncompromising, Wayne challenged his students, as he did himself, to perform their best. Wayne always considered himself a teacher and coach, not a professor, and saw sport as the perfect vehicle for personal and social development, learning the lessons of life, becoming a more capable, disciplined, ethical, intelligent, independent, observant, and present human being. As a lifelong teacher, coach, and mentor, Wayne was the epitome of insightful guidance, keen analysis, clear vision, independent thinking, and integrity. Even those who disagreed with his—at times unorthodox—paradigms and approaches admired and respected the intellectual rigor and analysis behind them and the strong connection between his words and actions.
At all times, Wayne was never happier than when he was surrounded by his close family or friends, and atop a mountain or enjoying a sport—testing the limits of his body, mind, and spirit … while at play.
Wayne is survived by his wife of 67 years, Donna Peckham Dawson; their children, Brooke Dawson of San Francisco, CA; Blake Dawson of Aix-en-Provence, France; Dawn Dawson of Altadena, CA; and Kimberly Kurnizki of Chico, CA; his five grandchildren, living in Chico, Portland, OR, and Santa Barbara, CA; and his brother, Keith Dawson, 90 years old.
Published in Chico Enterprise-Record on Aug. 13, 2016
Professor Emeritus Dr. Wayne Paul Dawson (aka Wayne, Dr. Dawson, Coach, Stein, Dad, Grandpa), of Chico, California, died quietly and peacefully at Enloe Medical Center on May 19, 2016, after a steady decline in health. He was 85 years old.
Wayne was born on July 26, 1930, in Pacific Grove, CA, to Paul Eugene and AtheleneVernita (Spoon) Dawson, joining his sole sibling, Keith. Wayne grew up in Sonora, CA, but spent his summers with family in Pacific Grove. His first taste of competitive sport was in a fourth-grade basketball league. He graduated from Sonora High with letters in basketball (league MVP and all-conference team), football (all-conference team), track (all-conference team), tennis, and skiing. He was also an outstanding student, a member of the boy’s chorus and tenor in the school quartet. He was reared in a hunting, fishing, and camping family and was most comfortable in the outdoors or engaged in sports.
He enrolled at University of California at Berkeley (1949), spent a year at Modesto Junior College, and then returned to Cal, where he finished in 1953 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education. While attending Berkeley, Wayne was a multi-sport athlete excelling in football, basketball, track, tennis, and volleyball. He played football for Berkeley’s legendary football coach Pappy Waldorf.
In the summer of 1949, Wayne married Donna Jean Peckham, whom he had known since the fourth grade. After graduation in 1953, Wayne taught high school PE and coached at King City, CA; then in 1955, he moved to Paradise where he taught and coached at Paradise High School. While teaching in Paradise, Wayne earned his Master’s degree in Physical Education at Chico State, and he joined the University’s Physical Education Faculty in 1965. He earned his Doctorate in Health and Physical Education from the University of Utah in 1968.
During his tenure at Chico State, Wayne taught a variety of activity and professional courses, supervised student teaching, served as the Graduate Coordinator, and was the Department Chair. He served on numerous professional committees, departmental, collegiate, and university. Wayne was a strong supporter and a powerful advocate of gender equality in sports and physical education. He was the Head Tennis Coach, coached the Men’s Collegiate Ski Team, started collegiate league volleyball in the North State, and was a strong supporter of Intramural Sports. Wayne retired as a full professor from Chico State in 1992. He was inducted into the Paradise High School Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Chico State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. Wayne was an ardent supporter of Chico State Athletics and was still attending volleyball and basketball games as late as the spring of 2016.
Wayne was a gentleman of deep principles, who embodied holistic education, and his philosophy of Body, Mind, and Spirit set him apart from many of his colleagues. This is exemplified by a course objective from one of his 1970s syllabi: “Self-realization through the medium of the game.”
Wayne considered himself a jack-of-all sports and a master of none. Most, however, will agree that his non-mastery was generally well above the norm. He was an adventurer who enjoyed testing his physical and mental limits by tackling any new sporting challenge. In addition to the aforementioned sports, he competed in softball, springboard diving, soccer, golf, trampoline, handball, racquetball, badminton, and ping-pong. Recreationally, he enjoyed free diving, scuba diving (including cave diving), hunting, archery, fishing (all sorts), backpacking, sailing, sail boarding, body surfing, water skiing, snow skiing (cross country, downhill racing, jumping, helicopter drop), rafting, mountain biking, and wallyball. Whether competitive, recreational, or outdoors-sportsman activities, they were all “play” for Wayne.
Wayne’s passion for the outdoors brought many of these lifelong activities to the curriculum of the Physical Education Department. Indeed, Wayne was an early influence on the inclusion of the Outdoor Education program into the Department of Physical Education and later Kinesiology. His influence on teachers was a major contribution to the success of the university’s Teacher Educational Program. He was a master teacher and expected a lot from any student who signed up for one of his classes (activity or professional). He never relaxed college-level rigor because he was teaching an activity class or working with athletes. Gary Towne, the Cross Country Coach, described receiving a “B” in a volleyball class taught be Wayne with the comment . . . “it was the only B I ever received in a PE class at Chico State.” Longtime friend Bob Russ had this to say about Wayne,
Wayne was a mentor, colleague, adventure friend, and a great influence on my career at Chico State and the life I have tried to live. He was one of the finest teachers I ever knew and was an inspiration and example to me, and so many students who had the pleasure of saying, “Wayne was my teacher.” He will be missed, but the world is for sure a better place because of who Wayne was and what Wayne gave us all.
Soft-spoken yet uncompromising, Wayne challenged his students, as he did himself, to perform their best. Wayne always considered himself a teacher and coach, not a professor, and saw sport as the perfect vehicle for personal and social development, learning the lessons of life, becoming a more capable, disciplined, ethical, intelligent, independent, observant, and present human being. As a lifelong teacher, coach, and mentor, Wayne was the epitome of insightful guidance, keen analysis, clear vision, independent thinking, and integrity. Even those who disagreed with his—at times unorthodox—paradigms and approaches admired and respected the intellectual rigor and analysis behind them and the strong connection between his words and actions.
At all times, Wayne was never happier than when he was surrounded by his close family or friends, and atop a mountain or enjoying a sport—testing the limits of his body, mind, and spirit … while at play.
Wayne is survived by his wife of 67 years, Donna Peckham Dawson; their children, Brooke Dawson of San Francisco, CA; Blake Dawson of Aix-en-Provence, France; Dawn Dawson of Altadena, CA; and Kimberly Kurnizki of Chico, CA; his five grandchildren, living in Chico, Portland, OR, and Santa Barbara, CA; and his brother, Keith Dawson, 90 years old.
Published in Chico Enterprise-Record on Aug. 13, 2016
Wayne was born on July 26, 1930, in Pacific Grove, CA, to Paul Eugene and AtheleneVernita (Spoon) Dawson, joining his sole sibling, Keith. Wayne grew up in Sonora, CA, but spent his summers with family in Pacific Grove. His first taste of competitive sport was in a fourth-grade basketball league. He graduated from Sonora High with letters in basketball (league MVP and all-conference team), football (all-conference team), track (all-conference team), tennis, and skiing. He was also an outstanding student, a member of the boy’s chorus and tenor in the school quartet. He was reared in a hunting, fishing, and camping family and was most comfortable in the outdoors or engaged in sports.
He enrolled at University of California at Berkeley (1949), spent a year at Modesto Junior College, and then returned to Cal, where he finished in 1953 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education. While attending Berkeley, Wayne was a multi-sport athlete excelling in football, basketball, track, tennis, and volleyball. He played football for Berkeley’s legendary football coach Pappy Waldorf.
In the summer of 1949, Wayne married Donna Jean Peckham, whom he had known since the fourth grade. After graduation in 1953, Wayne taught high school PE and coached at King City, CA; then in 1955, he moved to Paradise where he taught and coached at Paradise High School. While teaching in Paradise, Wayne earned his Master’s degree in Physical Education at Chico State, and he joined the University’s Physical Education Faculty in 1965. He earned his Doctorate in Health and Physical Education from the University of Utah in 1968.
During his tenure at Chico State, Wayne taught a variety of activity and professional courses, supervised student teaching, served as the Graduate Coordinator, and was the Department Chair. He served on numerous professional committees, departmental, collegiate, and university. Wayne was a strong supporter and a powerful advocate of gender equality in sports and physical education. He was the Head Tennis Coach, coached the Men’s Collegiate Ski Team, started collegiate league volleyball in the North State, and was a strong supporter of Intramural Sports. Wayne retired as a full professor from Chico State in 1992. He was inducted into the Paradise High School Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Chico State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. Wayne was an ardent supporter of Chico State Athletics and was still attending volleyball and basketball games as late as the spring of 2016.
Wayne was a gentleman of deep principles, who embodied holistic education, and his philosophy of Body, Mind, and Spirit set him apart from many of his colleagues. This is exemplified by a course objective from one of his 1970s syllabi: “Self-realization through the medium of the game.”
Wayne considered himself a jack-of-all sports and a master of none. Most, however, will agree that his non-mastery was generally well above the norm. He was an adventurer who enjoyed testing his physical and mental limits by tackling any new sporting challenge. In addition to the aforementioned sports, he competed in softball, springboard diving, soccer, golf, trampoline, handball, racquetball, badminton, and ping-pong. Recreationally, he enjoyed free diving, scuba diving (including cave diving), hunting, archery, fishing (all sorts), backpacking, sailing, sail boarding, body surfing, water skiing, snow skiing (cross country, downhill racing, jumping, helicopter drop), rafting, mountain biking, and wallyball. Whether competitive, recreational, or outdoors-sportsman activities, they were all “play” for Wayne.
Wayne’s passion for the outdoors brought many of these lifelong activities to the curriculum of the Physical Education Department. Indeed, Wayne was an early influence on the inclusion of the Outdoor Education program into the Department of Physical Education and later Kinesiology. His influence on teachers was a major contribution to the success of the university’s Teacher Educational Program. He was a master teacher and expected a lot from any student who signed up for one of his classes (activity or professional). He never relaxed college-level rigor because he was teaching an activity class or working with athletes. Gary Towne, the Cross Country Coach, described receiving a “B” in a volleyball class taught be Wayne with the comment . . . “it was the only B I ever received in a PE class at Chico State.” Longtime friend Bob Russ had this to say about Wayne,
Wayne was a mentor, colleague, adventure friend, and a great influence on my career at Chico State and the life I have tried to live. He was one of the finest teachers I ever knew and was an inspiration and example to me, and so many students who had the pleasure of saying, “Wayne was my teacher.” He will be missed, but the world is for sure a better place because of who Wayne was and what Wayne gave us all.
Soft-spoken yet uncompromising, Wayne challenged his students, as he did himself, to perform their best. Wayne always considered himself a teacher and coach, not a professor, and saw sport as the perfect vehicle for personal and social development, learning the lessons of life, becoming a more capable, disciplined, ethical, intelligent, independent, observant, and present human being. As a lifelong teacher, coach, and mentor, Wayne was the epitome of insightful guidance, keen analysis, clear vision, independent thinking, and integrity. Even those who disagreed with his—at times unorthodox—paradigms and approaches admired and respected the intellectual rigor and analysis behind them and the strong connection between his words and actions.
At all times, Wayne was never happier than when he was surrounded by his close family or friends, and atop a mountain or enjoying a sport—testing the limits of his body, mind, and spirit … while at play.
Wayne is survived by his wife of 67 years, Donna Peckham Dawson; their children, Brooke Dawson of San Francisco, CA; Blake Dawson of Aix-en-Provence, France; Dawn Dawson of Altadena, CA; and Kimberly Kurnizki of Chico, CA; his five grandchildren, living in Chico, Portland, OR, and Santa Barbara, CA; and his brother, Keith Dawson, 90 years old.
Published in Chico Enterprise-Record on Aug. 13, 2016
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