Biography
David N. Camaione, PhD., FACSM, Professor Emeritus, University of Connecticut
David N. Camaione, was raised in Watertown, NY graduating from Watertown public schools where he achieved high status as the top student-athlete in 1956. He attended The Ohio State University (tOSU) in 1956 on a wrestling scholarship. While at OSU, Camaione majored in Health and Physical Education and went on to achieve great success as a student-athlete. As a result of his outstanding wrestling record at Ohio State, Camaione was inducted into the prestigious Varsity "O" Men's Athletic Hall of Fame on September 24, 2010. After completing his undergraduate studies, Camaione continued at tOSU to complete a Masters degree in Measurement and Evaluation in 1961.
In the fall of 1961, Camaione began coaching cross-country, wrestling, and tennis at MacMurray College (IL). At MacMurray, Camaione became an accomplished wrestling coach and helped develop the CD-NCAA Coaches Association where he served as its first Secretary-Treasurer. It was at MacMurray where Camaione co-authored Wrestling Methods with Dr. Ken Tillman. In 1989 Camaione was inducted into the MacMurray College Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 1968-69, Camaione went on to complete his doctoral work at OSU in Exercise Physiology. In 1969, Camaione was hired as an Associate Professor of Physical Education at Central Connecticut State University (CSCU) in New Britain, CT. Camaione was instrumental in developing CSCU’s exercise science curriculum and human performance laboratory. In 1975 Camaione co-authored his second book with Dr. Richard Groves entitled Concepts in Kinesiology. Camaione’s expertise in exercise programming grew nationally and he began consulting for a number of state, municipal, and commercial organizations.
In 1980 Camaione left New Britain for Storrs, CT where he was hired as Department Head of Sport and Leisure Studies at The University of Connecticut (UCONN). At UCONN Camaione revised the departmental curriculum, created the Human Performance Laboratory, and introduced Fitness for Life, a campus-wide fitness program for faculty, staff and students, and developed Fitness Centers in residential halls across campus. He would later serve as Acting Dean for the School of Education. Camaione was instrumental in bringing UCONN to national prominence in exercise science. He hosted sports medicine conferences, recruited a faculty with international distinction, participated in a major fund raising initiative for the Gampel Pavilion, and planned for the exercise program to be relocated in the state-of-the-art facilities it now enjoys. From 1982-2002, Camaione generated nearly $4,000,000 in grants and contracts and published 53 refereed and invited professionally-related articles. During this time Camaione completed the second editions of his two texts Wrestling Methods and Concepts in Kinesiology. Camaione remained active in collegiate wrestling and between 1975 and 1985, officiated 15 NCAA Wrestling Championships. In 1988, Camaione was inducted into the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Officials Hall of Fame.
In 1986 Camaione was elected President of the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (NEACSM) which he served prior to and since in several leadership roles. It was under Camaione’s tenure as president that the NEACSM Honor Award was introduced; he would later develop and oversee operations of the first official chapter office. In 1993, he authored a third book entitled Fitness Management.
Soon after, Camaione was selected to chair the Governor's Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports in Connecticut. It was soon after his retirement that he co-founded The Sport and Medical Sciences Academy, a charter school in Hartford, CT that would later receive USA Today’s “Top 100” high schools in the country. It was fitting that prior to his move to his retirement home in Virginia Beach, VA, Governor John Rowland proclaimed May 30, 2002 as Dr. David N. Camaione Day in the state of Connecticut.
Camaione is proud of the 75 undergrads, 124 masters and 14 doctoral students he mentored and advised during his career. Most important to him are his wife of 50 years, Judi, his three daughters and their husbands, and his seven grandchildren.
|