John Roslien
Athletic training
Roslien was an athletic training pioneer at Central. He was named Central's first full-time head athletic trainer in 1986, although he initially also served as equipment manager and assistant baseball coach, holding the latter post for seven seasons. When he arrived on campus, the athletic training room consisted of a training table and whirlpool wedged into a tiny room adjacent to the men's varsity locker room in P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. A new athletic training room was added in H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse when the building was constructed in 1987 and it has since been expanded and renovated. The program blossomed under Roslien's leadership, attracting numerous students to the program and the full-time staff grew. Roslien, who is a University of Iowa graduate and earned a master's degree at Western Illinois University, gave up his hands-on duties to become athletic training education program director in 2003 and joined the faculty, completing his Central career as associate professor of kinesiology before retiring in May 2025.
Under Roslien's leadership, Central's athletic training program was accredited in 2004 by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education. During his tenure, 200 Central program graduates have earned BOC certification as athletic trainers and numerous others entered different health-related fields.
He was inducted into the Iowa Athletic Trainers Society Hall of Honor in 2007 and earlier was the group's president, following stints as vice president, public relations director and district treasurer. In 2012, Roslien received the NATA Service Award, recognizing his contributions to the profession. He was inducted into the Mid-American Athletic Trainer Association Hall of Fame in 2015. He was also a member of the NATA International Committee and MAATA representative to the NATA PAC.
Roslien has extensive international experience as well. He spent a year as a physical education teacher in Tarsus, Turkey and was Central's academic liaison to the college's international study at Bangor University in Wales.
For 20 years, he was director of football operations for the Division III all-star team at the Tazon de Estrellas game and its predecessor, the Aztec Bowl, in Mexico. He continues to serve as a tour coordinator for Global Football, traveling the world with other American teams.
From 2011-25 he was a faculty athletics representative with the American Rivers Conference. He received a Central Presidential Service Standards Award in 2002.
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