Abstract Dr. James Genasci was born in 1928. He attended Springfield College, receiving his Bachelor of Science in 1950 and a Master of Science in 1955. He got a Doctor of Education from the University of Northern Colorado in 1960. He was an Associate Professor of Physical Education and eventual Assistant Director of the Division of Graduate Studies at Springfield College from 1963 to 1994. Dr. Genasci was also an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, co-founding the Pioneer Valley Chapter of PFLAG, Inc....

Abstract Dr. Thomas (Flubacher) Waddell (SC Class 1959) was a doctor, a decathlon athlete who participated in the 1968 Olympics, and the founder of the Gay Games (1982). Dr. Waddell was drafted into the army in 1966 as a preventative-medicine officer and paratrooper. Rather than going to the Vietnam War he trained for the Olympics, becoming a US decathlete in the 1968 Olympics where he placed sixth. Dr. Waddell, after joining a gay bowling league, was inspired to organize a gay sporting event modeled...