FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 16, 2021
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — The Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance this month bestowed its most prestigious honor — the David K. Brace Award — on Tarleton State University’s Dr. Wendell Sadler. Given annually, the award recognizes an individual who exemplifies the best in service, teaching and administration.
A TAHPERD member for 45 years, Dr. Sadler joined Tarleton’s kinesiology faculty in 1993 as Professor of Motor Behavior. In addition to his long career in higher education, he has taught junior high and high school students.
“It is exciting to be recognized for such an honor by one’s peers,” he said. “To receive the Brace award and have your name engraved beside others in Texas is so humbling.”
Dr. Sadler was the first recipient of the association’s Trailblazer award in 2008, and he received its Honor Award in 1998. He is a past TAHPERD president and vice president and has served on the board of directors.
Prior to joining Tarleton, he taught at the University of South Dakota, Temple Junior College and Texas A&M University, and coached tennis at all competitive levels. He received Tarleton’s Barry B. Thompson Service Award and O.A. Grant Teaching Award, and the Distinguished Scholars Series is named in his honor.
A colonel in the Texas State Guard, Dr. Sadler was inducted into The Texas A&M University System Chancellor’s Academy of Teacher Educators in 2017, the Texas Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Campbellsville University (Kentucky) Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.
He holds a doctorate of education in kinesiology/educational administration from Texas A&M, a master’s in education from Baylor University and a bachelor’s in physical education from Campbellsville University.
He has given more than 45 scholarly research presentations and published 20 articles pertaining to health, physical education and sport. He is known to be passionate about teaching and preparing students as educators.
“As educators, we strive for the ideals that Dr. David Brace championed. To be recognized as a Brace recipient, is the culmination of a career of teaching, service and scholarship,” Dr. Sadler said.
A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of nearly 17,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. True to Tarleton’s values of excellence, integrity and respect, academic programs emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.