Faculty fellow named legacy professor of sports management

January 25, 2024

One of the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute’s dedicated faculty fellows has been named as the Mark Brooks Legacy Professor in Sports Management.

Following the retirement of Sheila Backman from the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, the department named Gregory Ramshaw, Ph.D., to the legacy professor position this month. Ramshaw has been a valued member of the institute since 2017 and now takes on a legacy role in the name of Robert H. Brooks’ son, Mark Brooks, who tragically passed away in a 1993 plane crash along with three other colleagues.

Ramshaw is a professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. His research explores the social construction and cultural production of heritage, with a particular interest in sport-based heritage. Through fellowship professional development funds, the institute supported Ramshaw’s 2018 research project on harnessing the power of Clemson Football memories to improve the cognitive functioning of South Carolinians with dementia, and the publishing of two recent books that he wrote and co-edited: Heritage and Sport: An Introduction (Channel View, 2020) and Baseball and Cultural Heritage (University Press of Florida, 2022). Ramshaw is currently working on a project that examines the factors that lead to larger soccer teams becoming tourist attractions.

As a legacy professor, Ramshaw will look to build a more in-depth program of study in his discipline by recruiting and encouraging other faculty and students to contribute to the institute’s mission, as well as carrying on the legacy of Robert and Mark Brooks. 

Visit Clemson.edu/Brooks-Sports to learn more about our legacy professors and the many faculty engaged in our institution.