Ric Rosenkranz was born and raised in the heart of America in the town of Salina, Kansas — an area considered the literal geographical center of the United States.
He is the son of blue-collar workers (his mother worked as a beautician and a phone operator and his stepdad as a security guard and a janitor). And his family endured hard times in the 1980s recession after both of his parents lost their jobs.
In between free school meals, Rosenkranz and his family went weeks where their meals consisted mainly of pizza marked "defective" by the Tony’s Pizza plant, where his stepdad worked as a security guard.
“We didn’t really know that we were poor, because that was just the way it was,” he recalls. “I don’t dwell on it too often, but it makes me think of the food insecurity that disadvantaged communities face on a daily basis. In a public health context, we see that people with low incomes are often profoundly affected by food insecurity.”
Rosenkranz says the hard-scrabble times positively shaped the person he is today. He credits his mom and other relatives who looked out for him, his safe schools with caring teachers, and a decent social safety net.
As he got older, his wanting for more out of life coupled perfectly with his affinity for bicycles. He still remembers how great it felt as a 4-year-old after his great-aunt bought him his first three-wheeler.
“I wanted to ride it all the time,” he fondly remembers. “They told me that I couldn’t ride when it was dark outside, but I told them that I’d ride in front of the car’s lights so I could still see.”
A bike, for him, provided an outlet to explore the world outside of a small-town life in the middle of America.
Driven by his own personal experiences with food insecurity and a need for adventure, he worked hard to better himself both personally and professionally.
As chair of UNLV’s department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences in the School of Integrated Health Sciences, those childhood experiences continue to fuel the commitment to his faculty and students. With them, he remains a fierce advocate for public education and dedicated to educating others about the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
How does bicycling best represent you as a person?
I think it’s just a part of who I am. There’s this sense of freedom, adventure, self-determination, and independence. You can apply your own energy, and it’s going to take you as far as the amount of energy you put into it.
That was one of the great things about growing up in Kansas in the 1970s and ’80s; you had the freedom to roam and explore. I remember riding my bike on the shoulder of the highway to visit my stepdad at work, and it was four miles away. And this was in the fourth grade!
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
In high school, I thought I wanted to be a PE teacher or a coach. When I was even younger than that, I was either going into the Air Force or becoming a truck driver. Living in poverty, my parents told me that both of those jobs paid good money.
In the 10th grade, I had a biology teacher who was a cyclist, and he really inspired me. He taught me about the environmental stewardship component of riding a bike, and then the athletic part of it really came on in college. But he planted some real seeds in my mind. He taught me to question why things are the way they are — for your life and for society. It sparked greater scientific curiosity and the environmental concerns I was already having.
What was your path like before coming to UNLV?
Going into grad school, I needed to have a teaching assistantship, and I’ve always tried to pass on my knowledge to others. I also became pretty good at athletics, and I was very passionate about running, in particular. It was only a matter of time before I did a triathlon. This was in the 1980s when triathlons were really taking off. I watched the Ironman competitions on TV and said to myself, “I’m going to do that.” I focused on athletics at first, but I wanted to blend psychology with sports, so I decided to go to school for sports psychology.
Were you still pursuing your Ironman dreams while going to school?
Actually, my wife, Sara, and I met on the University of Kansas triathlon club. I applied to a bunch of places for graduate school and ended up in clinical psychology at the University of North Dakota. After spending two years in a terminal Ph.D. degree program in North Dakota, I decided I didn’t want to be a clinical psychologist anymore. And I still loved the sport of triathlon.
I had just turned pro as a triathlete and held my pro card for 10 years, but I knew within three or four years that I needed a Plan B.
Sara and I spent a year in Southern California where we trained for 20 hours a week in addition to working part-time jobs in the nutrition industry. We’d go running or cycling in the morning, go to work, sneak away for a swim or run, go back to work, and then more training at night. We swam four times a week, cycled six days a week, and ran four days a week. We’d also have a long ride on the weekend, typically 70 to 80 miles each time. Everything else during the week was between 15 to 30 miles each day.
After our year in California, we headed back to Kansas, and I was still training and racing seriously. I went back to grad school for kinesiology while simultaneously learning the health-focused aspects and applied it all to performance and coaching.
You’ve talked about how your own experience with poverty shaped your views on the importance of proper nutrition, but was there anything else that drove you?
It was honestly when Super Size Me came out in 2004. Watching that movie was a jarring experience for me. Childhood obesity made me especially sad to think about because I was also a new father at the time. All kids deserve to have access to healthy food and the opportunity to feel how good it is to move their bodies and be physically fit.
What drew you to UNLV?
I was at a point in my career where I needed to get out of my comfort zone and knew that I wanted a leadership opportunity. There’s also a geographic appeal of being out on the West Coast. We had spent most of our lives in Kansas and didn’t have the best experiences in Las Vegas in the past, so I had to convince myself that this was the right place for us. But it has been a wonderful experience so far.
Compared to Kansas, there’s an abundance of good food to shop for and different restaurants to eat at. The outdoor opportunities are also incredible, and I’ve since joined a few hiking clubs. I had looked at positions in other areas but the one in UNLV’s School of Integrated Health Sciences appealed the most to me.
Is there a misconception about Las Vegas that you’ve come to discover as a new resident?
There is a wonderful quality of life here, especially outside of the Strip. You’ve got 40 million people coming to Las Vegas every year, but what percentage of them are going to the national parks close by, or are doing all of these outdoor activities? Living here, I’ve learned that it’s so easy for me to go somewhere amazing where I see zero people, and I really like that.
What’s the longest bike ride you’ve ever taken?
I took a 135-mile ride in a big loop around Kansas. It took us about seven hours with stops.
What’s been your all-time favorite place to visit?
New South Wales, Australia. They’ve got some of the most gorgeous coast line you’ve ever seen. I did a bike ride from Sydney to Wollongong (about 50 miles), which is an older industrial city that looks a lot nicer than it used to. It is heavenly.
