Roy and Roxie Campanella Endowment Funds Future Therapists

On a raw January day 52 years ago, Dodger legend Roy Campanella began the second half of his life. The three-time National League Most Valuable Player was on top of his game as he drove from his home in Glen Cove, N.Y.

An auto accident and resultant massive spinal cord injury transformed Campanella from a champion on the diamond to a future champion for people with disabilities. Suddenly a quadriplegic, the Hall of Famer had a long fight ahead of him. With perseverance and courage, he regained some use of his arms, learning along the way the importance of having someone fighting by your side.

The way her father came to see it, a physical therapist is one of the most important factors in an individual’s journey toward independence, explained Joni Campanella Roan. “The physical therapist makes you feel you can conquer again,” she said. Because of his own physical therapist, “my dad was able to build his upper body strength so he could take care of some of his own basic needs, such as feeding himself and writing. This may sound small, but it was crucial to his re-integration into society.”

Campanella’s view was shared by his wife, Roxie Campanella, who worked “hand in glove” with him to form the Roy and Roxie Campanella Physical Therapy Scholarship Foundation. For years, their foundation funded physical therapy scholarships at Cal State Northridge. In 2010, the Campanella family decided the best way to continue the foundation’s work was to transfer its assets to the California State University, Northridge Foundation. By administering the Roy and Roxie Campanella Physical Therapy Scholarship Endowment, CSUN will carry out in perpetuity what the great Dodger and his devoted spouse began.

The dynamic Roxie Campanella, who passed away in 2004, “was the motivator for Pop’s second life,” said Roan. “In that second life, my mother was the one who helped him make other people see what can be achieved from a wheelchair. That is why she felt creating this foundation was so necessary, why it was so dear to her heart.”

Roan’s brother, John Campanella, credits students in CSUN’s physical therapy clinic with his successful therapy following the deterioration of his spinal cord. “He always says they helped him become ambulatory again,” said Roan, who served as vice president and CFO of her parents’ foundation.

“The Dodgers were the first big league team to hire a physical therapist, so we are enormously proud that the great Roy Campanella and his wife had such a deep respect for the role of physical therapists,” said Stan Conte ‘78 (Health Science/Physical Therapy), the Dodgers’ director of medical services and head athletic trainer. “I am proud that my alma mater and its students are the beneficiaries of their philanthropy.”

Through the foundation’s endowment, annual scholarships are granted to Cal State Northridge graduate physical therapy students who “demonstrate an awareness of and sensitivity to patients of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.”

“The endowment,” said Roan, “is my opportunity to make my parents’ dream stay alive, but also to know that I’m helping students make their dreams a reality.”

— Brenda Roberts

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