CIS 50th Anniversary Success Stories (Week 8): Tim Rollingson

As part of its 50th Anniversary Celebration, Canadian Interuniversity Sport presents the CIS 50th Anniversary Success Stories series. Each Thursday throughout the 2011-12 season, we will profile two alumni from CIS member institutions who have made outstanding contributions in areas such as sports, business, politics or in the community.

Rollingson’s assists now coming away from the court

Former Pronghorn assist-leader helps patients as a dentist and young basketball players as a coach in Lethbridge

LETHBRIDGE - Once a fiery competitor with an immense burning desire to win on the court, Dr. Tim Rollingson has turned in his hardwood hightops for the white coat and drill of a dentist office.
Utilizing that same passion and discipline that made him successful on the court, Rollingson turned his focus to establishing a similarly successful dental practice, located only minutes from the campus he called home for five years. 

 “I developed an understanding of the discipline that is required to become an expert in a field,” said Rollingson about his time playing for Pronghorns and in CIS. “Spending hundreds of hours on a task became routine, rather than obscure.”

Rollingson was the feature speaker at the Pronghorn annual awards banquet and it is very apparent how important his time with the Pronghorns still means to him.  Reminiscing about his playing days, he delivered a message about discipline, establishing life-long friendships and giving back to the Pronghorn family that had given him so much.

“I developed true and life-long friends.  Competing together creates priceless bonds and memories,” said Rollingson, choking up at times. “Even after not seeing a teammate for several years, you still feel as close a bond to that person as you ever did.  One of my favorite things to do is go out with a teammate and his family to catch up and reminisce about old times”

A southern Alberta product, Rollingson walked onto the University of Lethbridge campus in 1992 with an impressive list of credentials.  He was the three-time Southern Alberta Basketball High School league scoring champion and two-time league MVP, and still maintains the league single season scoring record average of 40.5 points per game.

During his freshman season with the Horns, he did not disappoint, being the first Pronghorn men’s basketball player to win the Canada West Rookie of the Year award.

After a two year Later Day Saints mission in Belgium, Rollingson returned to the program, captaining the ‘Horns for his final three seasons. He left the program as the all-time Pronghorn assist leader with 374. And while he now sits second on the career assist list, he remains among the top 15 in a number of other categories on the all-time Horns list including hitting the second most three pointers at 150.

After completing of his bachelor of science in Biochemistry, Rollingson completed his Doctor of dental surgery in 2004 and returned to Lethbridge to begin his successful practice.

Rollingson enjoys continually learning and keeping up to date with the latest dental techniques and has completed many continuing education courses. He continues to study at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies, and the Scottsdale Center for Dental Learning. He has a passion for Dentistry and is always striving to give his patients the utmost care.

Now a father of four and a prominent member of the Lethbridge community, Rollingson has become a fixture in the stands at not only Pronghorn basketball games, but the hockey arena as well.  In addition to being the ‘official dentist’ of Pronghorn Athletics, Tim can be counted on for those late night calls for sports related dental work.

While his support for the current crop of Pronghorn athletes is exceptional it is not the only impact he is making on the community. As a coach and mentor, he is now passing on expertise and passion to the next generation of basketball players, coaching girls teams in the Lethbridge minor basketball system.

“I feel a true sense of being a member of the Pronghorn Community and a need to pay back to the program, at least in some small part, for some of the benefits that I received.  I truly enjoy my continued association with "my" team.”