John F. Knarr is a physical therapist to the stars. The longtime athletic trainer, strength coach and clinic director, who holds three University of Delaware degrees, counts even a former president among his clients at Elite Physical Therapy in Los Angeles.

But L.A.'s gloss, glitz and glamour have not gone to his head.

"You'll never take Delaware out of me," Knarr, a Newark native whom friends call "J.K.," says during an interview recently from one of Elite's five facilities. "You'll never see me on TV."

TV is for his clients.

For Knarr, HNS '77, '81M, AS '90, satisfaction comes not from proximity to the rich and famous but from helping bodies heal and helping people feel, and be, their best.

"I love what I do," he says.

Knarr has been interested in sports and fitness since boyhood. One of three sons whose father worked for the DuPont Co. and whose mother worked for the Avon Co. in Newark, Knarr graduated from Christiana High School in 1972.

It was there, while serving as captain of the basketball team, that his future career began to take shape in his mind.

"I can tell you what happened," Knarr recalls. "I loved sports, and my coach suggested I pursue something in this field, knowing I couldn't compete at the college level."

Attracted by the reputations of then head trainer C. Roy "Doc" Rylander (now retired) and his assistant Keith Handling–now head trainer– Knarr chose UD for his first undergraduate degree in physical education. What would evolve into a renowned sports medicine program was in its infancy in the 1970s, and Knarr says he received a good education, and much more.

"I had a lot of great mentors there," he says. "I owe Delaware for a lot of what I've become today. I had a great foundation."

After graduating in 1977, Knarr went to work at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa. As head trainer there, he says, "I did it all."

Three years later, ready to take the next professional step, he interviewed at several colleges, finding that they required an advanced degree. So, he went back to UD for a master's degree in physical education, graduating in 1981.

Knarr then took a job as head athletic trainer/ strength coach and physical education instructor at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. He worked for athletic director Don Harnum, who later was a basketball coach at Delaware.

In 1983, Knarr's next job as head athletic trainer and strength coach at Delaware State University proved pivotal for the later direction of his career.

"I was responsible for handling all the injuries, for coordinating all the care–from on-field acute care management to rehab to cleaning up the training room after everyone was gone for the day," Knarr says.

The experience was "a springboard into my second career," he continues. "People suggested I try physical therapy."

The shift from training to therapy would happen a bit later, however, as Knarr took a variety of jobs in the 1980s, including trainer for the U.S. Olympic Team Handball Federation Tour.

"I mixed things up a bit," he says.

Whether Knarr was employed by private physical therapy clinics, by athletic teams or at colleges, helping people realize their physical potential was a constant goal.

And, when he decided to get another degree, UD was again his choice.

Knarr earned his bachelor of science in physical therapy from UD in 1990.

"Each time you go back to the well and keep getting a quality education," he explains, "why go elsewhere?"

He says he was drawn to a career in physical therapy by the same impulse that attracted him to become a trainer. As a physical therapist, "I can extend my services to more people," not just athletes, Knarr says.

Not that he stopped working with athletes, mind you.

During the 1990s, Knarr accompanied U.S. national men's and women's soccer teams on global championship tours. Volleyball, handball...there hardly seems a sport in which Knarr has not assisted athletes in reaching their potential during his 25-year career, including athletes with disabilities who competed in the 1996 Para-Olympics in Atlanta.

"Of all the experiences I've had, that was probably the most thrilling," Knarr says. "These people were there to reach a personal goal. One of the contestants I worked with, a javelin thrower, won a silver medal. He wanted to give it to me. You can't pay me for that."

Director of the University of Delaware's physical therapy clinic from 1993–99, Knarr moved to California after meeting Amelia Adamczyk, his future wife, at a physical therapy conference. She had just started her therapy business in Los Angeles, so Knarr went west. He and Amelia are now among the owners of Elite Physical Therapy [www.elitept.com].

And, they became the parents of their first child, a son, in March.

"It was a challenge, moving from Newark to Los Angeles," Knarr says. At first, he says, he felt a bit like "Andy of Mayberry" lost in Southern California. But, the work is very satisfying, he says.

"We treat celebrities, people you see on TV, people you see in the movies," Knarr says. "I'm currently treating a former president."

Knarr declines to name names, citing patient confidentiality, but his refusal to drop names also reflects his refreshing attitude toward celebrity.

"They're all people," he says. "Some do command more attention than others, but some of the most important people have been the most humble."

Although he prizes his Delaware roots and misses "the change of seasons," certain aspects of Southern California living do appeal to an athlete and outdoor enthusiast like Knarr.

"I love to play golf," he says. "I like hiking and biking." But, Knarr has been so busy with his practice and his new family that "I've yet to step into the ocean," he says.

--Kevin Riordan