Lake Schools recognize two as 2021 Distinguished Alumni
After receiving several inspiring nominations, Lake Schools announced that Ryan Szepiela, M.D. and John Robinson are being honored with 2021 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
At Lake, Szepiela was fifth in the class of 1997. He was also an outstanding athlete, earning letters all four years in basketball and letters three years in track. He was first team all-league and first team all-district in basketball.
After graduation, he attended Heidelberg University, where he continued his basketball career and earned first team all-conference honors in the Ohio Athletic Conference. He graduated from Heidelberg in 2001, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Chemistry.
Szepiela then attended the Medical College of Ohio School of Medicine from 2001-2006, where he received his Doctorate of Medicine Degree. He subsequently completed a three-year residency at the University of Toledo College of Medicine from 2007-2010, where he was the Chief President in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
After residency, Ryan completed a one-year Fellowship in Sports Medicine at ProMedica. Since 2011, Ryan has embarked on a distinguished career in sports and rehabilitation medicine at ProMedica Physicians Group.
Szepiela is the team physician for the Toledo Mud Hens, Toledo Walleye, University of Toledo Athletics, Lourdes University Athletics and Perrysburg High Schools’ Athletics.
He has become a leader in the use of stem cell treatment and other conservative non-surgical alternatives to the treatment of sports-related injuries.
He has a specialized interest in spinal intervention and is certified in advanced spine orthobiologic injections. He has also written and published numerous articles and presentations in the field of sports and rehabilitation medicine.
Szepiela is a member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American Academy of Sports Medicine, and the Medical Society for Sports Medicine.
He has also done volunteer work for the Susan G. Komen Cancer Race Medical Team, the American Cancer Society, America Reads, the Toledo Area Humane Society, and the Glass City Marathon Medical Team.
Szepiela and his wife Erin (formerly Erin Beck, who is also a Lake graduate), have three children, Dylan, Nolan, and Callan, and currently live in Perrysburg.
John Robinson
At Lake, John Robinson, finished third in the class of 1974, and was an elite athlete. In wrestling he finished fifth in the state his junior year, and third in the state as a senior. In football, he was first team all-league on both offense and defense. He also played baseball and ran track, winning the 180-yard hurdles at the NLL championship meet. Robinson is a member of the Lake Athletic Hall of Fame.
He then attended the University of Toledo on a wrestling scholarship, where he was team captain for two years and wrestled in the NCAA Nationals twice. In 1978, he graduated from UT with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering.
He received a Master’s in Business Administration from Duke University in 1983 and subsequently embarked on a career in the burgeoning high-tech field of telecommunications. From 1978-1983, he worked for Rockwell International as a manufacturing Engineer. From 1983-1990, he worked for Northern Telecom as Operations Manager. From 1990- 1994, he was plant manager of ITT manufacturing operations that built secure communications equipment for the military. From 1994-2006, Robinson worked for Nokia as VP and then Senior VP, where he was in the top 50 employees of a company that supplied four out of 10 of the world’s cell phones.
At age 50, because of his abiding Christian faith, Robinson chose to end his highly successful business and engineering career to become a high school teacher and wrestling coach, so he could serve as a mentor and positive influence on inner-city and public-school students. For 10 years, he taught science and coached. His wrestling teams placed in the top 10 at the Texas State Tournament every year.
Robinson and his three sons then started Tevah Financials, an investment business, in which he is still involved today.
In addition to raising their sons, Robinson and his wife, Carolyn, have served as foster parents to nine infants over an eight-year period, and are actively involved in their local church.