John C Crossley earned a master's degree from the University of Georgia and a doctorate from the University of Utah, where he specialized in commercial recreation and tourism. He found it was serious fun to teach college students about the profession while at North Texas State, the University of Utah, and Fresno State University, where he served as Department Chair. During these years, John held summer jobs and part-time jobs as a water theme park operations manager, tour company owner/manager, and co-founder of a retail ski shop. Although he has numerous publications and presentations to his credit, Crossley considers his top achievement to be the lead author of the best-selling college text Introduction to Commercial Recreation and Tourism.