NSCA announces 2019 career awards

National Strength & Conditioning AssociationThe National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) has announced the winners of the organization’s 2019 career awards. The awards are given each year to individuals who have made significant contributions to the strength and conditioning community throughout their careers.

Boyd Epley Award for Lifetime Achievement

Awarded since 1993, the Boyd Epley Award for Lifetime Achievement honors individuals who exhibit historical impact, achievements, and dedication to the NSCA over the course of their career. This award is named after Boyd Epley, founder of the NSCA, and is considered the most prestigious award a member of the NSCA can achieve. The Board of Directors is honored to announce the 2019 recipient is T. Jeff Chandler, EdD, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, FNSCA.

T. Jeff Chandler
T. Jeff Chandler

Dr. Jeff Chandler served as Professor and Department Chair at Marshall University and as Professor and Department Head at Jacksonville State University.  He received his doctorate from Auburn University in 1986. Jeff has 12 years of experience in a clinical sports medicine setting at the Lexington Clinic Sports Medicine Center. He taught health and physical education at Bremen High School in Georgia for 10 years.

Dr. Chandler currently serves the NSCA as the Editor in Chief of the Strength and Conditioning Journal, the professional journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, serving in that position since 1998. He previously served the NSCA as research committee member (1989-1995), research committee chair (1995-1998), editor of Performance Training Journal (online), and editor of Tactical Strength and Conditioning Report (online). Jeff was recognized as a Fellow of the National Strength and Conditioning Association in 2007.

Alvin Roy Award for Career Achievement

The Alvin Roy Award for Career Achievement was created in honor of Alvin Roy, who helped establish strength and conditioning as the cornerstone of any training program, and has been awarded since 1986. Roy was one of the first coaches to prove that lifting weights would improve both speed and power, and he helped debunk the myth that lifting weights made athletes slower. In his honor, this esteemed award is given to an individual whose career achievements made a substantial impact on the scientific understanding, methodologies, and practice of resistance training as a component of sports conditioning. The Board of Directors is honored to announce the 2019 recipient is Thomas R. Baechle, EdD, CSCS, *D (R), NSCA-CPT, *D (R)

As one of the “founding fathers of the NSCA” he followed Boyd Epley as the association’s second president (1983-85), was the Director of Education from 1985-90, the Executive Director of the NSCA Certification Commission from 1991-2007, and served on numerous committees.

Dr. Baechle is the primary or secondary author or editor or co-editor of 17 books on strength training, some of which have been translated into 10 languages. Perhaps most noteworthy are his publications efforts as editor and author of several chapters in the first edition of the Essentials of Strength and Conditioning text. At the time of its publication in 1994 this book’s 554 pages and 35 chapters represented the most comprehensive book on strength training and conditioning published.

Dr. Baechle has received over 40 awards for his service to local, national and international professional organizations, and Creighton University where he served as chair of the Department of Exercise Science and Pre-Health Professions for 38 years, and currently holds the rank of Professor Emeritus there.

At the time of his retirement from the NSCA Certification Commission in 2007, certification exams were being administered at over 700 national exam sites and at 29 international sites, and there were 32,637 professionals who held either the CSCS or NSCA-CPT credential.

NSCA Impact Award

The NSCA Impact Award, awarded since 1997, is given to an individual whose career has greatly contributed to the advancement of the national or international strength and conditioning, or fitness industries. The 2019 recipient, as selected by the Board of Directors, is Jerry L. Mayhew, PhD.

For over four decades, Dr. Mayhew has served the students and faculty of Truman State University where he is currently a Professor of Exercise Science. He received his Bachelors in Physical Education from Appalachian State University and his Masters and PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Illinois, Champaign.

In 1986, he became a member of the NSCA and has served as Senior Editor for the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research since 2006. He has also served as an NSCA Missouri State Advisory Board Member. Dr. Mayhew has had 178 presentations at the NSCA National Conference since 1987. Additionally, he has published 246 articles, 41 of which are in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

“Congratulations to all the award winners for these well-deserved awards,” said NSCA Executive Director Michael Massik. “Each of these individuals have changed many lives and exemplify what it is to be an NSCA professional. We are proud to have them as part of our community.”

Each of the award winners will be formally recognized at the NSCA’s National Conference which will be held from July 10-13, 2019 in Washington, DC.


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