The late Mr. Medlar, who passed away in 1999, spent 35 years working as an athletic trainer at the Pennsylvania State University, working primarily with their football team. He was a strong professional baseball prospect who was injured and continued in athletics, after a tour in the military in WW II, to help establish the foundation of the athletic health care system at Penn State University. Additionally, he served as its Head Baseball coach for 15 years. His teams were always ready to play hard and they never let up regardless of the score. He was a strong critic of any care that was less than meeting a high standard. When he spoke to you, his large size and firm manner forced you to listen. Athletes, student trainers and coaches knew who the boss was in the athletic training room. Yet, his love of his peers in the profession made it easy for them to converse with him. For those he trusted, he was a frequent advisor. He was unique in that he taped knees and ankles while he was sitting down on a stool. He was at Penn State long enough to work with four different Head Football coaches. The respect he earned from the Penn State coaches was the same as they gave to their assistant coaches and his recommendations about a player’s readiness to play was rarely questioned. He was in every way a man’s man. He left little doubt about the importance that he felt for both the Eastern Athletic Trainer’s Association and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. He was and early organizer in both organizations. He was an attendee at the very first EATA and NATA conventions in 1949 and 1950. He was the Head Athletic Trainer for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Dr. David Joyner accepted Mr. Medlar’s honor.

The late Dr. Moyer, who passed away in 1976, was the Team Physician for three schools simultaneously, (Germantown Academy, North Penn High School, and Lafayette College). Dr. Moyer is honored as the first physician inducted into the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Hall of Fame. He was one of the first to organize a sports medicine symposium, the Germantown Sports Medicine Symposium. The faculty of each symposium was eclectic in makeup with speakers from every profession that impacted the health care of athletes. He was a man of renaissance proportions who brought his vast knowledge of medicine, the classics, and the arts to form a love affair with athletes. He appreciated the beauty of it and its participants and the effect of exercise on the body. He acted in plays and wrote plays. His extensive library of more than 5,000 volumes contained subject matter that extended will beyond anyone’s imagination. He was a founding trustee for the American College of Sports Medicine. He was a great friend of the Athletic Trainer. He pushed for every secondary school to have an athletic trainer. He praised their work in all the sports medicine talks he gave to both medical and civic groups. He was a strong, early supporter for national certification of athletic trainers. It would be easy to underestimate the exact magnitude of his contributions to the development of sports medicine in the State and the nation because all of his efforts occurred before 1975. From 1960 to 1975, there was no stronger advocate for athletic trainers and the search for better ways to provide the best health care for athletes. The EATA’s most prestige award is named after Dr. Moyer and is presented annually to the team physician who goes “beyond the practice of medicine and gives of his/herself as a humanitarian to the community to improve the quality of life in general”. Dr. Moyer’s daughter Ms. Elizabeth J. Moyer accepted his honor.

Every athletic trainer serving in a clinic setting today owes a big debt of gratitude for Ted opening that door of opportunity. Mr. Quedenfeld is credited with developing the first University/Hospital based Sports Medicine Center and the first Clinic Based outreach program for high school athletes in the United States. The direct result of his significant achievement was the creation of jobs for athletic trainers outside the “traditional setting.” This single event marked a milestone in the history of our profession. Mr. Quedenfeld is widely recognized as the father of the ‘clinical athletic trainer” in the United States. More than 50% of all athletic trainers nationally are employed in a nontraditional clinical athletic training/sports medicine setting. This demonstrates more so than anything else the impact of Ted’s pioneering move from the traditional setting. His example and encouragement taught untold numbers of physicians how to duplicate his clinical structure with staffing by athletic trainers. No one ever doubted where Ted stood on any issue, he told you straight out and loud. A deeply religious person who was extremely loyal to his colleagues and those he worked for. The designs of most sports medicine clinics today are mild variations of those that Ted designed for Temple University Hospital. In the early days, no one thought patients would come for health care to a place that looked like an athletic training room. He was the Head Athletic Trainer at Temple University for 16 years and then moved onto Temple University Center for Sports Medicine as their Administrative Director for 20 years. Mr. Quedenfeld was President of EATA and inducted into Temple University’s Hall of Fame. He is the author of many of our Society’s original documents and was instrumental in the early organizational efforts of Pennsylvania athletic trainers.

The late Mr. Sheridan spent over 30 years as an athletic trainer at Phillipsburg High School and Lafayette College. He along with his friend and professional colleague, Dr. David George Moyer, established a strong formal athletic health care service for Lafayette College. He was a regular presenter at coaching clinics, athletic training seminars and strongly involved in our Eastern and National organizations, serving as District II Director for two terms. One of Mr. Sheridan’s fellow inductees felt that Fran had the neatest athletic training room he had ever been in, everything with a place and everything in its place. Because Fran was a licensed Physical Therapist in New Jersey he felt he needed to establish the same type of environment in the athletic training room. Always in a white uniform he presented an obvious sign of cleanliness and order in his manner. He was always around professional meetings, supporting them and presenting various topics. He liked the political challenges provided by his role as NATA District II Director. He was very involved in placing athletic trainers and working for the welfare of members of our profession. Mr. Sheridan devoted a great deal of his free time to international events. These included: Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, AAU Track and Field Team, (which toured Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union), and as an athletic trainer for the US Olympic Track and Field Team which competed against the Soviet Union after the 1976 Olympics. He is also a member of the NATA Hall of Fame. Mr. Sheridan’s daughter Mrs. Peggy Harrison accepted his honor.

Mr. Vogelsong served as an athletic trainer for 34 years at Mechanicsburg High School and Dickinson College. He is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame. Mr. Vogelsong was a founding member of our State Society in 1976. He was an early pioneer in the organization of sports medicine meetings to educate coaches. Never one to lead a parade, to call attention to himself or his efforts but let others rave about how much they learned from him and achievements of athletes he cared for. A shinning example of the model small college athletic trainer set in a time when many large Universities and colleges had no athletic trainer. Mr. Vogelsong set a high standard, a real pioneer in our State and profession. He had a quiet manner that often hid his expertise and he was not flamboyant. A believer in neat and tidy athletic training rooms, he once scolded a salesman for bringing a gift of powdered donuts into the room because it was too messy. He had the perfect personality for a caregiver. It was at Dickinson College where he provided student-athletes with much more than his services as an athletic trainer. He opened his home and befriended countless student-athletes there. He was inducted into the Dickinson College Sports Hall of Fame.

The late Mr. Waite spent the majority of his athletic training career at the University of Pittsburgh. He served as NATA District II Director and is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame. When he came to the University of Pittsburgh he was suffering from crippling arthritis in his hip. Along with his close friend, a polio victim, Dr. William Smith, the developed and amazingly effective athletic health care service. They invented and patented supports and braces for protecting and enhancing athletic activity. Pitt football fans finally got used to seeing the limping athletic trainer and limping doctor make their way onto the field to help an injured player because their reputation for excellent care was common knowledge in Pittsburgh and elsewhere. He was an early organizer of our Eastern and National organizations. He was a mild mannered man who coached the athletes with information and reason. They were usually quick to respond to his directions because of his successful record. He was very savvy about the life styles of athletes and knew how to motivate them to avoid making their conditions worse. The coaching staffs considered him to be more valuable than any coach. He left the University of Colorado in the late 30’s to go to Pitt. While at Colorado he took care of the All-American, Wizzar White and was a life long friend of the Supreme Court Justice. Howard was never too busy to listen and he carefully analyzed new and relative information. He was a warm and gracious, caring man. He had time for everyone and felt he needed to listen to everyone so he would be well advised for any situation. He treated everyone the same, as equals. Mr. Willie Myers accepted Mr. Waite’s honor.