National Strength and Conditioning Association Announces 2019 Career Awards

Colorado Springs, CO – The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) is proud to announce the winners of the organization’s 2019 career awards. These distinguished awards are handed each year to those individuals who have made significant contributions to the strength and conditioning community throughout their careers. 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.

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.

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. 

Dr. Chandler is a certified strength and conditioning coach and a certified personal trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.  He served as a member of the United States Tennis Association Sport Science Committee from 2009-2012.  He has served on the sport science advisory committee for the Professional Tennis Registry since 1989.  Jeff was also recognized as a Fellow by the North American Society of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance Professionals and a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.  He has over 150 presentations and publications in the field. 

He is married to his wife Pam, and has two children, Britt and Kate, and has three grandchildren.

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 (1983-1985), was the Director of Education from 1985-1990, 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. He also was a co-editor and chapter author of its 2 subsequent editions, and served in a similar role in the publication of the first edition of the NSCA’s Essentials of Personal Training text. In 2007 he received the Outstanding Writing Achievements in Sport and Exercise Science Award from Human Kinetics, recognizing sales of over 500,000 copies of his books. He has had 80 articles and chapters published, and has made over 170 presentations related to strength training, fitness, and wellness; 40 of which were international presentations.

Perhaps Baechle’s most significant contributions to the strength and conditioning profession and the NSCA are related to his efforts to establish the NSCA’s CSCS and NSCA-CPT certification programs, as premier certification credentials, which he credits to the work of loyal committee volunteers. His/their efforts associated with developing the content of the CSCS exam, importantly, also served to identify and validate the scope of practice for the strength and conditioning profession. The CSCS and NSCA-CPT certifications were the first fitness-related certifications to acquire national accreditation through the National Commission for Certifying Agencies and, to date, are the only ones to have earned world-wide accreditation through the International Standards Organization.

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. His NSCA service awards include Region IV NSCA Strength Coach of the Year in 1982 and 1983, the Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year in 1984, the President’s Award in 1986, 1991 and 1993, the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, Service Award from the NSCA Certification Commission 2007, and the Hall of Fame and the Pioneer’s Award at the South Dakota and Nebraska State Clinics in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

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.

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.”

The NSCA is the worldwide authority on strength and conditioning, and for more information regarding NSCA and their awards, please visit www.nsca.com.

Media Note: To schedule an interview or to arrange to cover the NSCA’s National Conference, contact Marketing@nsca.com.

About the National Strength & Conditioning Association

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) is an international nonprofit professional association founded in 1978 and is dedicated to advancing the strength and conditioning profession around the world.

The NSCA advances the profession by supporting strength and conditioning professionals devoted to helping others discover and maximize their strengths. The organization disseminates research-based knowledge and its practical application by offering industry-leading certifications, research journals, career development services, and continuing education opportunities. The NSCA community is composed of more than 45,000 members and certified professionals who further industry standards as researchers, educators, strength coaches, personal trainers, and other roles in related fields.

Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the NSCA serves as a valuable resource for its members, the fitness industry, general public, and the media. The association provides a wide variety of resources and opportunities designed to strengthen, build, advance, and unify.