NSCA Announces 2018 Career Awards

June 11, 2018 

Colorado Springs, CO – The National Strength and Conditioning Association is proud to announce the winners of the organization’s 2018 career awards. These distinguished awards are handed out 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 11-14, 2018 in Indianapolis, IN.

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 2018 recipient as Andrew C. Fry, PhD, CSCS,*D, FNSCA.

Dr. Fry is a Professor of Exercise Physiology at the University of Kansas. He received his degrees from Nebraska Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Penn State University, followed by two years of post-doctoral training at Ohio University.

Dr. Fry was a faculty member at The University of Memphis for 13 years, where he was Director of the Exercise Biochemistry Laboratory. In 2007, he relocated to the University of Kansas, and in 2008, in collaboration with KU Athletics, he co-founded the Research and Coaching Performance Team to address sport performance research needs for KU student-athletes.

Recently, he helped create the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory to further study sport performance.  Dr. Fry has been a board member and vice-president of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and President of the Central States Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine. He is married to Dr. Mary Fry, a sport and exercise psychologist, and has two children, Jared (age 20) and Lindsey (age 18).

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 2018 recipient as Dr. Mel Siff. 

Dr. Siff, who passed away in 2003, was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand (popularly known as 'Wits' university), Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was on its staff for about 30 years. 

He had a PhD in physiology specializing in biomechanics, MSc (Applied Mathematics) awarded summa cum laude in brain research, and a BSc Honors in Applied Mathematics. His serious involvement with the Internet began when he devised the unique concept of electronic education in sports science based on methods of propositional analysis pioneered by the ancient Greek philosophers. This enterprise created the well-known weekly P&P's (Puzzles & Paradoxes) and F&F's (Facts & Fallacies) which he wrote for various user groups, including Sportscience, Physio, PTHER, FIT-L, Sport Psycho and Weights. 

His main teaching duties at his university were in applied mechanics, biomechanics, and professional communication. Previous appointments included Acting Headships of the Sports Administration and the Communication Studies Division at his university, the latter post having involved him in researching communication models, the visual image, human symbol systems, and language processing. Besides lecturing to engineering students, he regularly lectured to physiotherapy and physical education students at several universities in his country. 

He presented numerous papers at over 100 conferences in sports science, sports medicine, physiology, physical education, ergonomics, engineering, psychology, communication, and linguistics. He wrote more than 150 papers and books in these disciplines and addressed numerous conferences of the NSCA in the USA and Australia, as well as IDEA in the USA and the Exercise Association in England. 

After several working visits to Russia, he and renowned Russian scientist, Dr Yuri Verkhoshansky, wrote the major textbook Supertraining - Special Strength Training for Sporting Excellence. This extensive volume offers one of the few definitive treatises available on integrated Western-Eastern methods of sports training. His other book Facts and Fallacies of Fitness became very popular among fitness professionals and the general public.

Dr. Siff was a member of the Technical Committee of the Australian Strength & Conditioning Association, as well as a member of the NSCA, the Coaching Association of Canada, the US Weightlifting Federation, and the Australian Coaching Council.

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 2018 recipient, as selected by the Board of Directors, is Mike Arthur, CSCS, RSCC*E.

Arthur is the Director of Strength and Conditioning Performance Research for the University of Nebraska Athletic Department. He joined the athletic staff as an assistant strength and conditioning coach under Body Epley in 1976.

His expertise in programing and implementation of strength and conditioning methods has affected every sport at Nebraska. Arthur has been a key factor in many innovations that have made Husker Power one of the most respected strength and conditioning programs in the nation. His applied research helps Nebraska stay on the cutting edge. He co-authored the book, Complete Conditioning for Football.

Arthur is one of the 76 Charter members of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He received the Collegiate Strength Coach-of-the-Year award from the Professional Football Strength Coaches Society in 1995. He was also one of the initial inductees to the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003. As a former powerlifter, he also held the World Record in the Deadlift.

“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.