NSCA Alvin Roy Award for Career AchIEVEMENT
This is the highest award presented by the NSCA for Career Achievement in the field of strength and conditioning. This esteemed award is given to an individual, whose career achievements have made a clear and lasting legacy on the practice, scientific understanding, or methodologies of strength and conditioning. The NSCA Board of Directors carefully deliberates to select the recipient of this prestigious award.
The Award's Namesake
Alvin Roy helped establish strength and conditioning as an integral part of any training program. 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.
Awardee Selection
The NSCA Board of Directors carefully deliberates to select the recipient of this prestigious award. Consideration is given in the following areas:
Overall Impact: How the nominee has significantly impacted the practice, scientific understanding, or methodologies of strength and conditioning.
Pioneering Qualities: How the work done by the individual was unique, innovative, and impactful and has left a clear legacy on the field of strength and conditioning.
NSCA Mission Alignment: How the nominee’s work has aligned with the NSCA’s mission (or if pre NSCA, their work would support the mission and goals of the NSCA today).
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
| Nominee should have 40 years of professional experience |
| Nominee does not have to be a current or past member of the NSCA |
| Individuals must be nominated by a current member of the Board of Directors but recommendations may be submitted to the Board by any current member of the Association |
| Nominations must be accompanied by a brief supporting statement regarding the nominee’s qualifications for consideration for the award |
| Nominations and recommendations must be received by December 15 to be considered for the following year’s award |
| The award may be given posthumously |
While the NSCA does not solicit nominations from the NSCA membership at-large for Career Awards, NSCA members may submit recommendations for the Board's consideration.
Alvin Roy Award Recipients
Congratulations to Our 2025 Winner
Jan Todd, PhD
Professor Jan Todd is Chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education and Director of the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports at the University of Texas at Austin (UT). She co-founded the Stark Center, a premier research archive and museum dedicated to strength training and physical culture history. Widely recognized as a pioneer in strength sports, Dr. Todd set over 60 national and world powerlifting records, becoming the first woman to officially squat over 500 pounds, deadlift over 400 pounds, and total lifts of 1,000, 1,100, and 1,200 pounds. Her groundbreaking achievements earned coverage in Sports Illustrated and the Guinness Book of World Records for over a decade. She was also the first woman to lift Scotland’s famed Dinnie Stones.
Dr. Todd further advanced women's roles in strength training, becoming America’s first female collegiate strength coach at Auburn University in 1980 and the first woman to coach men’s and women’s national powerlifting teams to international championship victories. Her leadership significantly shaped the early acceptance of women in powerlifting. At UT, Dr. Todd established the PhD Program in Physical Culture and Sport Studies, mentoring over 70 graduate students. She is the executive editor of Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications, and co-authored influential books, including Strength Coaching in America in 2019.
Her significant contributions have led to induction into the International Powerlifting Hall of Fame, USA-PL Women's Powerlifting Hall of Fame, and recognition from the Arnold Sports Festival with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Todd continues to actively promote strength sports internationally, directing the Arnold Strongman Classic and organizing global strength competitions.
2024 Winner
William Kraemer
2023 Winner
Vladimir Zatsiorsky, PhD
2022 Winner
Mike Greenwood, PhD, CSCS,*D, FNSCA
2021 - Louie Simmons
2020 - Michael H. Stone, PhD, CSCS, *D, FNScA
2019 - Dr. Thomas R. Baechle, CSCS,*D (R), NSCA-CPT,*D (R)
2018 - Mel Siff, PhD
2017 - Terry Todd, PhD
2016 - Donald Chu, PhD, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT,*D, FNSCA
2015 - Gayle Hatch
2014 - Dr. Tudor Bompa, PhD
2013 - Thomas DeLorme, PhD
2007 - John Patrick O’Shea, PhD
2004 - Edmund J. Burke, PhD, CSCS
2000 - John Grimek
1995 - John Terpak, Sr.
1993 - Peary Rader
1987 - Bob Hoffman
1986 - Alvin Roy
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