NSCA Alvin Roy Award for Career Legacy
This is the highest award presented by the NSCA for Career Legacy 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 2026 Winner
Bud S. Bjornaraa
Bud S. Bjornaraa is a retired high school teacher and coach whose career in education, coaching, and strength and conditioning spans more than four decades. After completing 41 years as a professional educator and coach, Bjornaraa continued serving as an instructor for a career program in carpentry and construction before volunteering in track and field at Pequot Lakes High School from 2013 to the present. As of 2026, he is in his 65th year of coaching.
Bjornaraa served 23 years at Apple Valley High School, where he was a physical education instructor, sports medicine advisor, head strength and conditioning coordinator, assistant football coach, and head track and field coach. While at Apple Valley, his track and field teams never finished lower than second place in the conference and won 17 consecutive conference championships. His teams also won five consecutive state team championships from 1988 to 1992, with the 1991 team recognized by track and field historians as the best team in Minnesota history.
Bjornaraa’s honors include Minnesota Track and Field Coach of the Year, Minnesota Assistant Football Coach of the Year, Minnesota State Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year, the 1999 NSCA High School Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year, induction into multiple halls of fame, and Minnesota Track and Field Volunteer Coach of the Year. He is also the author of Weight Training Systematized and Systematic Applications of Strength Training and Conditioning.
2025 Winner
Jan Todd, PhD
2024 Winner
William Kraemer
2023 Winner
Vladimir Zatsiorsky, PhD
2022 - 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
- Privacy Policy
- Your Privacy Choices
- Terms of Use
- Retraction and Correction Policy
- © 2026 National Strength and Conditioning Association