Professional
athletic trainers like Mike Linkovich play a vital role in sports
medicine, and the careers of top athletes depend on their skills. Mike was a basketball
star at Monaca High School before serving in the Army from 1942 to
1946. He received his bachelor’s degree in physical education in
1953 from Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia and his master’s
degree in 1954 at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Mike became
head trainer at Bowdoin College, Maine, in 1954. Mike worked at
the United States Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs in
1979 and served as a trainer in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake
Placid, New York, that was highlighted by the US hockey team’s upset
of the Soviets. Mike was also named a trainer for
the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but missed that opportunity when
the United States boycotted the games. He was later a trainer for
the 1981 National Sports Festival in Syracuse, New York. A former
president of the Eastern Athletic Trainers Association, Mike also
was a former New England regional director of the National
Athletic Trainers Association and served as a director of
the Bike Training Room Foundation and the NATA grant and scholarship
committee. Mike was recognized as one of the top trainers in the
country and was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers Hall of
Fame in 1982.
Professional
athletic trainers like Mike Linkovich play a vital role in sports
medicine, and the careers of top athletes depend on their skills. Mike was a basketball
star at Monaca High School before serving in the Army from 1942 to
1946. He received his bachelor’s degree in physical education in
1953 from Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia and his master’s
degree in 1954 at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Mike became
head trainer at Bowdoin College, Maine, in 1954. Mike worked at
the United States Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs in
1979 and served as a trainer in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake
Placid, New York, that was highlighted by the US hockey team’s upset
of the Soviets. Mike was also named a trainer for
the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but missed that opportunity when
the United States boycotted the games. He was later a trainer for
the 1981 National Sports Festival in Syracuse, New York. A former
president of the Eastern Athletic Trainers Association, Mike also
was a former New England regional director of the National
Athletic Trainers Association and served as a director of
the Bike Training Room Foundation and the NATA grant and scholarship
committee. Mike was recognized as one of the top trainers in the
country and was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers Hall of
Fame in 1982.