HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 300 Offered February 10, 2006 Commending Dr. Joe Gieck. ---------- Patrons-- Toscano, Bell, Janis and Wittman; Senator: Deeds ----------

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck has devoted his life to making athletic participation safer for the youth of the Commonwealth and the nation; and

WHEREAS, for over 40 years, Joe Gieck has served as the head athletic trainer at the University of Virginia and has also served as the program director of the Sports Medicine/Athletic Training program and as professor of human services and clinical professor of orthopaedic surgery; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck earned a bachelor of science degree in physical therapy from the University of Oklahoma in 1961, a master's of education degree in 1965, and a doctorate in education in 1975, both from the University of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck has worked tirelessly caring for and advising injured athletes at all age levels of participation in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck is recognized as a founding father of athletic training and sports medicine in the Commonwealth and the nation; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck organized and taught the first student athletic training clinics offered in the Commonwealth and has trained many student athletic trainers who have made athletic participation safer throughout the Commonwealth and the nation; and

WHEREAS, for over 40 years, Joe Gieck has educated students, athletes, coaches, athletic trainers, and other health care professionals in the prevention, care, and rehabilitation of injured athletes; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck organized the Virginia Athletic Trainers’ Association and was elected as its first president; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck served as president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) in 1970, was honored as NATA's College Athletic Trainer of the Year in 1979, its Distinguished Educator of the Year in 1986, and inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame in 1990; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck received the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s Distinguished Service Award for Athletic Training in 1993; and

WHEREAS, because of his dedication and enormous contribution to sports medicine, the University of Virginia honored Joe Gieck in 1999 by establishing the Joe H. Gieck Professorship in Sports Medicine endowment, currently the first and only such chair in the nation; and

WHEREAS, Joe Gieck has served on the Advisory Board on Physical Therapy for the Commonwealth of Virginia and on the Governor’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sport; and

WHEREAS, on September 1, 2005, Joe Gieck retired from the University of Virginia, but remains active in the life of the university and continues to reside in Charlottesville with his wife, Sally; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Dr. Joe Gieck on his long and exceptional career and his outstanding service to the University of Virginia and the citizens of the Commonwealth; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Dr. Joe Gieck as an expression of the General Assembly’s best wishes for a joyful and fulfilling retirement.