Fall Conference
History
Welcome to NEACSM’s History Webpage. In 2013 NEACSM formed an ad hoc committee to begin gathering materials to help capture the rich history of NEACSM over the past 40 years. In that time we have gathered pictures, MAX! Newsletters, annual reports and many other items along the way to help us tell NEACSM’s history. Additionally we have conducted interviews, both personally and electronically to further capture our history.
This is an ongoing project that has now become a standing committee and one that we foresee continuing for quite a while into the future. If you have any items that you think would be valuable for us, please share them. In the meantime, please enjoy the following materials available to present on this website:
Meet our Past Presidents
Browse reflections by many of our Past Presidents, who have provided insight on their own personal experiences in the field.
2023: Marisa Hastie, PhD, FACSM
2022: Colleen Munoz, PhD
2021: Elizabeth O'Neill, DPE
2019: Dain Laroche, PhD, FACSM
2018: Jason Melnyk, PhD
2017: Janet Whatley-Blum, ScD
2016: Melissa Roti, PhD, FACSM
2015: Lara Carlson, PhD, FACSM
2014: Sean Walsh, PhD, FACSM
2013: Jeffrey M. Anderson, MD, FACSM
2012: William J. Kraemer, PhD, FACSM
2011: Laurie Milliken, PhD, FACSM
2010: Robert Kenefick, PhD, FACSM
2009: Jaci L. VanHeest, PhD
2008: Peter Ronai, MS, FACSM
2007: Lara Carlson, PhD, FACSM
2006: Declan AJ Connolly, PhD, FACSM
2005: Charlie Chatterton, PhD, FACSM
2004: John Castellani, PhD, FACSM
2003: Stella Lucia Volpe, PhD, FACSM
2002: Nancy E. O'Hare, ScD, FACSM, MBA
2001: Deborah Riebe, PhD, FACSM
2000: Patty Freedson, PhD, FACSM
1999: Kyle McInnis, ScD, FACSM
1998: Dino Costanzo, MA, FACSM
1997: Mary Jane DeSouza, PhD, FACSM
1996: Robert S. Axtell, PhD, FACSM
1995: Priscilla M. Clarkson, PhD, FACSM
1994: Carl M. Maresh, PhD, FACSM
1993: Bernie Clark, MD, FACSM
1992: Lawrence E. Armstrong, PhD, FACSM
1991: Linda Pescatello, PhD, FACSM
1990: Thomas Manfredi, PhD
1989: Carol Ewing Garber, PhD, FACSM
1988: Thomas Rowland, MD, FACSM
1987: Donald A. Mahler, MD
1986: David N. Camaione, PhD, FACSM
1985: Gary S. Skrinar, PhD, FACSM
1984: Beverly Bullen, ScD
1983: Lee Cunningham, DPE, FACSM
1982: Robert Cantu, MD, FACSM
1981: W. Jay Gillespie, EdD, FACSM
1980: Lyle Micheli, MD, FACSM
1979: Lorraine Bloomquist, EdD, FACSM
1978: James A. Vogel, PhD
1977: Carl S. Christensen, PhD, FACSM
1976: Michael Goldman, MD
1975: Roger G. Soule, PhD
1974: L. Howard Hartley, MD
1973: Wayne E. Sinning, PhD
NEACSM’s History Overview
NEACSM Student Award History
NEACSM’s Origins
By Howard “Skip” Knuttgen
“In the early 1960’s, there weren’t more than a dozen persons in the six New England states involved in research in exercise physiology. For the next few years, the number of such persons grew slowly. In 1965, I (Skip Knuttgen) organized an “Exercise Physiology Group” that consisted of approximately 20 physicians and scientists who were working in New England in the conduct of research in exercise physiology. (It can be noted that “biomechanics” didn’t exist at that time either as an area of research or as a scientific term related to sport and exercise performance!) The physicians and scientists came from Boston University, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts, Springfield College, the U.S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (Natick, Mass.), and the Pierce Foundation Laboratory (New Haven). We began to meet on one occasion per year with each meeting hosted by one of the locations. The one-day meeting consisted of a full-day scientific program with the presentation of research papers and a social luncheon, usually with a guest speaker. The first meeting was held at Boston University and the guest speaker was Prof. Will Forbes, MD, PhD, then retired but, at one time, the Director of the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory. Eventually, other individuals interested in exercise physiology and sports medicine appeared at Northeastern University, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Connecticut and they were included in the group that continued for another 8 years. When the American College of Sports Medicine decided in 1972 to organize a program of regional chapters, we in New England gave the reply that we already had the equivalent of a regional chapter that was well-organized, energetic, and productive. The meeting of the Exercise Physiology Group in 1973 was hosted at Springfield College and it was decided to obtain the approval of our Group by the ACSM as the regional chapter for the six New England States. This is how the New England Regional Chapter of ACSM came to be.”
According to Carl Christensen:
“The one thing I do remember from our exercise sciences interest group was in one of the meetings we were discussing who would be the president etc of the organization (NEACSM) and it was decided that in turn the five members at the table would be the first to serve. I became the last of the five to serve!”