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Sports Medicine
The Tennessee Technological University Sports Medicine
Department is an integral part of the Athletics Department. The
Sports Medicine Department is made up of five full-time Certified
Athletic Trainers, two Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainers, and
several student athletic trainers. This staff is responsible for
the health and well-being of all 14 sports and more than 300
student-athletes.
The Head Athletic Trainer is Joe Erdeljac, MS, ATC, who is in his
fifth year at Tech. Also on his staff are assistant athletic
trainers David Boyd, Adam Graham, Randi Kaplan and Jessica
Vaughan.
The Sports Medicine Department also has a Registered Physical
Therapist on staff who works several days a week in a satellite
clinic. The Physical Therapist is here for the student-athletes,
the students and faculty on staff with the TTU community. This
service is just like any other Physical Therapy Clinic where there
is a fee for services, and most insurance is accepted.
Dr. Richard Williams is the University's Team Physician. He is
assisted by several local physicians, along with a Team Optometrist
and a Team Dentist.
Head Athletic Trainer Joe Erdeljac
Assistant Athletic Trainer Adam Graham
Assistant Athletic Trainer Randi Kaplan
Assistant Athletic Trainer Jessica Vaughan
Student-Athlete Forms
Assisting the Athletic Training Staff:
Dr. Richard Williams
Team Physician
Dr. Richard Williams, M.S., M.D., serves as the Team Physician for
Tennessee Tech student-athletes. A physician at Mid-State Sports
Medicine, Dr. Williams has specialized in sports medicine
throughout his professional medical career, including experience
with high school, college, Olympic and professional athletes. He
understands sports medicine from an athlete's point of view,
participating on track and field and basketball teams during his
high school and collegiate careers. A 1975 graduate of
Crawfordsville (Indiana) High School, Dr. Williams also spent one
year as a foreign exchange student in West Germany. He graduated
Cum Laude (A.B.) from Dartmouth College, and went on to earn an
M.S. degree in Medical and Molecular Genetics from Indiana
University, and an M.D. from the Indiana University School of
Medicine. Dr. Williams worked with the Indianapolis Colts training
camp and provided volunteer medical support for high school soccer
and football teams in Indianapolis during his senior year in
medical school, and also served as a research assistant at the
Methodist Sports Medicine Center. During his residency at the
University of Cincinnati Hospitals, Dr. Williams provided coverage
for local high school and college football teams, and worked
extensively with the University of Cincinnati athletic teams. He
earned an Orthopedic Sports Medicine Fellowship with Kentucky
Sports Medicine in Lexington, and during the 1994-95 season was the
team physician at Eastern Kentucky University, including primary
game coverage in football and basketball, and training room
coverage for all sports. He also worked with local high schools and
the University of Kentucky sports medicine staff, and had extensive
clinic and operating room experience in all aspects of sports
medicine care. Since 1995, Dr. Williams has been in practice in the
Upper Cumberland. He has assumed primary responsibility, training
room care and game coverage and injury treatment for all of
Tennessee Tech's athletic programs along with area high
schools.
Dr. James Talmage
General Practitioner/Consultant
Dr. James Talmage, M.D., has over a decade of providing a variety
of services to Tennessee Tech's more than 300 student-athletes as
general practitioner and consultant to the sports medicine staff.
Currently a physician at the Occupational Health Center, Dr.
Talmage moved to Cookeville in 1979 and has worked closely with the
Tech sports medicine staff since 1987. While working with all men
and women athletes, his primary area is the women's basketball
program. After graduating with a degree in Physiology from The Ohio
State University in 1968, he was Summa Cum Laude in 1972 from the
OSU medical school. He served a one-year internship at the Tripler
Army Medical Center in Honolulu, then served his residency at the
Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. His career in
practice began in 1977 at the Ireland Army Hospital at Fort Knox,
Ky., before moving to Cookeville in 1979 to begin work at Upper
Cumberland Orthopedic Surgery. He has since worked with Cookeville
Regional Medical Center, Family Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Group and Corporate Health Institute. He is Board Certified both in
orthopedic surgery and in emergency medicine, and among his
published works and lectures have been numerous items relating to
athletic injuries and sports medicine.
Dr. Mike Huddleston
Team Optometrist
Dr. Clark Childress
Team Dentist
