Dr. Tim Taft has made a unique contribution to the NCHSAA through his work in sports medicine. A graduate of Kirkwood High in Missouri and Princeton University, Dr. Taft spent 35 years on the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina, but during that time was very involved in athletics.  He was a varsity team physician and senior orthopedic surgeon for many teams at UNC, but also served as the medical director of the Special Olympics State Games for many years. He has been a team physician at the Olympic Games and for a number of USA teams in international competition in swimming and men’s and women’s basketball. Through all of that, however, Dr. Taft stayed involved with the NCHSAA, first a sports medicine advisor to the executive director and then on the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, and he also served as an on-site physician for many NCHSAA state championships. He has previously received a Distinguished Service Award and the Elton Hawley Award for sports medicine from the NCHSAA.