Visvaldis George Nagobads (born November 18, 1921) is an American physician. He was born in Latvia, earned a medical degree from the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

in Germany, then emigrated to the United States in 1951. He served 34 years as the team physician for

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. They are members of the Big Ten Conference and compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

and was a part of three

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

championship teams. He also served as the physician for the US men's national team at five Winter Olympics and was on the

Miracle on Ice The "Miracle on Ice" was an ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It was played between the hosting United States and the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980, during the medal round of the men's hockey tourna ...

team which won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. His other work has included

chief medical officer Chief medical officer (CMO) is the title used in many countries for the senior government official designated head of medical services, sometimes at the national level. The post is held by a physician who serves to advise and lead a team of medical ...

for

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the Sport governing body, governing body for organized ice ...

, the medical committee for the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

, and team physician for the

Minnesota Fighting Saints The Minnesota Fighting Saints was the name of two professional ice hockey teams based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that played in the World Hockey Association. The first team was one of the WHA's original twelve franchises, playing from 1972 to 19 ...

and

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

. His career was recognized with the

Paul Loicq Award The Paul Loicq Award is presented annually by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to honour a person who has made "outstanding contributions to the IIHF and international ice hockey". Named after Paul Loicq, who was president of the I ...

for contributions to international hockey, induction into the Golden Gophers Hockey Hall of Fame, and induction into the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and ...

as an individual and as a member of the US men's national team.

Early life and education

Visvaldis George Nagobads was born on November 18, 1921, in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, Latvia.; He played

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

and

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

as a youth in Latvia. While in high school, he chose to become a doctor and follow in his uncle's footsteps. His family fled to Germany due to the

Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 The Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 refers to the military occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1944. During World War II Latvia was first occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, then was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941–1944 ...

. Nagobads studied at the

in Germany and earned his medical degree. After World War II, he worked on a mobile

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

unit for an international refugee organization in France which assisted in diagnosis of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. He had lunch one day with a

Christian minister In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidanc ...

from Minnesota who recommended moving to the United States since employment in the medical field was easier to get. He and his wife moved to Minnesota in June 1951. He worked as a hospital

orderly In healthcare, an orderly (also known as a ward assistant, nurse assistant or healthcare assistant) is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and nursing staff with various nursing and medical interventions. The highest ro ...

while he learned English, then completed his surgical residency, then began working for student health services at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1956.

Minnesota ice hockey career

Nagobads was recommended for the university's ice hockey programs by Ruth Boynton, the director of student health service. He served as the team physician for

for 34 years from 1958 to 1992, and was a part of three

national championship teams. In an interview in 2008, Nagobads recalled that he enjoyed caring about the athletes and specialized in knee and shoulder injuries. He worked with several coaches for the Golden Gophers, including

Herb Brooks Herbert Paul Brooks Jr. (August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach. His most notable achievement came in 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at Lake Placid. At the Games, Brooks' ...

Glen Sonmor Glen Robert Sonmor (April 22, 1929 – December 14, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, scout and coach. He played 28 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers from 1953 to 1955, though most of his career was ...

Brad Buetow Bradly Buetow (born October 28, 1950) is a retired ice hockey player and coach. In college, he played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. He played 25 regular season games in the World Hockey Association for the Cleveland Crusaders and 37 games ...

, and

Doug Woog Douglas William Woog (January 28, 1944 – December 14, 2019) was an American ice hockey coach and broadcaster. He was a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, inducted in 2002. Woog was coach of the University of Minnesota Golden Goph ...

. Nagobads considered Brooks to be family and stated, "I really appreciated the way Herbie always treated the players, and for me, he was just like my son". Nagobads was also the team physician for the

in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

from 1973 to 1976, and the

in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

from 1984 to 1992.

International ice hockey career

Nagobads served as the physician for the US men's national team at five Winter Olympics from 1968 to 1988, and at 15 other international tournaments from 1967 to 1990. He was also the physician for the US men's junior national team at five World Junior championships, and the US women's national team when it was established in 1990. He was the

for

from 1984 to 1992, and has sat on the Safety and Protective Equipment Committee for USA Hockey since 1984. He also served on the

(IIHF) Medical Committee from 1990 to 2010, and assisted with programs to eliminate

doping in sport In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs by athletic competitors as a way of cheating in sports. The term ''doping'' is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. The use of ...

. In advance of the

ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, United States, was the 14th Olympic Championship. Twelve teams competed in the tournament, which was held from February 12 to 24, 1980. The United States won its secon ...

, Nagobads suggested to Herb Brooks that

Mike Eruzione Michael Anthony "Rizz, Rizzo" Eruzione (, , born October 25, 1954) is an American former ice hockey player. He is best known as the captain of the 1980 Winter Olympics United States national team that defeated the Soviet Union in the famous "Mir ...

be named the US men's national team captain due to his leadership skills. Nagobads also welcome goaltender Jim Craig into this house, who wanted to live with a family while the national team trained. The US men's national team won the Olympic gold medal in 1980, which included a 4–3 victory over the Soviet Union national team known as the

. Brooks wanted his team to play on

lines Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

lasting 40 seconds or less to stay energized by the third period. Nagobads stood beside Brooks with a stopwatch tracking the ice time for the players, and later joked that he never saw the game since he was focused on the watch during the entire game. He skipped the post-game celebration to complete injury reports for the players, when he was approached by players on the Soviet team who asked for translation assistance to buy Moon Boots for their wives. Nagobads published his memoirs of the US men's national team in his 2004 book, ''Gold, Bronze, & Silver: A Doctor's Devotion to American Hockey''. In the 2004 film ''

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

'', actor

Kenneth Welsh Kenneth Welsh, (March 30, 1942 – May 5, 2022) was a Canadian film and television actor. He was best known as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle in ''Twin Peaks'', for his roles in the films ''The Day After Tomorrow'', '' Adoration'', ''Su ...

portrayed Nagobads in a story about the 1980 Winter Olympics team. In a 2010 interview, Nagobads stated that his fondest memories of hockey included the victory over the Soviet Union in 1980, and the subsequent gold medal victory in the final game versus the Finland national team.

Honors and legacy

Nagobads was known as the "hockey doc" during his 34-year tenure with the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team. He was made the namesake of the Dr. V. George Nagobads Unsung Hero Award in 1978, at the recommendation of Herb Brooks for annual recognition of a player on the team. In 2003, the IIHF recognized his career of contributions to international ice hockey with the

. In the same year, he was inducted into the

as a member of the US men's national team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. USA Hockey honored him with both the Distinguished Achievement Award and the Excellence in Safety Award in 2005. In 2010, he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame as an individual in the builder category. Nagobads was inducted into the Golden Gophers Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010. In a men's hockey pre-game ceremony on November 20, 2021, the Golden Gophers celebrated the 100th birthday for Nagobads, and recognized the 1974, 1976 and 1979 NCAA hockey championships won by the Golden Gophers. He was named the recipient of the 2021–22 State of Hockey Legacy Award, in recognition of long-term contributions to hockey in Minnesota, as given by the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

in partnership with

Minnesota Hockey Minnesota Hockey is the statewide governing body of amateur hockey in Minnesota and an affiliate of USA Hockey. Since 1947, Minnesota Hockey (formerly known as the Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association or MAHA) has been providing volunteer services ...

and

Bally Sports North Bally Sports North is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as a Bally Sports affiliate. The channel broadcasts coverage of sporting events involving teams located in the Upper Midwest region, with a focu ...

Personal life

Nagobads speaks five languages: English, Latvian, Russian, German and French. He has two daughters, and resides in

Edina, Minnesota Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...

. He was married to Velta Maria Nagobads until her death on September 12, 2005. She was interred in Crystal Lake Cemetery in Minneapolis. In April 2015, he was mugged while laying flowers and visiting his wife's grave. He escaped by throwing his wallet away, then drove himself to the hospital where he received 18 stitches on wounds to his head. In November 2015, Nagobads became an ambassador for the Kids First Fund and contributed to fostering safe environments for abused children worldwide. He turned 100 on November 18, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagobads, George 1921 births Living people 1980 US Olympic ice hockey team 20th-century American physicians American centenarians American sports physicians Ice hockey people from Minnesota International Ice Hockey Federation executives Latvian centenarians Latvian emigrants to the United States Latvian expatriates in Germany Men centenarians Minnesota Fighting Saints Minnesota Golden Gophers ice hockey Minnesota North Stars Paul Loicq Award recipients Physicians from Minnesota Physicians from Riga Sportspeople from Edina, Minnesota Sportspeople from Riga United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees University of Minnesota people University of Tübingen alumni USA Hockey