Interview with Dr. William Morgan ByTAC The annual Army-Navy football game is a classic college rivalry in every sense of the word. This game pits the United States Military Academy of West Point, New York, against the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. These elite academies are some of the most exclusive schools in the world requiring high academic scores, demonstrated leadership, athleticism, and an appointment from a congressional representative, senator, or the vice president of the United States. This American tradition dates back to 1890 when the two military academy football teams met for the first time on the gridiron. Since that original game, the annual meeting has grown into a national phenomenon now known as "America's Game. " The Army-Navy game, the last game played in the college football season, marks the end of the regular college football season on the second Saturday of December. This game frequently attracts the president and vice president to attend, and most certainly, the Secretaiy of the Navy, the Secretaiy of the Army, the Secretary of Defense, and a host of other military brass. Diehard college football fans watch this classic rivalry- every' December, and anyone who has ever attended an Army-Navy game will tell you that it is so much more than a game. It is truly a slice of Americana. Jets and helicopters fly over; parachutists from the Army and the Navy land on the field. Thousands of uniformed cadets and midshipman cheer for their team amid pomp and circumstance. This classic match had been almost even for the first 110 years with each team winning about 50% of the contests. However, for the past twelve years. Navy has dominated Army. In 2013. the score was Navy 34. Army 7. What is responsible for the Naval Academy "s dominance? Recruitment? The Navy "s unique offense? Superior physical conditioning? Perhaps it is because the Naval Academy "s football team has a chiropractor and West Point's does not. The Navy's Secret Weapon While the Naval Academy midshipmen will tell you that their triple-option offense and their extreme conditioning programs are their secret weapons, it should be noted tliat the Navy has not lost a contest to the Anm since adding a team chiropractor to its medical staff. Dr. William Morgan is the Navy's chiropractor. Morgan works at the flagship of military medicine.Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and at several high-level executive care clinics in the Washington. DC region caring for our country's leaders. For the past five seasons, he has been the team chiropractor for the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis. Maryland, working as a volunteer. In that time, the Navy has not lost a game to the Army. In 2011. Showtime produced a documentary about the Army-Navy rivalry called "A Game of Honor". Scattered throughout this documentary are glimpses of Dr. Morgan adjusting players. A Trip to the White House On April 18.2014. Dr. Morgan joined the U SNA football team and staff at the White House fora ceremony in the Rose Garden where President Obama presented the midshipmen with the Commander-in-ChiefsTrophy. The Commandcr-in-Chicfs Trophy is awarded to the sen ice academy team that lias defeated the other sen ice academy football teams (Army. Navy, and Air Force academies). This is the ninth time in the past 12 years that the Navy has been honored in this ceremony. In a team, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The football team is composed of a diverse aggregate of players with various skill sets: so is the team that supports the football team's healthcare needs. There are orthopedic surgeons, certified athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, sports medicine physicians, and a chiropractor, all working to maximize the performance and minimize the risk to the team. Team orthopedic surgeon John Wilckens said of Dr. Morgan: "Dr. Morgan has become not only a pleasant but critical Turn Next Page member of our sports medicine staff at the US Naval Academy, serving mostly our Division I football team. Much of the success in recent years of our football team amidst the stiffening completion has been the conditioning and coaching of our recruited athletes. As our kids become stronger and faster, much like a race car. they need constant tweaking and adjusting (excuse the pun). Dr. Morgan and his team evaluate and adjust players on Wednesdays, after our live, full-contact practice. He has been able to adjust misalignments from big hits, and save a player for a Saturday game. On Saturday, his presence helps kids with their pregame tension in addition to adjusting kids after some big hits during the game. Dr. Morgan has been a valuable resource, sorting out much of the low back pain that accompanies collision sports, and at the same time preserving our athlete's carrier aspirations in the military." Associate Athletic Director. Sports Medicine United States Naval Academy. Jeff Fair. EdD. ATC. said: "Dr. Bill Morgan is an integral part of our sports medicine program here at the Naval Academy." An interview with Dr. William Morgan TAC: Do you have any amazing athlete recovery stories? Morgan: I cannot talk about specific players, but generally, our players bounce back quickly from injury due to superior conditioning and resolve. They certainly respond quickly to chiropractic care. 1 have lots of athlete tenacity stories. Due to military recruitment standards, our team is inherently lighter, and as a whole, held to higher academic standards than most teams that we face, except for the Army and Air Force service academics. All members of our team take classes in higher math, thermodynamics, navigation, and engineering, and they all graduate in four years. TAC: How did you connect with USNA? Morgan: I am a talker. I love to visit outlying clinics and talk about chiropractic. In 2003. I gave a talk to the medical department at the Naval Academy about chiropractic. Five years later. I received a call from the academy asking me if I would be interested in taking care of the team. Someone from five years earlier remembered me from my lecture and gave me a call. At that time, my eldest son was enrolled at the academy as a midshipman, so I viewed this as a chance to be able to see more of my son who was sequestered behind the walls of Annapolis. TAC: Which techniques do you use? Morgan: I use a composite of techniques that I have acquired over the past 32 years. This includes mostly osseous adjustments, some drop, pelvic blocking, motorized prone distraction technique (I do not like the term "flexion distraction"), plenty of extremity adjusting. Graston. and pin-and-stretch myofascial release. I also interact with the team's entire training and medical staff: including certified athletic trainers, orthopedic surgeons, sports medicine physicians, and our strength coaching staff. While we share knowledge with each other frequently, we do not dabble in each other's business. TAC: Can you tell us about your hospital? Morgan: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (formally the National Naval Medical Center. Bethesda) is the largest military medical center in the world. It is home to the longest standing chiropractic clinic in a tertian care facility in the world. The chiropractic clinic is currently embedded within the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Walter Reed is the hub of military medicine in the United States. TAC: Have you always been a diehard sports fan? Morgan: No. While I have never been a sports fan. I am a fan of the Navy football team and of all of the men and women in the service academies. I am a fan of men and women with character and the ability to be longsuffering in the pursuit of a greater goal, and those who are willing to make sacrifices for others. TAC: What has prepared you the most to care for the athletes of the Naval Academy? Morgan: A lifetime of providing chiropractic adjustments to the spine and extremities. 1 perfonn many extremity adjustments. TAC: Do you have a special sports credential? Morgan: Actually, athletic teams with a large medical staff have just about everything covered except for chiropractic. They do not need a chiropractor to tape, to create conditioning programs, to use physiotherapy modalities, or to manage concussions (those are all good skills to have and may be beneficial when working without a large medical team). Wliat they need is someone to adjust the players and to perfonn myofascial manipulation. What I bring to the team is the ability to adjust. No. I do not hold a special sports credential or certification. TAC: What is the most memorable event that you can recall in regards to Navy football? Morgan: Aside from the awesome football games, and meeting so many high-ranking VIPs. I would say the blizzard that we played in in the 2013 Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia was the most memorable and miserable. I remember the freezing cold and the snow football, but what I really recall is the snow-covcrcd adjusting table and the icicles tanging from it. TAC: Any final words for our readers? Morgan: All of our players go pro. They leave the Naval Academy and join the long ranks of American heroes who have gone before them to serve in the Navy and Marine Corps. They will take the characterthat was honed at the academy and serve with the licet, on submarines, in SEAL teams, in Marine Corps units, as aviators, and in medicine. The real goal of this team has nothing to do with football and everything to do with developing leaders with character. If you would like to contact Dr. Morgan, you way reach him by e-mailing him at: morgandcagmail.com
