June 11, 2008

Kudos to Auburn Sports Medicine team physician Dr. Michael Goodlett. He was named the 2008 Southeastern Conference Team Physician of the Year. Doc Goodlett has been Auburn's Head Team Physician for the past 16 years. The Moulton, Alabama, native is a graduate of the University of North Alabama where he received his bachelor's degree in Chemistry. His medical degree came from the South Alabama College of Medicine. Doc's residency occurred at UAB/Baptist Memorial Hospital.

Here is an excerpt from a column I wrote in December, 2002 about Mike.

He may attend more Auburn University athletic events than anyone I know. You'll see him at a soccer match on Friday, football on Saturday, volleyball on Sunday and men's or women's basketball on Monday. You'll find him at practices for these sports as well. Seems to me the scientists have worked on the cloning experiment more than we thought.

Mike Goodlett is one of Auburn's team doctor. For most of the athletes on campus, he IS the doctor. At Auburn football games you'll see Doc Goodlett with Head Athletic Trainer Arnold Gamber. They're the ones in the light blue caps racing on the field to attend to the players. In addition, world renowned orthopedic surgeons, Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Lawrence Lemak serve as Co-Medical Directors for Auburn athletes.

Back to Doc Goodlett for a moment. The weekend of November 15-17, 2002, was very busy. It was the Georgia football weekend. In addition, the Tiger soccer team played in the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee on Friday and Sunday. Mike Goodlett was in attendance at all three events. Good thing too. Chrissy Culver took a nasty hit in the Central Florida match on Friday afternoon. Her injury required a trip to the hospital for x-rays. Doc Goodlett took her to the hospital in his van.

Fortunately the x-rays were negative and Culver played on Sunday. Doc then drove back to Auburn that night. He helped Ronnie Brown off the field in the Georgia game. Sunday morning, he boarded one of Auburn's jets and flew back to Tallahassee to walk the sidelines for the soccer match against Florida State. He also helped out this radio announcer, who was in the process of losing his voice due to a nasty cough and three games in three days.

Take a look at Doc Goodlett and you can see his engine runs on overdrive most of the time. He never stands still. You'll see him working on an athlete, cheering for the team and getting in a few digs at the officials. I'm not just talking about football either. It doesn't matter which sport...he cares. He cares about the athletes and he cares about Auburn. Doc, my hat's off to you.

Till next week, so long and War Eagle,

Andy

Since 1990, Andy Burcham has performed a wide range of duties for the Auburn Network. The Nashville, Ill., native is a member of the Auburn Network's baseball broadcast team. The Indiana State graduate is also the voice of all Auburn women's basketball radio broadcasts. Burcham is the station manager for WANI-AM in Auburn. You can email Andy at aburcham@aunetwork.com.