James Curry: The Father of Sports Medicine

James Curry: The Father of Sports MedicineThe father of sports medicine, Dr. James M. Curry, Jr., popularized the use of the cool pad to help prevent injury and pain in athletes. Dr. Curry was one of the pioneers of prevention and injury prevention in sports medicine.In the early years of college, Curry's mother (a mountain biker) and father (a forest ranger) drove him and his brother to camp at Creekside College in Northern California. Curry used to sit in the back of the truck and watch all the younger boys shoot craps and bingo, hoping for a breakthrough.Curry's early interest in chemistry was developed in the late twenties when he worked as a lab technician for the University of Michigan. Curry read through reports on the medical profession, describing toxicologic tests on various drugs. The reports were excellent in providing the reader with a real-world example of what was involved in the development of drugs.Chemistry was not just an interest but a method to study chemical sta bility. Curry graduated from the University of Michigan and received his degree in 1905.Curry and his old time college friend George Cox both worked with their employers at the university. Curry used his mind and then his hands to make dyes, which led to further discoveries, until Cox became a research chemist in the laboratory.Cox was involved in many more chemical processes than Curry, and they were both involved in an important discovery about color and staining which was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Other associates followed suit and helped coin the term 'chemistry' in 1919. Curry and Cox were also involved in some of the other early molecular work.Curry became a great teacher and a brilliant researcher and chemist. He made it his personal goal to get in touch with everything that went on in chemistry. Curry's research led to many pharmaceutical developments and even the structure of DNA. Curry's name was part of the scientific and medical history o f America and his contributions are long lasting.