Dr. Dave Joyner was one of Penn State's outstanding scholar athletes and long after his graduation he continues to show why.

Today, Dr. Joyner is an orthopedic surgeon, a physician for the United States Olympic team and a member of the Penn State Board of Trustees. He also is active in various public service endeavors on a local, state, national and international level.

That's quite an accomplishment for a play who was a near unanimous selection as an All-American offensive tackle and a runner-up in the NCAA heavyweight wrestling tournament.

"Joyner may be the best tackle we've had at Penn State," Coach Joe Paterno said about the man who was his co-captain of the 1971 team. Dr. Joyner played three years for Paterno and was a devastating blocker and exceptional pass protector. The 1971 team lost only one game and wiped out favored Texas, 30-6, in the 1972 Cotton Bowl.

Dr. Joyner was equally successfully in wrestling. He is one of just seven Nittany Lion wrestlers to win three individual championships in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. Dr. Joyner also was co-captain of the undefeated 1971 wrestling team (10-0-1) that won the team EIWA title and finished fourth in the NCAA tournament. He narrowly missed winning the NCAA heavyweight championship that year.

Dr. Joyner also excelled in the classroom. The State College native was an academic All-American in his senior year and also won a prestigious fellowship from the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. In 1991, Dr. Joyner was inducted in the GTE/CoSIDA Academic Hall of Fame. Perhaps his greatest academic honor came in 1997 when he was the recipient of the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award honoring former student-athletes who have distinguished themselves in their profession.

After graduating from Penn State with a Bachelors of Science degree, Dr. Joyner went on to medical school at Penn State's College of Medicine and received his medical degree in 1976. He has spent the majority of his medical career in sports medicine. In 1992 he founded the Joyner Sports Medicine Institute and his is now associated with the Orthopedic Institute of Pennsylvania and hospitals in the Harrisburg area. He also is chairman of the board and chief executive officer for Elan Cosmetic Centers, Inc., which is developing national centers devoted to skin care.

Dr. Joyner has been involved in the Olympic movement for many years and was the head physician for the U.S. Team at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. He has been the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee's Sports Medicine Committee since 1993.

Dr. Joyner was honored by Penn State as a Distinguished Alumnus in 1992 and was elected to the board of trustees in 2000. He continues to give back to the University in several capacities, including serving as the co-chairman of the Paterno Libraries Endowment and chairman of the Schreyer Institute for Innovation and Learning.