By Dr. Walter R. Rhodes
Published by Texas Chiropractic Association, 303 International Life Building, Austin, TX 78701.As authorized by the various Boards of Directors of the Texas Chiropractic Association from 1958 to 1977, the idea first being presented to the board by E. L. Bauknight in 1958.
These excerpts are presented for educational purposes.
Texans made national news in 1964 when struggles between two competing national chiropractic organizations reached an apex with the resignation of several prominent members of one group and the subsequent formation of a new national association.
The International Chiropractic Association (ICA), under the firm influence of Dr. B. J. Palmer, had long been a competitor with the National Chiropractic Association (NCA). In their struggles the two national groups were being divisive and thereby hindering national legislative efforts on behalf of the profession. The divided front was a professional problem of the first order especially when their differences were aired in Congress.
Two Texans, Dr. Devere E. Biser of Dallas and Dr. L. K. Griffin of Fort Worth, both members of the International Chiropractic Association’s Board of Control, joined with three other members of that board, Dr. A. A. Adams of Tacoma, Washington; Dr. Richard W. Tyer of Jackson, Mississippi, and Dr. Harold F. Russell of Edmonton, Alberta; and also with Dr. Clair W. O’Dell, the chairman of the International Chiropractic Association’s World Posture Pageant. These men all resigned their International Chiropractic Association positions to establish a new national organization with new objectives and new goals, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA).
The plan did not succeed in its total objectives. The formation of the American Chiropractic Association was accomplished in June-July 1964 in Denver, Colorado, amidst a large publicity build-up, but the new American Chiropractic Association still had the International Chiropractic Association to contend with when all the dust settled. The situation still remains.
Dr. Griffin wrote in 1976, “though it is disappointing to realize that the objectives have not been accomplished, and it seems that we were a party to putting on a super-duper membership campaign for the National Chiropractic Association and a name change, I have no regrets because our intentions were right and we tried."
Biser and Griffin had been responsible for getting the definition of chiropractic and a statement of scope of chiropractic practice officially adopted by the International Chiropractic Association Board. After the formation of the American Chiropractic Association the same two men wrote the American Chiropractic Association’s definition of chiropractic and scope of practice which was officially adopted. The scope of practice and definition of chiropractic are still the chief bones of contention between the two organizations, a statement hard to accept when the authors of both are the same men. That contentiousness is more likely to be the real cause is an idea that can be based on entrenched personalities in the two organizations who use the clauses mentioned as an excuse for their failure to cooperate.
The idea of uniting divergent factions was not a new thing to Biser. He had been a member of the old Texas Chiropractic Research Society, the competitor to the Texas State Chiropractic Association, which was the majority group. After temporarily working together to secure the passage of the 1949 licensing law. The two groups eventually amalgamated. Several members of the Texas Chiropractic Research Society then ultimately rose to responsible positions in the Texas State Chiropractic Association. Biser, Dr. Norman C. Pigg, and Dr. H. C. Rudeseal became presidents several years later; Dr. Charlie E. Walker eventually became executive director.
Prominent members of the old Texas Chiropractic Research Society, in addition to those already mentioned, were Dr. L. George Grupe of San Angelo; Dr. Roy LeMond of Austin; Drs. John and Leon Halstead of Cleburne; Dr. J. A. Wolfe of Abilene; and Dr. J. Robert Baier; Dr. Lewis V. Osher; Dr. V. E. Sanderson; Dr. Jeffie Halstead; Dr. I. A. Shepherd; Drs. Elton and Virginia Berkman; Dr. C. E. Courtion; Dr. J. R. Cullum, Dr. Wm. Blair and Dr. John Day.
After a short period of unity another small group of doctors formed a separate state association but it has never achieved the prominence of the old Texas Chiropractic Research Society.
Another Texan, Dr. Ray L. Nimmo, is far better known outside his native state than in it. He is a member of that select group of independent men who have put together educational seminars and who then travel the globe teaching the technique to his fellow chiropractors.
Nimmo taught his first one in Houston, the first of four in that city, about 1950, then to Illinois for another small one. About that time the old National Chiropractic Association Journal published the first of seven “Receptors,” an article describing the basic Nimmo theory, and he has never stopped since.
Currently utilizing nine trained assistants he has conducted seminars from coast to coast in America, Europe on three occasions, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and twice to Australia. Kimmo estimates he has taught 2,000 graduate doctors and 2,000 students and currently is teaching the seminar three times yearly in each of five chiropractic colleges; National, Logan, Palmer, Los Angeles, and Western State of Portland.
International Who’s Who has named Dr. Ray Nimmo as one of the distinguished fellows since 1970.
The Chromatin Synapse Therapy (C.S.T.) was the result of research conducted by a group called the Green Feather Research Group, the father of which was Dr. Earl F. Craton of Forth Worth and he latter trained Dr. Byron Gentry of Oklahoma City, and Dr. Ray Nimmo of Granary as assistants in the teaching program.
The Green Feather researchers developed techniques to improve the efficiency of nerve conduction in the synapses, especially in the upper cervical and rectal areas. That program, according to Dr. Craton, begin in 1948 and ended in 1957 after a total of approximately 40 classes in which 300 doctors were trained in classes which were held all over the continental United States.
That particular technique has been exceptionally durable, most of the doctors who studied it are still using it in their practices when applicable.
Dr. Wess Culwell of Ft. Worth always had the childhood dream of becoming a manufacturer with a product of world wide distribution. His Ky-Ro Adjusting tables, manufactured in Ft. Worth, have accomplished that desire. Curlew is an accomplished speaker, and being a certified Diplomate of Roentgenology, has the opportunity to exercise that ability at state associations and seminars all over the nation.
In 1950-51 James W. Parker, D.C., instituted his first practice management seminar and over the years it has become the most successful of its type under the banner of Parker Chiropractic Research Foundation.
By late 1977 the seminar had been produced 270 times and had been attained by 51,000 chiropractors, wives and assistants. Held mostly in Ft. Worth for several years it was decided to move its location and the seminar has been held in recent years in Australia, Hawaii, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and other locations.
Parker, working through an organization called the Committee for Chiropractic Education, helped distribute about 1,000,000 copies of an 8 page supplement to the Houston Post during the 1948-1949 licensing efforts in the legislature.
Not since the days of B. J. Palmer have so many of the famous personalities of the hour become associated with chiropractic. Parker’s seminars attract many of the eminent and popular as guest speakers, such as Joyce Brothers, Ph.D.; Paul Popenoe, Ph.D.; J. B. Rhine, Ph.D.; Maxwell Maltz, M. D.; Robert Schuller, D.D.; Wilfred Shute, M.D.’ George W. Crane, M.D.; Charles Jarvis, D.D.S.; Melvin Belli, LL.B., J.D.; Hans Selye, M.D., PhD., D. Sc.; Rebecca Liswood, M.D.; Ben Bernstein, LL.B; O.A. Batista, D. Sc.; Herbe True, Ph.D.; Cleve Backstair; Shafica Karagulla, M.D.; Art Holst, Carleton Fredericks, Ph.d.; Colonel Sanders; stars Bob Cummings, Art Linkletter, Clint Walker, John Gary, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Bob Hope and many more. These personalities have spoken, received awards or otherwise played a part in the various seminars.
Dr. Shelby M. Elliott of Dayton, Texas, has twice been a candidate for the legislative seat in his five county district. In 1974 he ran a close race but in the 1976 election he won the democratic primary race over several opponents, finally losing the run-of election by only 34 votes.
It’s particularly appropriate for Elliott to pursue politics because he, along with Dr. Elton Berkman, Dr. Walter Fischer, Dr. H. H. Kennedy, Dr. Mel Garrett and Dr. Gerald M. Brassard of Beaumont, have been largely responsible for the chiropractors in Texas having excellent relationships with their legislators.
These men have traveled the state extensively, urging chiropractors to know their current legislators and make the acquaintance of candidates announcing for state offices. Chiropractors generally heeded their advice and it is rare for a legislator to be uninformed regarding chiropractors, their needs and their goals. The chiroprators’ political base is regarded as solid throughout the state.
Joe Hornady was used extensively as a public relations man by the Texas State Chiropractic Association for several years and Brassard and Elliott both used his services effectively during the years they were president of the Texas State Chiropractic Association, especially to garner publicity during the annual conventions.
Elliott warmly remembers Gus Mutscher, the Speaker of the House of Representatives during chiropractic’s great push for insurance equality legislation in the early 1970s. The measure ultimately failed in the Senate but Mutscher kept the bill on track during its course through the House.
Dr. Elton Berkman of Colorado City was a mainstay in the Texas Chiropractic Association and its affairs through much historic legislation. He worked closely with Dr. G. M. Brassard of Beaumont – who also spent much time as an official of the American Chiropractic Association – and also with Dr. John Cullum, Dr. R. E. Hartong and Mr. J. Manley Head, the attorney for the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
It is naturally impossible to give any few men credit for the complexities involved in successfully including chiropractic in such as the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1951, a historic law introduced by representatives Henry Lehman and Floyd Bradshaw and Senator Bell.
In those years it was also a positive accomplishment to kill a few bills and amend others so the profession could live with them. In Texas the physiotherapy laws, radiation control bills, insurance coding bills and amendments offered to the constitution were as important as the Texas enabling legislation associated with the federal Medicare inclusion of chiropractic.
Berkman was President of the Board of Examiners when the inclusion of chiropractic in Medicare became law – which meant that to meet the Department of Health, Education and Welfare guidelines more than 300 Texas chiropractors had to be certified as qualified. The procedures pioneered in Texas to certify the doctors were then followed by a number of other states.
Drs. Bill Timberlake, Bob Glaze and Norman Pigg, in their respective terms as presidents of TSCA, are widely credited for establishing the peer review committee of Texas Chiropractic Association, and they each relied on Berkman for its initial implementation and early operation.
Mr. J. Manley Head of Austin was a state senator in 1949 who helped the chiropractors pass their licensing law. Upon the expiration of this term in the senate he became the lawyer for the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners. He wrote the Manley Head Brief on Chiropractic Principles and Practices which has been used as a legal bulwark for chiropractic ever since. Mr. Donald F. Nobles replaced him as Executive Secretary of the Board of Examiners.
It is, incidentally, in the Board of Examiners, in which the power of enforcement is vested. They are the men who act in the interests of the people of the State of Texas according to the dictates of the 1949 licensing act.
Since 1949 four investigators have been utilized by the board; E. B. Simmons, J. P. Townsend, Frank Haley and Jack McCurdy. And in that time also Mrs. Lula Mae Lindsey, Margaret Reno and Kathy Barron have served as secretaries to the board.
The members of the board, from 1949 to the present have been: Dr. M. B. McCoy, Dr. W. H. Fischer, Dr. L. Geo. Group, Dr. L. K. Griffin, Dr. R. S. Florence, Dr. J. A. Glasin, Dr. Joe E. Busby, Dr. Devere E. Biser, Dr. C. C. Phillips, Dr. C. E. Courtion, Dr. G. M. Brassard, Dr. C. T. Harkey, Dr. T. O. Davis, Dr. L. D. Lowery, Dr. H. H. Kennedy, Dr. O. R. Smith, Dr. S. H. Pruitt, Sr., Dr. J. R. Bair, Dr. M. E. Garrett, Dr. E. H. Berkman, Dr. W. W. Lundberg, Dr. S. M. Elliott, Dr. J. F. Stewart, Jr., Dr. R. M. Garrett, Dr. J. P. Johnston, and Dr. C. E. Nearpass.
