TCA Sues UIL (August 2002, Texas Journal of Chiropractic), a Brief History

A July 2012 article in the Texas Medical Association’s Texas Medicine noted that: 

“Current UIL guidelines require pre-participation physical examinations at least before junior high school and in the first and third years of high school.”

“In 2002, the UIL Medical Advisory Committee recommended removing chiropractors from the list of health care professionals who could perform the exams. Mark Cousins, PhD, director of athletics for UIL, says that followed a legal opinion from the Attorney General's office.”

"The rule at that time said it [the physical exam form] was to be signed by a physician," Dr. Cousins said. "There continued to be questions about whether a chiropractor qualified as a physician. So we got an unofficial opinion from our lawyer, who was an assistant attorney general, and he concluded that a chiropractor did not meet the definition of a physician."

“The Texas Chiropractic Association (TCA), however, successfully sued to block the change in UIL rules. At the time, TCA argued that chiropractors are qualified to perform the physicals and that UIL lacks the authority to decide which health care professionals could perform them.”

85th Legislative Session Results, 2017

Of the thousands of bills that TCA tracked and worked on, three of TCA's key desires were passed and signed into law.

• TBCE Sunset Bill (SB 304)

• PASSED. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR.

• This bill clarifies that DCs may lawfully diagnose the biomechanical condition of the spine and musculoskeletal system of the human body. It also eliminates facility registration (and associated fees), streamlines the complaint and investigations process, and continues TBCE as a state agency for 12 years.

• TCA also successfully opposed the consolidation of TBCE into the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) and the total elimination of chiropractic acupuncture.

• Professional Associations (SB 679)

• PASSED. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR.

• This bill allows DCs to form business entities with physicians and podiatrists. It was one of the first bills to pass the Senate but was held up in the House for political reasons unrelated to the bill itself. After finally being referred to committee, the bill was considered in the House Public Health Committee final hearing and passed unanimously. It was then held hostage in the Calendars Committee. TCA’s lobby team rescued the bill in the eleventh hour. The bill passed in the House on the last day of eligibility.

2016 TCA Chiropractic Districts

The Texas Chiropractic Association has long divided the representation among its association leaders by dividing itself into regional districts.  There are twelve regional districts that elect a state director to serve on the state associations board of directors.  In 2016 these districts were listed as being composed of the following counties. 

Scott Wofford, D.C., 87th Keeler Recipient

Dr. Scott Wofford was born in 1962 to Judy and Dale Wofford in Jones County Texas. He has two brothers, Mark Wofford and Greg Wofford.

Scott graduated from Hawley High school. He then pursued his athletic dream by playing football at Abilene Christian University. After completing his pre-chiropractic studies, he moved forward with his dream of becoming a doctor of chiropractic.

Scott began his studies at Parker College of Chiropractic, and in 1989 Received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree. The Lord led Scott to return back to his roots in West Texas to set up his practice in Abilene.

His education also includes a Master in Physical Therapy and a Fellowship in Acupuncture.

Scott met his wife Karla in Kindergarten class. They married in 1985, a year before Scott began his studies at Parker College of Chiropractic. They were blessed wtih two children, Justin Wofford (Hannah) and Sarah Wofford.

James E. Welch, D.C., 86th Keeler Recipient

Dr. James Welch Jr graduated from Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena, Texas in 1983, where he was honored the Outstanding Intern Award and was Department Head of X-ray.

Before moving his practice to Beaumont, Dr. Welch was in private practice in Lumberton, Texas for thirteen years specializing in chronic muscle and joint pain, chiropractic pediatrics and personal injury cases.

Dr. Welch has attended many specialized post-graduate classes and has attained certificates in Spinal Impairment Rating, Sports Injuries, Work-related Injuries, and Soft Tissue Injuries as they pertain to "whiplash" trauma.

He is a past president of the Southeast Texas Traffic Safety Task Force, he is also a member of the American Chiropractic Association.

In 1997, Dr. Welch was awarded the President's Award for his outstanding work as Education Chairman for the TCA.

Dr. Welch has served at the local district level and at the state level for the Texas Chiropractic Association. He was the President for the Texas Chiropractic Association in 2000-2001 and 2015-16.

William E. Morgan, D.C., 85th Keeler Recipient

Dr. Morgan has a long history of serving in military healthcare. At age 17, he joined the Navy and served with an elite Marine Recon company as a hospital corpsman. During that time, he qualified in parachuting, military diving, submarine insertion, jungle warfare, combat swimming, explosives, mountaineering, winter warfare and Arctic survival. Additionally, he attended anti-terrorist training at the FBI Academy. After leaving active military service and transferring to the Navy Reserves, Dr. Morgan began his educational journey to become a doctor of chiropractic. While at Palmer College of Chiropractic-West, he transferred to a Naval Special Warfare platoon as the unit’s primary hospital corpsman. He was sent to Special Operations Technician training to learn the principles of dive medicine. For the next eight years, he served as a dive medicine corpsman/combat swimmer for a platoon of Navy frogmen in Naval Special Warfare Unit One. 

In 1985, Dr. Morgan received his Doctorate of Chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic–West and soon after, married fellow Palmer graduate, Clare Pelkey. They practiced for thirteen years in California. In 1998, Dr. Morgan was chosen to establish the first chiropractic clinic at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, which later became Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In 2015, Walter Reed recognized Dr. Morgan with its highest honor for clinical excellence, the Master Clinician’s Award. During his 18 years at the military’s most prestigious medical centers, he practiced in an integrative setting, providing chiropractic care to the injured troops returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Larry Montgomery, D.C., 84th Keeler Recipient

I was born on December 27, 1956 to Merlon and Flossy Montgomery.  We lived in Breckenridge, Texas.  My father often told of how before he left for WWII, he and mom wanted a boy, in case he did not return, and were fortunate to have Merlon, Jr. just before he was shipped to the Pacific.  Thankful for his return, they then wanted a girl and Merlene was born a year after he took off his Navy Seabees uniform.  Approximately 10 years after Merlene, dad said mom decided they wanted another child and “didn’t care what they got that time”.  After hearing my father tell this story about 50 times, one day I said, “Well dad, that is what you get when you are not specific with your goal setting!”

Unfortunately, mom died of an apparent CVA when I was 15 months old and for two years, my brother and sister raised me, while dad used his “SeaBee skills” to build drive-in and in-door theaters across the five (5) state area.  In 1954, he remodeled the “Beltonian Theater” in Belton, Texas and fell in love with the central location, area lakes and hill country.  This led to our family moving to Belton in 1968, where I completed elementary, Jr. High and High School, graduating in May of 1975.  Sports, girls and cars were my only interest at this time (not necessarily in that order), and I was pretty much without purpose, but little did I know, God was already working for my good, in sleepy little Belton, Texas.

My first introduction to chiropractic may give credence to the thoughts of many.  I was playing baseball with two of my friends at age four.  There were no “whiffle balls” or “plastic bats”; we played with the real thing!  When one of the friends somehow hit my fast ball, he threw the bat as he ran to first base.  Even though I was in shock that he hit my “heater”, I bent to field the ball as the bat struck me in the top of my head.  I continued to play, but the next morning I could not move my neck.  It must have been a Wednesday or Thursday, but we tried aspirin and heat rub until my dad came home on Friday night.  Saturday morning, he put a cut down piece of plywood in the back of the Mercury and they drove me 30 miles to Albany, Texas where there as a chiropractor we heard was not as “rough” as the one in Breckenridge.  In one visit, I could move my head and neck, and it is reported I “adjusted” my Teddy Bear and Chimpanzee for a month or more after the visit!

Franz Klein, D.C., 83rd Keeler Recipient

 Biography not yet available.

Christopher G. Dalrymple, D.C., 82nd Keeler Recipient

I am a product of chiropractic. Further, I am a legacy of Keeler doctors G. M. and Richard Brassard and, indirectly, of Dr. Jim Parker. 

The Doctors Brassard were my childhood chiropractic doctors and Dr. Parker indirectly influenced my life because it was his clinic in Beaumont, Texas to which G. M. Brassard came to practice Chiropractic.

Without the chiropractic profession I may not have come into being.

 

Chiropractic originated in 1895. It began its growth as a profession in 1898 to 1901 after D. D. Palmer began to teach others about the science and art that he discovered. My maternal grandparents were born in 1898 and 1899 and I am told that my grandfather desired to enter the profession of chiropractic but his circumstances would not permit it to be so. He was able, however, to permit two of his three sons to attend the Texas Chiropractic College in San Antonio to enter the profession. 

Jeffery L. Brown, D.C., 81st Keeler Recipient

I was born in 1954, Baltimore, MD., the oldest of 3 children to Norman and Mary Ann Brown.  My father was an Electrical Engineer with Westinghouse Electric and my mother left the workforce to be a full-time mom during our childhood years.  Our family moved to Williamsville, N.Y. when I was 7 years old and I attended elementary, middle, and high school there, playing trumpet in various bands, piano, working in the school audio video crews, learning photography, and was a member of the high school rifle team.

My first exposure to chiropractic occurred around age 10 when we went to see the neighborhood chiropractor, Dr. Jay Jerald.  I remember him always telling us he was “getting the mice out,” which seemed odd to my brothers, and I and grew curious what he was really doing.  During my sophomore year in high school my grandfather returned from Europe on crutches, apparently having been hospitalized for an extended period with “no known cure” for his ailment.  Within a week after seeing Dr. Jay, his crutches were in the closet and he was feeling much better.  This prompted me to ask Dr. Jay about what he did and how it worked, which led to several discussions.  Sensing my interest, he volunteered to write a recommendation letter to his Alma Mater, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) when I was ready to study chiropractic.

Kenneth Tomlin, Jr., D.C., 80th Keeler Recipient

I was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, on Friday morning, November 27, 1942, early enough that my Dad, Kenneth Tomlin, could arrive on time at his job at a defense plant during the middle of World War II.  He was proud to have a healthy son and also glad to contribute another full day to the war effort.  On reflection, I think I was off to a good start.

My parents, Kenneth and Hope (Pitts) Tomlin, of Van Zandt County, Texas, later settled in Tyler, Texas, a beautiful East Texas city known as the Rose Capitol of the World for the many varieties of roses grown locally.  Just a few years later, my older sister Kay and I were joined by our baby brother Tommy and our family was complete.

Tyler was a great city to grow up in.  Good schools, parks, people and only about thirty-five miles away from the farm that my Dad’s parents owned.  This land, now mine, has been in the Tomlin family since just after the Civil War, and for me this is a peaceful place to be.

John M. Nash, D.C., 79th Keeler Recipient

I was born December 18, 1930 and raised in Galveston, Tx. and graduated from Ball High School in 1948.  Participated in basketball and baseball receiving an offer from the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950, but could not sign a contract since I was 1A in the military draft.  In November of 1952, I was drafted into the US Army and served 2 years, being honorably discharged in November of 1954.  While in the Army I played baseball for the Ft. Sam Rangers and was part of the 1954 4th Army champion Rangers.

While playing for the Rangers our catcher had injured his back and was not responding to any of the medical therapies.  He was treated by Dr. Bonaminio, a chiropractor in San Antonio, and finally found relief.  His recovery and return to baseball was instrumental to the success of the Rangers.  I was so impressed with this that my career choice became more apparent.  Having the experience of Major League competition during Army baseball it became “reasonably apparent” that my career would be “more prosperous” in another area than professional baseball.  So the decision to enter chiropractic practice was somewhat dictated.

George Aubert, D.C., 78th Keeler Recipient

 Autobiography not currently available.

2020

The Keeler Award for 2020 was awarded to Scott Wofford, D.C.

Mo Jahadi is named the seventy-ninth President of the Texas Chiropractic Association.

2019

The Keeler Award for 2019 was awarded to James Welch, D.C.

78)  2019-20     Chad Carpenter is named the seventy-eight President of the Texas Chiropractic Association.

2018

The Keeler Award for 2018 was awarded to William E.  Morgan, D.C.

Devin Pettit is named the seventy-seventh President of the Texas Chiropractic Association.

2017

• A record of four pro-chiropractic bills were signed into law.

• Around 600 DCs, staff, students, faculty and patients met at the Capitol to advocate for chiropractic.  The repeat the performance in 2019.

2016

• In 2016 the TCA celebrated its centennial year. 

2015

The Keeler Award for 2015 was awarded to Chris G. Dalrymple, D.C.

The sixty-second President of the Texas Chiropractic Association, James Welch serves a second term.

2014

• The Texas Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (TAAOM) whose members are licensees of a “sub-board” of the Texas Medical Board, sued the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners in district court, reiterating the arguments of the Texas Medical Association in their previous lawsuits.  

• It still seems that organized medicine is of the belief that a state license is a government issued monopoly rather than a permit to practice as government has defined.