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Tell me about becoming an athletic trainer, and how you got to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾.

After high school, I worked in a steel mill in the forging department. I was there for a few years, and I went into the service for three and a half years, over in Europe with the infantry. After the war, I returned to my hometown in Monaca, Pennsylvania, and went back to work in the steel mills again. I worked there for five years—I always felt that a lot of the good athletes in that area ended up going just one year to college because the money in the mills was so good—then I decided maybe I would be better off going to school because of the GI Bill. Uncle Sam would pay me to go to school. I went to Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, and I got my degree in physical education. I hoped to coach baseball and basketball and decided to go to Springfield College for a master’s. The coaching plan changed because a professor got me into athletic training.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ was looking for a trainer, and my professor thought it would be a good place for me to start. I thought, “Well, I’ve never been up to Maine, so I could go see what this looks like.” The facilities were good, except they didn’t have much for athletic training. So, I went back and I told my professor that I didn’t really think it was the place for me. Then, I got another call. They asked me to come back, which I did, and I took the job, figuring I’d just be here for a year or so. “If you stay here, you’ll never regret it,” Dickie Morrell ’50 told me. He was right. I’ve enjoyed a lot of good friendships with a lot of good people. So, things kind of turned out well in the long run.

Who’s the best athlete you’ve worked with at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾?

That’s not a fair question. I wouldn’t think to say that Kevin Loney is better than Mike Linkovich. Well, that’s debatable. We’ve had some good athletes here, you know—the Soule brothers, Jimmy MacAllen ’66, and Joanie [Benoit Samuelson] ’79, of course. I didn’t work a lot with Joanie. Jeanne d’Arc Mayo was here then, and she took really good care of Joanie. Joanie’s time at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ was great. She surprised a lot of people when she won the Olympics. She is a good representative of the College. [Joan Benoit Samuelson’79; the Soule family—father William ’36 and his sons, Paul ’66, Mort ’68, Jim ’77, and Phil; James MacAllen ’66; and Jeanne d’Arc Mayo are ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ Hall of Honor inductees.]

Favorite ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ athletic moment?

I think one of the biggest all-time wins was when the football team beat the University of Maine 7-0 up in Orono in 1963. [ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ and the University of Maine played football against each other from 1893 to 1964. The 1963 victory was especially sweet because Maine had announced that it would be dropping ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ from its schedule after the 1964 season. The Black Bears had crushed Bates (49-0) and Colby (53-12), and they were looking for their third straight State Series Championship. On a rainy day in Orono, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ beat the heavily favored Maine team to earn its final four-way State Championship.]

What are some of your most memorable ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ experiences?

Having my son Steven ’84 go to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ is one of the big ones. Another was the Olympics in 1980 [as a trainer for the US hockey team at the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid]. And my relationships with professors, especially Professor [Herbert] Brown, who I really enjoyed having conversations with nearly every morning over coffee. [Herbert Ross Brown was a professor of English at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ College from 1925–1972.]

Every time I talk to an alum, anywhere I go, if they played sports, they ask about you.

If you stay here sixty-five years, you’d probably know somebody, at least one person, who had something nice to say about you.

Mike Linkovich established and perpetuated ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾’s legacy of outstanding athletic training over a forty-year ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ career that began in 1954. He’s held several national positions in the training profession, was a two-time US Olympic team trainer, and is an inductee in several sports halls of honor, including the Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington, and the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ Athletic Hall of Honor.