George Nagobads

Visvaldis George Nagobads (born November 18, 1921) is a physician best known for his role as the team doctor for the 1980 US hockey team that won the gold medal at Lake Placid. Born in Latvia, Nagobads was educated at University of Tübingen in Germany, before immigrating to the US in 1951, where he began his surgical residency at the University of Minnesota.[2] Nagobads took a position with the Golden Gophers hockey program in 1958, where he met Herb Brooks, the eventual coach of the Gophers and the 1980 US team, who was playing for the university at the time.[3] The longtime friendship and working relationship with Brooks culminated in Nagobads being named team physician for the 1980 squad at Lake Placid. He was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame as an individual in 2010 and as part of the 1980 US team, which was inducted en masse in 2003.[4]

In the 2004 film Miracle, Nagobads was portrayed by actor Kenneth Welsh.[5] He wrote a book on his lifetime of experience in the sports medicine world, "Gold, Silver, and Bronze: A Doctor's Devotion to American Hockey" was published December 1, 2014.[6] Dr. Nagobads was chosen to serve as Ambassador for Children for the Kids First Fund on November 17, 2015, in honor of his work helping young people, for providing them with a safe environment, and for his passionate and tireless work as an advocate for Latvia.[7]