Peyton

(Editor’s Note: This is the second article in a six-part series profiling the Wheeling Hall of Fame’s 2019 inductees.)

WHEELING — A champion golfer and an expert in physical therapy have scored spots in the Wheeling Hall of Fame.

Susan D. Vail of Wheeling and Ronald G. Peyton, who now lives in Frisco, Texas, are being inducted in the Sports and Athletics category. They and 10 other honorees are to be recognized during a banquet at 6 p.m. June 7 at WesBanco Arena.

“It was apparent at an early age that she possessed the natural athletic ability to excel in golf, tennis and swimming,” members of the hall’s board said of Vail.

Vail competed in tennis and golf during her years at Triadelphia High School and West Virginia University. Later, she concentrated on her golf game.

“Sue’s competitive career occurred during an era when women golfers did not have the opportunity to compete as professionals; however, Sue did compete nationally in United States Golf Association Women’s amateur and senior play,” board members stated.

Vail won the West Virginia Women’s Amateur Championship eight times between 1976 and 1998. She also won the West Virginia Senior Amateur seven times from 1991-97, for a total of 15 individual women’s golf championships.

She was selected a total of 18 times to represent the Women’s West Virginia Golf Association in the Virginias-Carolinas team matches; she was elected by players as team captain of the Virginias team. The Upper Ohio Valley Dapper Dan Club inducted Vail into the Ohio Valley Legends of Golf.

Vail, who holds a master’s degree in community education from Ball State University, spent 37 years as a classroom teacher. After retiring from Ohio County Schools, she was an adjunct faculty member at Wheeling Jesuit University and an English teacher at Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy.

She started the first women’s golf team at the university and served as head coach for the past 16 years. Her Cardinal teams won state titles twice and the Mountain East Conference crown four times.

In 2016, Vail was elected to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Women’s Golf Committee. She is a past member of the U.S. Girls’ Championship Committee of the United States Golf Association and has served as secretary-treasurer of the Women’s West Virginia Golf Association.

Peyton graduated from Triadelphia High School and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in physical therapy from Duke University.

“In the profession of physical therapy and sports medicine, few can match the accomplishments and recognition of this Wheeling native,” members of the hall’s board said of Peyton.

He founded the Dogwood Institute in Alpharetta, Ga., in 1970 and served as president and CEO until 2010. He also was in private practice from 1970-96 as president and CEO of the Rehabilitation Service of Atlanta and was a director of the Sports Medicine Institute from 1970-93.

Peyton was an adjunct professor in physical therapy at Duke University starting in 1980 and at Georgia State University from 1985-90. He served as a clinical instructor for more than 250 students from 18 different universities from 1975-99.

He has received numerous honors, including the Catherine Worthington Fellowship Award, the highest prize given to a physical therapist. In 1997, he was inducted into the WVU College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences Hall of Fame.

Peyton has been involved with the U.S. Olympics program as a physical therapist. He was in charge of the 1968 Olympic training program at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and served as director of sports medicine services for the 1996 Olympic Village in Atlanta. He presented a symposium at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

From 1975-77, he served as the only physical therapist on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. He served as physical therapist to President Jimmy Carter in 1976.

He is a founder of the Sports Physical Therapy Section of the American Physical Therapy Association and the first winner of an award named in his honor.

Peyton is a frequent speaker, author of countless articles, consultant at 75 sports medicine centers worldwide, educator and inventor. He invented, and patented in 2005, a device for treatment of headaches in clinical practice.