A 1974 alumnus of the Wayne State University School of Medicine will be inducted into the Northern Michigan University Sports Hall of Fame during the school's Student-Athlete Awards Banquet on April 26 in Marquette, Mich.

John Lehtinen, M.D., has served as the athletics' team physician for more than 32 years, and has been a sports medicine physician for 40 years.  He also practices addiction medicine and occupational medicine at Marquette General Hospital, where he is director emeritus of the family medicine residency. He is the only board certified practicing addiction medicine physician in the Upper Peninsula, according to NMU. He completed his residency training at St. John Hospital in Detroit, where he served as chief resident.

In 1985 he became chief medical officer and head physician for the Northern Michigan Olympic Training Site, formerly the U.S. Olympic Education Center. He has volunteered as an assistant coach for the NMU hockey program since 2006.

Dr. Lehtinen was invited to be a physician for the 1989 Olympic Festival in Oklahoma City, and also worked as a physician for the 1990 Olympic Festival in Minneapolis, the Pan American Games in Havana in 1991 and served as a team physician at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

He was head physician for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta and served as a team physician for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He has also served on the Sports Medicine Committee for the United States Olympic Committee, helping with the Pan American games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and the World Youth Games in Moscow.

"Words cannot express all the thanks to Dr. Lehtinen for his contributions, both as a physician and volunteer coach over so many years," said former NMU Senior Associate Athletic Director Steve Reed in a news release. "Doc has provided an invaluable service to NMU student-athletes and their programs for the last 32 years. He also has provided services to Marquette junior hockey, Marquette baseball and softball and other sports organizations, both as a physician and a coach. He has always been available whenever the need was there, no matter the time."

He received the 1996 Northern Michigan University President's Award for Distinguished Citizenship and in 1999 received the Michigan State Medical Society's Community Service Award.

"I find it challenging to take care of people who have passion and motivation for what they do," Dr. Lehtinen said. "Working with kids that want to get better and want to do the best they can makes me want to play whatever role I can to assist them."