Name: Dr. Mitch Frix
Alma Mater: The University of Georgia
Sport: Football
Position: Snapper
Years Played: 1979-1982
Highlights: Three SEC Championships, one National Championship, three Sugar Bowl appearances
Business: Associates in Orthopedics and Sports Medicine (medical practice), Dalton, Ga. |
As a snapper for the University of Georgia football team from 1979 to 1982, Frix played on three SEC Championship teams and the 1980 National Championship team, and made three Sugar Bowl appearances with the Bulldogs. He lettered his junior and senior seasons and contributed to the team's impressive 33-3 record during his sophomore through senior seasons.
After graduating from UGA in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in pharmacy, Frix began his medical career at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). He graduated as a medical doctor in 1990 and then completed a five-year orthopedic surgery residency at MCG and a one-year sports medicine fellowship at Orthopedic Research of Virginia in Richmond Va.
In 1996, Frix opened Associates in Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Dalton, Ga. His practice, which employs four physicians and 25 other employees, provides operative and non-operative orthopedic care to patients in Northwest Georgia. Frix decided to pursue this venture because he wanted to provide high-quality orthopedic surgical services to the region, with an emphasis on providing sports medicine services to the local high school athletes similar to the caliber of that provided to athletes on the college level.
Frix's mission to improve the sports medicine services of high school athletes overlapped into his community involvement when he became medical director of the Hamilton Sports Medicine Program. This program, which he developed and implemented, provides medical coverage for seven high schools in three counties. Frix is also on the board of directors of the Northwest Georgia chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and assisted with the development of the Dalton Tigers Youth Baseball Program.
As a former athlete now running a small business, Frix sees many parallels between competing as an SEC athlete and practicing sports medicine.
"In football, every opponent, every game, every play represented a challenge that could be overcome only with proper preparation, planning and execution," said Frix. "Orthopedic surgery is no different — you rely on years of training for the ability but still must plan and execute precisely for every operation."