Dr. M. Paul Capp '52

As a young man from Yonkers, New York, Michael Paul Capp enrolled at Roanoke College in 1948 with both a baseball and basketball scholarship. For his outstanding contributions in those sports, he would be named Roanoke College Athlete of the Year in 1951, and he would later become a charter member of the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1971. Athletics, however, weren't Paul's only interests at Roanoke. He majored in physics and worked as a laboratory instructor; he was elected president of his sophomore, junior and senior classes; he was president of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity, and he was a member and officer of several campus organizations.

After graduating from Roanoke in 1952, Paul signed a professional baseball contract with the Boston Braves playing for the Welsh West Virginia Miners. He had to make a decision that he either go to spring training the next year or pursue nuclear physics at Duke University. He chose the latter, spent two years at Duke, and then received a medical degree from the University of North Carolina.  After completing his residency at Duke, he continued there as radiologist-in-charge of pediatrics. He later served as associate professor, chief of pediatric and cardiac radiology, and vice-chair of the Duke Department of Radiology. In 1970, Dr. Capp joined the staff of the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine in Tucson, where he served as professor and chair of the Department of Radiology for twenty-three years, retiring as professor emeritus in 1993. Today, Dr. Capp is the Executive Director of the American Board of Radiology, a position he earned after serving as trustee and president of the board.

Dr. Capp was elected to the National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine in London. He has received three gold medals from the Association of University Radiologists, American Roentgen Ray Society, and just last year, The American College of Radiology. Paul continues to serve Roanoke College through his membership in the Associates and the Society of 1842, and through his involvement with the Science and Math Advisory Committee and alumni functions. In 1992, he received Roanoke College's distinguished alumni recognition.

The father of a daughter and three sons, Paul and his wife, Constance, reside in Tucson, Arizona.

Michael P. Capp received the Roanoke College Medal in 2000.