In 1978, after completing a sports medicine fellowship at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in southern California, Dr. George Wade moved to Boise to start a solo orthopedic practice specializing in “sports medicine”. His surgical practice began with the help of Dr. Richard Gardner, Idaho’s first sports medicine orthopedist and the original Boise State University team physician. In 1979, Dr. Wade succeeded Dr. Gardner as the BSU team physician and created Idaho Sports Medicine Institute (ISMI) as a specialized orthopedic care facility for athletes and active persons of all ages and abilities.

To achieve this goal, he hired an exercise physiologist (James Moore), an athletic trainer (Tom Koto) and a physical therapist (Lynn Johnson) to begin offering specialized, progressive rehabilitation in conjunction with orthopedic surgery. Thus, the philosophy of Idaho Sports Medicine Institute was founded.