The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), a nonprofit organization representing and supporting members of the athletic training profession, will induct seven individuals into its prestigious Hall of Fame at the NATA 68th Clinical Symposia and AT Expo in Houston on Wednesday, June 28. The Hall of Fame is the highest honor an athletic trainer can receive. Honorees will be recognized for their significant, lasting contributions that enhance the quality of health care provided by athletic trainers and advance the profession. They have shaped the profession through their noteworthy accomplishments and dedication to service, leadership and professionalism. Since inducting its first class in 1962, the Hall of Fame now has 310 members.
The 2017 Hall of Fame inductees includeJohn H. Anderson, MEd, ATC, Fran Babich, MS, ATC, Tanya Dargusch, LAT, ATC, Kathy Dieringer, EdD, LAT, ATC, MaryBeth Horodyski, EdD, LAT, ATC, FNATA, Jeff McKibbin, MEd, LAT, ATC, and Michael O’Shea, MA, LAT, ATC.
John H. Anderson, MEd, ATC
John H. Anderson, MEd, ATC, has enjoyed a career spanning nearly five decades. With the exception of a 10-year stint at Louisiana State University, he has held various roles at Troy University since 1967, including head athletic trainer, professor and program director and serves as a professor emeritus lecturer. He was a member of the Mexican Track and Field coaching staff for the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games and served as an athletic trainer for the 1996 U.S. Olympic team. Anderson is the founder of Iota Tau Alpha, a national athletic training honor society. Since its inception in 2005, the organization has expanded to more than 100 chapters with more than 4000 inductees. He previously earned NATA’s Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award and Athletic Trainer Service Award.
Fran Babich, MS, ATC
Fran Babich, MS, ATC, is a professor in the department of kinesiology, health and athletics at Butte Community College, Oroville, California, where she has served since 1980. She was initially hired as the school’s head athletic trainer, becoming the first woman named to that position in the California Community Colleges system. She has worked as an athletic trainer and educator in every setting, including K-12 schools, colleges and universities, as well as professional sports. Babich has served in various volunteer roles with NATA and the Far West Athletic Trainers’ Association and has served on the California Community College Commission on Athletics Gender Equity Committee. Babich has been recognized with multiple honors including the California Community College Athletic Association Hall of Fame, Butte College Hall of Fame, C.K. McClatchy High School Hall of Fame, as well as NATA’s Gail Weldon Award of Excellence, Athletic Trainer Service Award, Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award and District Eight Hall of Fame.
Tanya Dargusch, LAT, ATC
Tanya Dargusch, LAT, ATC, has been the head athletic trainer at Washington Township High School in Sewell, New Jersey, since 1988. An advocate for athletic trainers in the secondary school setting, her volunteer work with NATA helped contribute to better representation of secondary school athletic trainers on a national level. She has held numerous volunteer roles, including her current position as a member of the NATA Governmental Affairs Committee. She recently chaired the association’s District Secretaries’/Treasurers’ Committee and has been a member of the Council on Employment. She also served as the District Two Executive Council secretary. Locally, she held various positions with the Athletic Trainers’ Society of New Jersey and served on the New Jersey Governor’s Task Force on Steroid Use and Prevention. Dargusch previously received NATA’s Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award and Athletic Trainer Service Award.
Kathy Dieringer, EdD, LAT, ATC
Kathy Dieringer, EdD, LAT, ATC, is the co-owner of D&D Sports Med, an outpatient rehabilitation company with three clinics in North Texas. She served two terms on the NATA board of directors from 2012 through 2016; two of which she was also secretary/treasurer. Among her other previous positions were chair of NATA’s Clinical and Emerging Practices Athletic Trainers’ Committee. She also chaired both the Texas Athletic Trainers’ Advisory Board Education Committee and the Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association Women in Athletic Training Committee. Dieringer enjoyed terms as president, first vice president, second vice president and recording secretary of NATA District Six and was elected to its Hall of Fame. She received the NATA Athletic Trainer Service Award and Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award. Dieringer will also be honored at the Houston meeting with the Gail Weldon Award of Excellence, recognizing one athletic trainer each year who has displayed an exceptional commitment to mentoring, professional development and life balancing for woman athletic trainers or significant contributions to improve the health care of females provided by athletic trainers.
MaryBeth Horodyski, EdD, LAT, ATC, FNATA
MaryBeth Horodyski, EdD, LAT, ATC, FNATA, is currently the director of research for the department of orthopaedics and rehabilitation at the University of Florida and also serves as the athletic trainer at a small private high school in Gainesville. An expert in spine-injured patient care, Horodyski has been published more than 100 times in peer-reviewed journals and was selected as one of only five non-physicians to join the Cervical Spine Research Society. She has served in leadership roles with NATA as vice president, District Nine director, NATA Research & Education Foundation vice president and her current role as chair of the Executive Committee for Education. Additionally, she held the positions of president and secretary/treasurer for the Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Association (SEATA). Horodyski has received countless honors including the SEATA Hall of Fame, Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida Hall of Fame and NATA’s Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer and Athletic Trainer Service Awards and Fellows status.
Jeff McKibbin, MEd, LAT, ATC
Jeff McKibbin, MEd, LAT, ATC, is the director of the Graduate Athletic Training Program at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he began his career, spending 24 years as head athletic trainer, with 13 of those in a dual role as associate athletic director. His numerous volunteer and leadership roles include chair of NATA’s Government Affairs Committee, member of the NATAPAC board of directors and several positions at the state, district and national levels. He is credited with legislative efforts in Oklahoma and developing the first accredited graduate athletic training program in Oklahoma. McKibbin was inducted into the Oklahoma Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame, Mid-America Athletic Trainers’ Hall of Fame and the University of Central Oklahoma Athletic Hall of Fame. He was previously honored with the NATA Athletic Trainer Service Award and Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award.
Michael E. O’Shea, MA, LAT, ATC
Michael E. O’Shea, MA, LAT, ATC, worked as an athletic trainer at the Air Force Academy while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Following his service, he worked in both the professional and collegiate settings and, since 1993, he has served the University of Houston as head athletic trainer. In 1981, O’Shea wrote a book called “The History and Development of the NATA,” the first book to cover the history of the association. He donated proceeds from book sales to NATA. O’Shea has held many volunteer roles and received numerous awards at the state, district and national levels. He has been honored with the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society Distinguished Alumni Athletic Trainer award, NATA Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award, University of Houston Alumni Chairs Award, and he will be inducted into the Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame this year.
“We champion the outstanding contributions of these seven Hall of Fame recipients and their constant commitment and passion for the athletic training profession,” says Charlie Thompson, MS, ATC, NATA Honors & Awards Committee chair. “We recognize and celebrate this tremendous class of 2017 and all they do to support NATA, its wide reaching programs and the members it represents.”