NATA Hall of Fame

Andy Paulin mentored hundreds of students and student athletes while serving as Head Athletic Trainer at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif. He was extensively involved in NATA at the district and state level before becoming District Eight director, a position he held for six years beginning in 2002. Paulin worked the 1984 Summer Olympics and provided care for athletes at the Mt. SAC Relays, the world's largest track and field competition.

From the classroom to the basketball court, Larry Leverenz delivered intelligence, versatility and a global perspective to athletic training. He spent more than a decade working with disabled and blind athletes while making a name for himself as a clinician at Western Illinois and Iowa. He took a position at Purdue in 1991 and served as AT for men's basketball and ATEP Director. He was CAAHEP president from 1999-2002 and was extensively involved in WFATT.

Chuck Kimmel was elected NATA president in 2004 and helped the association grow despite one of the nation's worst recessions. Among his many accomplishments, the Involve & Evolve! initiative to grow young leaders launched during his tenure, and he helped develop NATA's Political Action Committee. Kimmel's career at Austin Peay State University lasted 25 years before he accepted a position as Injury Clinic Director at Appalachian State.

An authority on athletic training education, Marcia Anderson arrived at Bridgewater State University in 1981 and helped build its ATEP into one of the nation's most respected. She has been lead author on eight books, including Foundations in Athletic Training: Prevention, Assessment & Management. Anderson is a former Journal of Athletic Training reviewer and spent a decade developing questions for the BOC certification exam.

Many athletic trainers have fought for governmental recognition, but Keith Webster stands out in the crowd. Early on, Webster saw the value of legislative affairs and effectively lobbied NATA to make it a priority. He led the Governmental Affairs Committee for a decade and continues to push for legislative initiatives. Webster is an assistant professor and head athletic trainer at his alma mater, the University of Kentucky.

Brooklyn native Frank Walters learned a key lesson from his first athletic training mentor, Bill Chisolm: think big-picture. He has spent a career doing exactly that - and challenging others to do the same. He has impacted ethnic diversity in athletic training, education, job improvement, athlete health care. Well known for building the athletic training program in the District of Columbia public schools, Walters now runs an outreach program in Broward County, Fla.

As a student at Kansas State Teachers' College, Lynn Bott quickly made a name as a fast study, a hard worker, a gifted healer. Those traits have endured throughout 20+ years at the University of Kansas and decades of volunteer service, including a successful push to gain licensure in Kansas. Now an instructor and director of sports medicine at Baker University, Bott finds his greatest job satisfaction in mentoring students.

As early as the late 1970s, Randy Biggerstaff began advocating for athletic trainers in the clinic setting. An entrepreneur at heart, the Mizzou graduate has spent 30 years opening, directing and growing sports medicine clinics and consulting businesses. Now the education program director at Lindenwood University, Biggerstaff remains a key voice in clinical and emerging practice settings.

Chad Starkey has carved a niche as an educator and visionary. As the first chair of the NATA Education Council, he led the transition to accredited curriculum. Now an associate professor and coordinator of the division of athletic training at Ohio University, Starkey has served on the Board of Certification board and is author of several textbooks and articles.

Bill Lyons has been at the University of Wyoming since 1978, were he has served as head athletic trainer and athletic training education program director. After working under Wyoming legend Jack Aggers, as well as Gary Delforge and Warren Lee, Lyons has made it a point to pass on the lessons he learned by mentoring students throughout his career.