NATA Hall of Fame

Dean Kleinschmidt's fundraising efforts helped build the NATA Foundation scholarship program. He has served three terms as president of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers' Society and he has been a member of two NFL advisory committees to the commissioner. He is coordinator of athletic medicine for the Detroit Lions, after spending most of his career with the New Orleans Saints.

1937-2002

Wes Jordan served as the head athletic trainer at the University of Maine for more than three decades, beginning in 1965. He served two terms on the NATA Board of Directors and served on the NATA Ethics Committee and the NATA Honors and Awards Committee. His dedication and loyalty to the University of Maine and to the athletic training profession are well known throughout the State of Maine and the New England area.

Gordy Graham developed one of the first three NATA approved athletic training curriculums in 1969 and was head athletic trainer and curriculum director at Mankato State until his retirement in 1993. He helped organize and was first president of the Minnesota Athletic Trainer's Association, and he served on the NATA board. Graham is now retired.

1921-2003

Garnett Detty founded Pro Orthopedic Devices in 1975 and ran the company until his retirement in 1994. While working for the Philadelphia Eagles he invented the neoprene rubber knee sleeve. He was owner of 22 patents on sports medicine products. His awards included the Professional Football Trainers Association Outstanding Alumnus Award and Sports Medicine Person of the Year Award.

Gary Craner was the head athletic trainer at Boise State University from 1972 until his retirement in 2008. He was the first athletic trainer in the state of Idaho to be certified by NATA and was a primary force behind Idaho state licensure. Craner's other contributions include service as president of the Idaho Athletic Trainers' Association, vice-president and president of the Northwest Athletic Trainers' Association. He continues to mentor athletic trainers around the country.

Gordon Stoddard joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as head athletic trainer in 1969, a position he held until 1986. In addition to his athletic training duties, he created the curriculum for “Professional Preparation of Athletic Trainers” at the university. Stoddard, who amassed an array of awards and recognition, is retired and living in Wisconsin.

1947-1992

Thomas “Tim” Kerin spent most of his career as head athletic trainer at the University of Tennessee, where he started in 1977. In 1986 he was a founding member of Knoxville's Metropolitan Drug Commission. Kerin received a Chancellor's Citation from the University of Tennessee in 1990 and the SEATA Award of Merit in 1991. Gatorade continues to bestow an award in his name, recognizing outstanding service by an athletic trainer.

Troy Young was head athletic trainer for Arizona State from 1979-91. He served on the NATA board from 1977-80 and was NATA liaison to the NCAA from 1978-80. Young is a co-founder of the Arizona Athletic Trainers' Association and a charter member of the Sports Medicine Committee of the Arizona Medical Association. He is retired and living in Arizona.

1928-2008

Al Ortolani served as head athletic trainer and professor of HPER at Pittsburg State from 1955 until his retirement in 1995. Throughout his career, Ortolani was a quintessential role model for others in the sports medicine field. He was first baseball coach at PSU and the baseball field is named in his honor.

Dick Malacrea spent 20 years at Princeton University as head athletic trainer before retiring in 1998. He was instrumental in founding the Athletic Trainers' Society of New Jersey in 1975. Through this society, Malacrea was appointed by the governor to chair the Legislative Committee of Advisors to the Board of Medical Examiners. He continues to live in New Jersey.