NATA Hall of Fame

Joe Gieck was an educator and athletic trainer at the University of Virginia for 43 years before retiring in 2005. He served on the Advisory Board of Physical Therapy for the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Governor's Council for Physical Fitness and Sport. A scholarship is endowed in his name, as is a teaching position. He is a professor emeritus at UVa.

Cash Birdwell worked at West Point, the New York Jets and the Los Angeles Rams before settling in as head athletic trainer at Southern Methodist University. He was on the NATA board of Directors and served as vice president. Birdwell chaired the Annual Meeting in 1989 and served on the Ethics Committee. In 2005 he retired from SMU; he continues to work part-time on a contract basis.

Robert Behnke has held numerous teaching and athletic training positions throughout Indiana and Illinois. His extensive list of honors includes the NATA Educator of the Year in 1987 and the NATA Service Award in 1989. Behnke's career in athletic training has taken him from an assistant student athletic trainer position at the University of Illinois to head athletic trainer and professor at Indiana State University. He is retired.

Paul Zeek, longtime athletic trainer at Lamar University, has pursued a life-long commitment to the profession at the community, state and national level. Zeek began his career as a high school athletic trainer in El Paso and ended as a senior administrator for a college athletics department. His commitment to excellence and devotion to athletes set him apart. Zeek is retired, after 35 years at Lamar.

James “Al” Wilson dedicated his life to advancing the profession, focusing his efforts in Texas. After graduating from Howard Payne University, Wilson became the first high school athletic trainer in the state of Texas at Killeen, where he continues to care for athletes. He was appointed to Texas' Advisory Board of Athletic Trainers in 1976 and served as chair from 1977-87.

Chris Patrick established his career in the college setting, becoming a visible member of the University of Florida community. The Florida Boys Club in Gainesville elected him Volunteer of the Year in 1977, and he was honored with nearly every NATA award. Patrick has consulted for Bike, Johnson & Johnson and Nike, helping to broaden and enhance the image of the profession. He is the assistant athletics director for sports medicine at UF.

1934 - 1988

Charlie Martin went into the profession after being discharged from the Army. Best known for researching the effects of heat and humidity on athletes, Martin spent most of his career at Northeast Louisiana University. He was a founder of the Louisiana Athletic Trainers' Association, and he also worked to promote drug testing in sport.

Fred Kelley got his first taste of athletic training during his service in the Marines. After obtaining his undergraduate degree at Springfield College, Kelley became an assistant at the Virginia Military Institute. From there, he moved to the head athletic trainer position at Dartmouth College, where he served for over 30 years. He is retired and living in New Hampshire.

Larry Gardner began his distinguished career as an assistant at the University of California at Berkeley. He worked with several universities, two professional football teams and a sports medicine clinic, retiring from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2009 after helping establish its program. Gardner pioneered care for rodeo athletes and was president of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers' Society from 1969-72. He remains active in mentoring and contract work.

1936 - 1987

Although he was only 5'2” tall, Dick Vandervoort will be remembered as a giant in the field. At the age of 14 he attended the first NATA Annual Meeting and later became the association's first student member. He was the first athletic trainer for the Houston Rockets. Vandervoort helped restructure NATA in 1969 and led the National Basketball Athletic Trainers' Association for a decade.