R.T. Floyd's career as an athletic trainer began when he became the first head athletic trainer at the University of West Alabama as a freshman. He has now served as a faculty member at the university for nearly 40 years and is the director of athletic training. Known by his colleagues as one of the most devoted athletic trainers in the profession, Floyd's legacy to athletic training will be his service and dedication. Floyd is a former member of the NATA Board of Directors. He was also elected as a representative on the NATA Research and Education Foundation Board of Directors, becoming the first member to be elected to serve simultaneously on both the NATA and the NATA Foundation Board of Directors. Floyd is currently an active volunteer at the local, state and national level and will serve as the next president of the NATA Research and Education Foundation.
NATA Hall of Fame
Ron Courson is a national leader in emergency care and the issue of sudden death. He has served on numerous committees and task forces and was instrumental in writing several NATA position statements on the following topics: spine injury management, preventing sudden death and emergency preparation in athletics. Courson was a leader in developing the athletic training education program at the University of Georgia, where he currently serves as associate athletic director of sports medicine. His dedication to the profession is demonstrated by the compassionate care he provides his student athletes, his efforts toward promoting legislation that improves the welfare of student athletes and the development of an emergency medical plan that is credited with saving lives.
Matt Webber is known as a compassionate athletic trainer who cares for his students, as well as an advocate for his colleagues and profession. A president of the Arizona Athletic Trainers Association and the first chair of the Arizona Board of Athletic Training, Webber worked to draft and implement athletic training licensure laws and regulations in the state. In addition to his legislative efforts, he is credited with writing the bylaws and constitution of both the AzATA and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Trainers' Association. A longtime high school athletic trainer, Webber served on the NATA board of directors and numerous committees.
Arnold Thomas worked for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Cypress, Texas for three decades. As the head athletic trainer for Cy-Fair High School, he assisted in the implementation of a program that provided free heart screenings for student athletes and automatic defibrillators at each of the 10 CFISD high schools. Known for being a true model and setting an example of expertise and professionalism, Thomas was president of both the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association and the Greater Houston Athletic Trainers' Society. He is one of the founders of the GHATS student workshop, the largest in the nation, and served as medical staff at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Thomas is currently a doping control officer for the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
William “Bill” Tessendorf's legacy as an athletic trainer will be his efforts to advance the profession and create more opportunities for his colleagues. Tessendorf has worked as an athletic trainer in the National Football League for nearly four decades, including more than 20 years with the Cleveland Browns and a Super Bowl win with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001. Tessendorf has shown his commitment to his profession by serving as president of the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers' Association. He was the first to represent athletic trainers on the NFL Injury & Safety panel, advocating for player safety and injury prevention for nearly two decades.
Throughout his decades as an athletic trainer, Jeff Stone has been known for his devotion to colleagues and to the profession. A past president of the Athletic Trainers of Massachusetts, “Stoney” remained active with District One and the EATA, and has been the recipient of both the EATA Henry Schein/MBM and Cramer Awards. He represented District One for two terms on the NATA board of directors, and has been a long-time medical volunteer with the Bay State Games. Stone was instrumental in establishing the Rebecca Payne Memorial District One Scholarship, honoring the memory of the late athletic training student from Northeastern University. Currently, he is the head athletic trainer at Suffolk University in Boston.
Throughout John Spiker's career as an educator at West Virginia University and as a clinic owner, he has focused on improving the athletic training profession and creating opportunities for students and young professionals. Spiker was selected as Collegiate Athletic Trainer of the Year in 1980 and Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer in 1994. He was honored by the WVU School of Physical Education as the Outstanding Alumnus in 2007 after being named to the Hall of Fame in 1993. He has served as the president of the WVU Fellowship of Christian Athletes board and has received many local civic and business awards.
Kip Smith's career started at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by nearly 30 years at Indiana University, where he is currently the head athletic trainer. Smith was a Board of Certification examiner and an active NATA Ethics Committee member, helping re-write the national association's code of ethics, and currently serves on the NATA Foundation Board of Directors. A committed member and past president of the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association, Smith was heavily involved in Indiana licensure and reimbursement efforts. He helped develop and pass the Indiana State House Enrolled Act 1467, which allows licensed athletic trainers to be reimbursed by insurers and health maintenance organizations.
Jay Shoop is known for his keen interest in the history of the profession and reimbursement. As head athletic trainer at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he developed and implemented an international medical poly-clinic model within the Olympic Village and established a communication process that has been utilized since at the Games. Shoop was active with instituting Georgia's favorable licensure bill and is a member of the East Tennessee State University and Georgia Athletic Trainers Association halls of fame. Formerly head athletic trainer for the Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions, Shoop is currently director of sports medicine at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Dr. John W. Powell is a distinguished athletic training educator, researcher and clinician whose sports injury epidemiology work has made sports safer at all levels. Powell has conducted injury surveillance studies for NATA, Big Ten, NCAA, NHL and NFL and served on the NFL Injury & Safety Panel, NHL Injury Panel and Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee. He developed the Sports Injury Monitoring System, an injury tracking software for athletic trainers and was the first NATA Research and Education Foundation president. Powell is currently an athletic trainer and faculty member at Michigan State University.