The NATA Hall of Fame is the pinnacle of member recognition, celebrating athletic trainers who have fostered the profession and exemplified what it means to live a life of service. More than a ring and an iconic green jacket, the NATA Hall of Fame honors those who have dedicated countless hours sharpening their skills, mentoring the next generation of ATs and leaving a lasting impact on the athletic training profession.
The May/June NATA News features profiles on each of the 2025 NATA Hall of Fame inductees, providing insight into their careers, volunteer achievements and lives as leaders in the profession. The class of 2025 will be inducted during the 76th NATA Clinical Symposia & AT Expo in Orlando. Don’t miss the NATA Hall of Fame Induction & National Awards Ceremony from 1 to 2 p.m. June 25.
In this post, the inductees discuss their professional beginnings and why they chose to become athletic trainers.
Editor’s note: Rick Shaw passed away Feb. 15. His responses were provided by his daughter, Jess Norman; colleagues, Marion Vruggink, AT Ret., Walter “Kip” Smith, MEd, LAT, ATC, and Scott Lawrance, DHSc, LAT, ATC; and mentor, Bob Behnke, AT Ret.
Brian Conway, LAT, ATC
My extreme interest is in health care, and I love sports.
Katie Walsh Flanagan, EdD, LAT, ATC
I had just arrived as a freshman at Oregon State University and tried out for the field hockey team. I made the team, but the next day, I was in a bicycle accident and broke some ribs and the head of my radius. The physician at the student health center sent me to the athletic trainer, who allowed me to keep playing field hockey with some tape on my elbow – I was hooked. I wanted the ability to help athletic people safely continue to play.
Rick Griffin, MS, LAT, ATC
Growing up in a very small town in Utah, I played sports. My high school didn’t have an AT, and I didn’t even know there was such an occupation until my freshman year at Utah State University. I went to the spring football game, and saw a player get hurt and an AT ran out on the field. I found out who he was and went to the athletic training facility to talk to him about this new and exciting career I didn’t know even existed. I always loved sports and was interested in anatomy and medicine. From the first time I spoke with him, I knew this was what I wanted to do. He gave me a scholarship, and I worked as an athletic training student for the next three years. Now, 50 years later, I still love being an AT!
Jennifer Dawn Rheeling, MS, LAT, ATC
I always knew I wanted to work in the secondary school setting. I first wanted to become a physical education teacher. The older sister of a classmate majored in athletic training and that sparked my interest. Her name is Robyn Thompson-Etzel, ATC, and she recently retired. The more I found out about the profession, the more interested I became. My mother nurtured my interest by taking me to local workshops and symposia.
When I was a high school freshman basketball player with patellar tendinitis, we had to travel 30 miles every Saturday to the first sports medicine clinic I knew of. It was run by a sports medicine physician and employed athletic trainers. The ATs would evaluate my progress and adjust my rehabilitation program. A classmate with a subluxing shoulder also made these trips, so I was able to watch them treat that as well.
My father was a teacher and my mother was a registered nurse, so I feel like I combined both of their influences!
J. Timothy Sensor, LAT, AT Ret.
After concluding my ice hockey career at Ramapo College, I was eager to remain connected to the team and saw an opportunity to contribute by taking on first aid responsibilities, drawing on my background in this area. I explored other ways I could help the team and discovered the field of athletic training. I researched the profession and discovered several local seminars. Attending these events allowed me to connect with influential mentors, including Dick Malacrea, AT Ret., John McNerney, Bill Battershall and Alan Levy. Their guidance and support played a pivotal role in my decision to pursue a career in athletic training and helped my professional career flourish.
Rick Shaw
Rick played little league sports as a kid but realized that he wasn’t as “good” as some of the other kids out there. He decided his talents would be better served on the sidelines, helping to keep those players healthy. Like so many ATs, Rick sought athletic training as a career because it combined many of his interests, such as his love of serving/helping people and love of athletics. He was an athletic training student when he was in high school, and then in college at Indiana State University. He once said that in college, “I was a C student at best, and I knew that I was going to have to find a reason to keep my grades up, and that was athletic training.”
