Storytime with buzz is just that, fun stories from an old school Athletic Trainer still practicing. Thanks, Bethpage Consulting for helping to get the SMB out to SWATA 2023 in Arlington.







I have been attending SWATA for about 38 years



I broke my collarbone playing football and then became the team manager.  Sam Aguilara came to teach the coaches about Athletic Training products.  I knew I could do the stuff he was showing the coaches.



The next thing I knew they were sending me to AT clinics at colleges.



I have met a lot of great people during my career as an Athletic Trainer



Joel Kregerberg was the assistant AT for the Oilers while I was an intern.  I got to tape Earl Cambell.  He greatly deflated my ego when he told me it was the worst tape job he ever had.



Give me some more storytime



Houston Rodeo got me started with Justin Sports Medicine and Truman Spoon Sports Medicine



Did you get autographs?



Not really, I was always around the people and did not consider it.



Where was your first job as an AT?



Seminole High School is about an hour from Lubbock.



I moved to Macaney with the head coach



Then the Houston Oilers called and I moved to Houston



Take us back to Seminole HS



I taught driver's ed in the morning.



It is a small school with a small AT Facility



We were really good at basketball and gymnastics



I taught a job at the Air Force base with firemen and nurses



Who are some of the mentees that have impacted you?



Valerie Tinklepaugh-Hairston - with her impact on college sports and SWATA



David Traylor - SWATA Hall of Honor



Southlake Carroll High School is being run by two of my former ATs



TSATA Hall of Honor



This award brings a smile to my face every time I think about it.



What did you dream about being as a kid?



My dad was a pharmacist



My brother was a pharmacist and MD



I thought about following them



Storytime - What sticks out the most?



A Houston Oiler went down and was basically numb from the neck down



We backboarded him



That was his last game to ever play.



He was a good friend of mine.



My wallet and everything I needed were in my bag that the equipment managers packed up since I went to the hospital with him.  We almost got stranded in Kansas City.



MarkChisum@alertservices.com







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