Off the Roll

It is interesting how fate steps in and provides an opportunity to start a life long career.  That is exactly what happened to Brian Jones when an automobile accident led to a meeting with the athletic trainer that took care of his mom after the accident.  John Coddington's influence on Brian started him on a career pathway that has been in the making for over 30 years.  His recommendation to go to Ball State and become part of their athletic training education program allowed Brian to work with a AT staff that would help him land a GA position at Michigan State.  That AT staff would help him secure a assistant AT position at the University of Toledo where he has been ever since.  Currently Brian is the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Health and Wellness and works with 10 staff certified athletic trainers, 1 physical therapist, & 1 insurance coordinator. Brian is also a leader in the Athletic Training profession by serving on the NCAA Division 1 Concussion Safety Protocol Committee.  He has been honored as the Ohio Athletic Trainers' Association "Athletic Trainer of the Year in 2011-2012", Cardinal Sports Medicine Society Ring honor in 2011 and in 2022 the NATA Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine Division 1 Head Athletic Trainer of Year.

The LaPorte, IN native resides in Monclova Township with his wife Kim and his son Zachary and daughter Avery.

Athletic Trainers need supplies to do their jobs.  Sometimes the most important person in getting an athlete back is the sports medicine company representative.  They play an intrical part in supporting athletic trainers and the care they provide their athletes.  Whether is overnighting a product or introducing a new product that will help the athletic trainer get an athlete back to activity, their dedication to what they due in not unlike an athletic trainer.  Paul Calloway (Miotech) and Brian Matix (Henry Schein) have been in the business for over 25 years.  They both started out at Medco Medical Supply when it was in Muncie, IN and both consider Jim Dickerson as mentor.  They have some great stories from their perspective on the AT profession and why relationships still drive sales.  They have a few "JD" stories as well that should garner some laughs.  Their contributions to the AT profession are important and they are considered valuable consultants on what is trending in the AT profession through their travels.  They both reside in Ft Wayne, IN with their families.

As a high school athlete Rob Hunt was on the receiving end of athletic training services at West Lafayette High School in West Lafayette, IN. Right in the shadow of one of the more storied epicenters of athletic training, Purdue University.  He wanted to design and build things so Ball State University's architecture program seemed like the right fit. Unbeknownst to him he was following in the footsteps of Ron O'Neil and Mark Lahr.  He realized the missing factor as an architecture major was working with people and led him to change his major to athletic training.  Rob's journey started at Ball State, then to Missouri, Southeast Missouri State, Oklahoma State and finally where he is today Notre Dame, where he is currently the Associate Athletic Director for Athletic Training and Rehabilitation. In this podcast Rob talks about his journey and what he believes that insures the best outcomes in the care of student athletes.  A great philosophy for all athletic trainers to hear especially for National Athletic Training Month.  Rob resides in South Bend with his wife Krista and their four children. 

Mark Lahr was too short and too slow to be on his high school basketball team at Lafayette Jeff High School in Lafayette IN.  It was just the right combination to start a long and exceptional career as an athletic trainer.  With a few detours on along the way Mark found his way to Jim Dickerson and the Ball State AT program.  Mark graduated from Ball State in 1984 with a math teaching degree and a desire to work at the secondary school level as an athletic trainer.  He got the opportunity to teach math and be an athletic trainer at Ben Davis HS, in Indianapolis, IN that same year and the rest is history they like to say... He was a part of numerus state championships, started one of the first sports medicine curriculums at the secondary school level in Indiana, and was a leader among secondary school AT's in the Indianapolis area.  He got to see first hand the development of the accelerated ACL rehab protocol and participated in the research of it as an athletic trainer.  He was also a lead athletic trainer in the Hoosier State Games and the White River Park Games.  He has been a sought after speaker for High School Athletic Training workshops.  He was the Indiana All Stars Athletic Trainer for Softball in 2004 and Football in 2008. He was inducted into the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association in 2009 and the Cardinal Sports Medicine Society in 2011.  He is currently employed by Forte Sports Medicine as a DME coordinator.  He and his wife Colleen live Indianapolis.

Our 10th Episode!

How does an architecture major and a week in the student health center lead to an outstanding athletic training career featuring innovation and product development that contributes to the health and well being of athletes?  Ron O'Neil explains in this episode of Off the Roll.  Ron was a graduate of Ball State University in 1969.  While at Ball State he played varsity baseball while also being a student athletic trainer.  He was one of the few that was taught by Bud Miller, Dick Hoover, Ron Sendre and Jim Dickerson.  Quite an impressive list of mentors.  He next moved on to Northwestern University and for he next 4 years worked with NATA hall of famer Dick Hoover as an assistant athletic trainer.  Because of his work with the first isokinetic machines he got the opportunity to become an assistant athletic trainer with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles where he spent 11 years working with hall of fame athletic training legend Otho Davis.  In his time with the Eagles he help develop one the most prestigious athletic training intern programs in the country.  In 1984 the New England Patriots came calling and he spent the next 18 years there.  He was a part of 3 Super Bowl's and one Super Bowl title in 2002.  In 1997 Ron and his staff were awarded the NFL Athletic Training Staff of the year.  Next he moved on the Andover Healthcare where he was the senior consultant in education, research and development and was instrumental in development of Andover PowerFlex, PowerTape PowerFlex AFD.  He also did educations session on taping techniques in the United States and Europe.  He retired from Andover in 2020.  He resides in the the Boston area with his wife Joyce.

After getting cut from his HS basketball team for being to slow and too small Jay Bradley embarked on a career path that has kept him busy throughout the Midwest for over 50 years.  After taking a Cramer Student Athletic Trainer correspondence course in high school he was asked to be his high school's athletic trainer.  He was the student athletic trainer for the 1967 Indiana Boys All Start basketball team and the student athletic trainer for the 1967 Indiana North All Stars Football team in their game vs the South All Stars with a student athletic trainer named Glen Snow.  This started his path to Ball State, University of Cincinnati, and finally IUPUI.  He was instrumental in the creation of the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association and a long time director of Nike Basketball camps across the United States.  He is a member of four Hall of Fames, Pike HS Alumni Hall of Fame, Indiana Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame, Cardinal Sports Medicine Society Ring of Honor, IUPUI Athletics Hall of Fame 

In 1985 there was a shift in perspective in Ball State Athletic Training.  Rex Sharp was hired as the head athletic trainer.  Not being a physical therapist was a change in direction for the program.  He was joining fellow Ball State AT alum and assistant athletic trainer Tony Cox.  Together the first couple of years were spent building a health care and AT education program that would become one of the most prolific AT programs of it time.  1987 Neal Hazen, Also an alum of the Ball State PT program, joins the staff as a physical therapist through Baxter Physical Therapy (Dick Hoover).  The start of 9 special years begin.  This groups influence is responsible for currently 5 NCAA Div. 1 Head Athletic Trainers/Dir of Sports Medicine.  Numerus high school, small college, and clinical athletic trainers that are leaders in the profession.  They did it with a culture of family, fun and professionalism.  Finally a loyalty to each other that surpasses distance and time.  They are truly what this profession is about.  Relationships and caring for people.  

Sometimes we get the opportunity to take care of the people that we once were. It is a unique and sometimes rare opportunity but can be very rewarding to use our experience to help young people achieve their dreams.  That is what Jamie Broz is doing now.  As the manager for the Center for the Female Athlete at Dayton's Children's Hospital she gets to help young female athletes just like she was as a competitive gymnast growing up in Mt Healthy, OH.  Jamie talks about what she is doing now with the program at the Center and tells us her story of becoming an athletic trainer. We talk about being a student AT at Ball State, working with the Ball State Goalball team, Being in the Miss Ball State body building competition, and finally high-fiving Michael Jordan as a Ball State Cheerleader. There are a few other stories thrown in about her time at "Ball State west" other wise known as the University of Missouri.  Jamie is married to former Ball State men's basketball player and athletic training alum David Broz they reside outside Cincinnati with their three children.

Self Promotion can been seen two ways, bragging or advocating  With John Coddington is was always about what athletic trainers could do in the clinical setting.  He has backed it up with a 47 year AT career, all in the clinical setting.  He was a pioneer starting at LaPorte Hospital, LaPorte, IN in 1976 as one of the only athletic trainers in a hospital setting at the time.  He continued working in private PT clinics advocating for athletic trainers in those settings.  While doing this he was covering high schools in the LaPorte and South Bend and becoming the foremost throwing mechanics expert in northern Indiana.  John was instrumental in helping organize the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association and served as the clinical setting representative for 10 years.  He has been honored numerous times for his contributions in Athletic Training, IATA Clinical AT of the year 1989, IATA Hall of Fame 2001, Cardinal Sports Medicine Society Ring of Honor 2008,  but most recently he was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Eric Holcomb.  This is the highest honor that any Hoosier can receive for their contributions and honor to the State of Indiana.  John is still saving young arms as a throwing instructor at the 1st Source Bank Sports Performance Center in South Bend, IN. and still resides there with his wife, Lynn.