UNA'S LONG TO JOIN ALABAMA ATHLETIC TRAINERS HALL OF FAME

BIRMINGHAM – Long-time University of North Alabama athletic trainer Johnny Long will be inducted into the 13th class of the Alabama Athletic Trainer’s Hall of Fame on May 16th, the organization recently announced.

The ALATA Hall of Fame honors athletic trainers who have distinguished themselves throughout the years in the service of athletic training in Alabama. The athletic trainer is an allied healthcare provider who specializes in athletics healthcare.

Long, a native of Moulton, Ala., served as UNA's athletic trainer from 1971 to 1988. He graduated from UNA in 1972 with a B.S. degree in physical education, and he also received his Master's degree from UNA in 1974.
 
He served as head athletic trainer at UNA with five different head football coaches and four different head basketball coaches, while also serving on the staff of the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery for more than a decade. Long was elevated to the position of Assistant to the Athletic Director at UNA from 1988-89 and continues to serve on the HPER faculty.

Upon Long's induction into the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999, former Lion athletic director the late Bill Jones said of Long, "He doesn't have a won-loss record at UNA but he has been at all the peaks and valleys of the program, and he has been a driving force for the athletic program here. He performed the type of duties that often go overlooked, but he is the man that kept our student-athletes ready to play. He was part of the glue that helped hold our athletic department together for a long time."

Long is joining a select group of legends in the athletic training profession in the State of Alabama, including Jim Goosetree of Alabama and Kenny Howard of Auburn. He will be joined in this year’s class by former Jacksonville State University athletic trainer Jim Skidmore.

In cooperation with physicians and other allied health personnel, the athletic trainer functions as an integral member of the athletic healthcare team in secondary schools, colleges and universities, sports medicine clinics, professional sports programs, and other athletic healthcare settings.

As specialists in the prevention, recognition, management and rehabilitation of injuries incurred by athletes, athletic trainers evaluate, administer immediate emergency care, minimize the athlete's reaction to injury, and maximize their physical status for return to competition. Using knowledge of each athlete's injuries and the factors influencing them, the athletic trainer - with the attending family or team physician - develops a treatment program based on medical, exercise and sports sciences.

The Alabama Athletic Trainer’s Hall Of Fame will be held during the organization’s annual meeting May 15-17, 2009, at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.