Thanks to a Cramer student athletic trainer correspondence course, some supportive coaches and a desire to be a part of a team Dr. Tom Weidner's athletic training career was off and running at Rich East high school in Park Forest, IL.  Although not knowing much, but what he was learning from the Cramer course and a few found textbooks and articles he was determined to be Rich East's first athletic trainer.  From there he enrolled at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL.  There he found a limited AT staff that welcomed anyone with athletic training experience and was soon providing athletic training to a variety of athletic teams.  He stuck around Carbondale a few more years but when his vision was starting deteriorate he knew he had a to find a different path to continue his athletic training journey.  He was working on his Doctorate when by a chance phone call from information from the NATA job line landed him and his family in LA at Cal-State Northridge as the Athletic Training Education Program Director.  After spending 6 years at Cal-State Northridge he got the opportunity to come back to the Midwest as the Assistant Athletic Training Program Director at Ball State University.  Tom eventually became the Program Director and finally his current position, the George and Francis Ball Distinguished Professor of Athletic Training and Chair, School of Kinesiology.  His story is unique and his passion for teaching and research made him one of the most respected athletic trainers of his generation.  He has had a few celebrity interactions through out his career as well which we will hear about in the podcast. Tom has been inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame, the IATA Hall of Fame, received the Golden Pinnacle award from GLATA, Cardinal Sports Medicine Society Ring of Honor and numerus awards for his teaching and research through out his career.  He and his wife Lauren are the parents of two grown daughters and reside in Eaton, IN 

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