Randy Meador, a native of Oxford, Ohio, is observing his 30th anniversary as the coordinator of athletic training for men’s basketball.
Associates will tell you he has done a wonderful job since taking over the position after serving one year as assistant trainer for football.Randy, who’s now 54, is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio. From there, he came to grad school at West Virginia University in 1985.Obviously, his degree was in athletic training. WVU celebrated its 40th anniversary of that program last weekend.
John Spiker, who recently retired from the university, was the founder and developer of that flourishing program. Meador indicates that he would not have done anything else in his career. “I’ve enjoyed working with young student-athletes very much, since starting with basketball at WVU.”
To bolster his vast knowledge about athletic training, he took courses in advanced athletic training at WVU while working here and received his graduate degree.Meador recalled that he worked very closely with John Spiker during the year when he was a graduate assistant in football athletic training on a daily basis.
“He’s very, very good,” Meador said of Spiker. “He knows all about athletic training.”
Meador has become well-versed with injuries athletes have suffered during his lengthy services at the university.
“I know what is expected of each athlete,” he said. “Football’s more of a contact sport than basketball is and that makes it different. I’ve seen more ankle sprains than any other type of injury.”
Randy and his wife Bev were college sweethearts at Miami of Ohio.
They have been married for 31 years.
They have two sons: Luke and Eli.
Meador will tell you that some of the student-athletes call him “Doc.” But not being a doctor, Meador prefers something more like Randy or Mr. Meador.
“Whatever, I want people thinking about athletic training.”
Meador said, “It has been a real joy working with the coaches over the years. Don Nehlen was the first coach I worked with when I came and assisted in football.
“They went to a bowl game that year and they all were very nice. The next year I moved to men’s basketball and I’m still there.”
He continued, “I enjoyed playing basketball and still do for fun during off-time. I was too skinny in high school. Our basketball team should be good again.”
He would have played basketball in high school and college but couldn’t because he was too skinny Randy said.
“But we had a team session where we like to play basketball for fun,” he recalled.
“I used to play with Garett Ford, Rocky Gianola and a lot of those guys who played the game well and for fun.”
Those included people from the physical education dept.
“It’s been a pleasure having a job where you work with these people every day. The athletic department is a great place to work and I know Morgantown is a great place to live.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.bdtonline.com/sports/sports_columns/meador-observes-th-year-as-coordinator-of-athletic-training-services/article_16d2627c-30ee-11e5-bee5-c7304e6c6804.html