Tag: University of Houston

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O’Shea to be Inducted into NATA Hall of Fame

Article reposted from Houston Cougars
Author: Houston Cougars

 Legendary University of Houston head athletics trainer Michael “Doc” O’Shea has been selected to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Hall of Fame and will be inducted at the NATA 68th Clinical Symposia and AT Expo in Houston on June 28.

O’Shea is the second Houston Athletics Trainer to be inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame, following in the footsteps of Tom Wilson, who he replaced in 1993.

Widely regarded as one of the top collegiate athletics trainers in the country, O’Shea oversees the training room operations for the football team and for all Houston student-athletes.

Next week’s induction is just the latest honor for O’Shea. For his heroic efforts in saving the life of cornerback D.J. Hayden following a collision at practice, O’Shea received the Excellence in Athletics Training Award from the Southwest Athletic Trainers Association in July 2013.

With his quick thinking and action, O’Shea helped save Hayden’s life from an injury that is 95 percent fatal and more often seen in explosions or war casualties and never in athletics competition.

Nearly six months after his injury, surgery and rehabilitation, Hayden was taken with the No. 12 overall pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 2013 NFL Draft.

Just last month, he waas named the 2017 Chairs Award recipient, which honors non-alumni who have consistently and voluntarily given extraordinary support to the University of Houston at the University of Houston Alumni Association’s gala.

 

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Houston Prepares Graduate Athletic Trainers

This May, 12 University of Houston students will proudly graduate with master’s degrees in athletic training. They are the first graduates of the program that began in 2014, and is newly accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE).  

An athletic trainer is a healthcare professional who collaborates with physicians. Athletic trainers provide prevention and emergency care, clinical diagnoses, therapeutic interventions and rehabilitation plans. No longer limited to college and high school positions, athletic trainers are in corporate roles offering fitness services, as well as health education and outreach.Yellen

“Having this recognition from CAATE means our program provides high quality training, education and experiential learning opportunities for the industry’s next generation of professionals,” said Josh Yellen, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance and director of the program. “Accreditation also makes our graduates immediately eligible for national certification and ready for a profession where athletic trainers are in demand.”

To be accredited, a program must meet 109 standards set by CAATE to ensure it is preparing professionals at the highest level. Those standards cover all aspects of the program from faculty to syllabus to evaluation. The process can take up to three years.

“The opportunities for our students are many simply because of where we’re located,” said Mark Knoblauch, clinical assistant professor and clinical education coordinator of the program. “We have a master’s program, at a Tier One university, in the fourth-largest city in the country, where both NASA and the Texas Medical Center are located.”AT

The Master’s in Athletic Training program, the first of its kind in Houston, was approved by the UH Board of Regents in 2013 and began accepting students the following year. The UH program includes studies in prevention and health promotion, clinical examination and diagnosis, acute care of injury and illness, as well as therapeutic interventions, healthcare administration and professional development. All students also complete up to 1,560 hours of clinical rotations with partner agencies that include, Memorial Hermann Medical Group, Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation and The Ironman Sports Medicine Sports Institute, the Houston Texans, Houston Marathon and the Sugar Land Skeeters.

“Today’s healthcare model emphasizes prevention, and athletic trainers are the only medical profession that focuses on that aspect of health,” Yellen said. “Whether in a corporate environment, professional sports club, school, the military, Disney or NASA—all of which employ athletic trainers—our students will be competitive and successful.”

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O’Shea is a university of Houston staple

You can’t give up on something you love.

You don’t walk away when you feel wanted.

That’s what Michael O’Shea reminds himself every day, when the old thought reappears in his head, his body feels its age and O’Shea knows he’s closer to the end of his life than the beginning.

“I don’t want to leave here and walk right into a nursing home,” O’Shea said to his wife, during a private moment away from his public world.

Then a man who has spent 52 years as an athletic trainer, including 23 seasons at the University of Houston, will feel the power of coach Tom Herman, TDECU Stadium, 12-1, No. 14 in the nation, a conference championship and the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

O’Shea will remember when the Cougars’ football program had absolutely nothing. He’ll reflect on all the people in the world who hate waking up daily to do what they get paid for. And a 70-year-old husband and father, who could clock out for good any second he feels like it, knows there’s no way in the world he can give all this up right now.

 

O’Shea wouldn’t be saving lives, like former Coogs defensive back D.J. Hayden’s. He couldn’t walk into his office each morning and see five decades’ worth of the proof of his professional existence: Baltimore Colts photos, a 1983 University of Miami national championship game ball, a trainer of the year plaque and Air Force mementos. And O’Shea knows Herman’s ongoing takeover needs a little historical perspective to truly be complete.

“I don’t know if I’ve come across anyone that bleeds Cougar red more than O’Shea,” Herman said. “He’s done it all, seen it all and has earned these kids’ trust.”

Could you imagine working every day when you’re 70?

O’Shea can’t picture leaving the job that is his life behind.

Because there was 1-9 in 1993 and 1-10 a year later. There was 0-11 in 2001 and there are memories of O’Shea walking around old, discarded Robertson Stadium, placing numbers on seats just so fans could find where they were sitting on game day. Just a few years ago, it was weekly embarrassments at the Texans’ NFL stadium, with the Coogs barely drawing enough bodies to look like an average high school team.

“If you had seen what we had back when we had nothing here,” O’Shea said. “I don’t want to be selfish. But I don’t want to give it up quite so fast, because it’s finally got to where I want it.”

UH’s trainer locked on to Herman while the rest of the program was figuring out the first-year leader. For many young Coogs, the Paul “Bear” Bryant coach of the year finalist initially was way too intense for their liking. So the athletes whined and complained to O’Shea, hoping that a man old enough to be their grandfather would get Herman to ease up on his relentless attack.

O’Shea dug in.

Do you really want to win?

Then this is how you learn to win.

“I had a great feeling about (Herman) from the first time I met him,” said O’Shea, a Brenham native who followed famed college/NFL coach Howard Schnellenberger from the Colts to Miami and Louisville before arriving in Houston. “I knew what he was doing and I told people, ‘This guy is special.’ ”

When the struggling Coogs beat SMU 39-33 midway through the 1994 season, then-coach Helton told O’Shea he “better appreciate” the close victory. The trainer laughed off the advice.

“Oh, we’re going to win more than one game,” O’Shea said.

UH didn’t and it took 21 more seasons – air-it-out quarterbacks, Dana Dimel to Tony Levine, the Southwest and Conference USA into the American – to achieve a rise that’s been three decades in the making.

What’s the Peach Bowl and football during the holidays mean to Herman’s Cougars?

Look in O’Shea’s eyes and see 70 years of love.

“I can’t give it up,” he said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/columnists/smith/article/UH-trainer-O-Shea-can-t-give-up-job-he-loves-6720510.php