Larry Gardner, former trainer for the Dallas Cowboys and recognized sports rehabilitation expert, has joined The University of Texas at Dallas as the university’s first full-time athletic trainer.
Mary Walters, UTD’s athletic director, said Gardner will be responsible for the injury care and rehabilitation of student athletes. Gardner also will play an integral role in the continuing education of student athletes with regard to injury prevention.
Gardner started his career in the 1960’s at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University before joining the Dallas Cowboys in 1965. After an eight-year stint with the Cowboys, including a 1972 Super Bowl win, Gardner worked in various sports medicine clinics helping rehabilitate those in need of training care. In that capacity, he served as director of such programs as the Sports Medicine Clinic of North Texas and the Tom Landry Center.
In 1989, Gardner was voted into the National Athletics Trainers Association (NATA) and the Southwest Athletic Trainers Association Halls of Fame, and in 1996 he received the NovaCare, Inc., Chairman’s Award for Excellence.
Gardner has served on the board of directors of Mobile Sports Medicine, Inc., as well as the managing company of the Justin Sports Medicine program for Rodeo and Motorsports.
Gardner also has taken his skills to international venues, serving as director of athletic trainers for both the 1996 World Cup in Dallas and the Mizuno Training Center during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
In addition, Gardner has published several articles related to various aspects of athletic training, including shoulder rehabilitation and hip abductors.
Most recently, Gardner served as president of his own company, where he wrote and distributed a book, “Good Tales and Good Tails,” a compilation of humorous sports stories and eateries around the world.
“The addition of Larry reiterates a continued effort to raise the bar for UTD Athletics,” Walters said. “His background and experience in athletic training, coupled with our goal of becoming a full-fledged member of the NCAA, are sure to provide the push we need to take our sports teams to the next level.”
UTD does not field a football team, a situation that in Texas is rare, if not unprecedented, for a university of 12,000 students. But it competes vigorously in 10 sports, including men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, tennis, cross-country and golf, and plans to add men’s baseball and women’s softball to the athletic teams it will sponsor in the 2001-2002 academic year.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls approximately 7,000 undergraduate and 5,000 graduate students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s Web site at www.utdallas.edu.