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Introduction of Football
Rutgers University and its neighbor, Princeton, played the first game of intercollegiate football on Nov. 6, 1869, on a plot of ground where the present-day Rutgers gymnasium now stands in New Brunswick, N.J. Rutgers won that first game, 6-4.
The game was played with two teams of 25 men each under rugby-like rules, but like modern football, it was “replete with surprise, strategy, prodigies of determination, and physical prowess,” to use the words of one of the Rutgers players. -
James Robinson, 1st Athletic Trainer
Hired by Harvard University to work with football. -
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President Almost ABOLISHES Football!
As the result of 18 deaths and 159 serious injuries in one season, President Roosevelt almost eliminates the entire sport from US schools. -
Dr. Samuel E. Bilik
"The Father of Athletic Training"
Samuel “Doc” Bilik was one of the earliest medical doctors to devote his time to athletic injuries; at age 21 he wrote “The Trainers Bible,” one of the first texts dealing with athletic training. Bilik also manufactured a line of athletic training supplies. He was an early recipient of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Citation Award -
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Foundation of Athletic Training
The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) was founded in 1950 when the first meeting of the NATA took place in Kansas City. About 200 athletic trainers assembled to discuss the future of their profession. The mission of NATA is to enhance the quality of health care for athletes and those engaged in physical activity, and to advance the profession of athletic training through education and research in the prevention, evaluation, management and rehabilition of injuries.
