Athletic training student Katelyn Dolan ’19 was awarded the 2019 Bobby Gunn Student Leadership Award for district two of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. The award provides a deserving student from each district assistance to attend the annual NATA convention. Dolan is the first Ithaca College student to win the award.
“It is an incredible honor to have been selected as the 2019 District Two Bobby Gunn Leadership Award recipient,” Dolan said. “As a young clinician in the athletic training profession, I look to the pioneers of this field for motivation and inspiration, and Mr. Bobby Gunn certainly was one of the greatest. The legacy of Bobby Gunn is one of service, dedication and character. To receive an award in his name is a remarkable privilege.”
A pioneer of athletic training, Robert “Bobby” Gunn served his profession in a variety of ways. He was a founding officer of the Southwest Athletic Trainers’ Association, and later served as the association’s president. He also served as president of NATA from 1970-1974. Gunn worked as an athletic trainer for the Pan Am Games, U.S. Soccer Team, Washington Redskins and Houston Oilers. He finished his career as a clinical outreach athletic trainer with the Baylor Hospital system.
Dolan sees connections between Gunn’s career and her own. After graduating from IC, she will pursue a master’s in exercise physiology at Baylor University and, like Gunn, work as head athletic trainer at a high school in Texas.
“I hope that as I begin my professional career, I can continue to act accordingly to honor Bobby Gunn as one of the greatest athletic trainers of all time,” Dolan said.
The National Athletic Trainers Association 70th Clinical Symposia and AT Expo will be held at Las Vegas, Nevada, from June 24-27. Dolan and award winners from other NATA districts will be recognized during the Pinky Newell Scholarship and Student Leadership Breakfast. This will be Dolan’s second time attending the convention.
Dolan credited the staff and professors of IC’s School of Health Sciences and Human Performance for helping her on her path through the athletic training program.
“I owe my accomplishments and success over the past few years to the phenomenal athletic training preceptors and professors here at IC, especially Paul Geisler, Patrick McKeon, Chris Hummel and Courtney Gray,” said Dolan. “Their support and belief in my potential and capabilities has been consistent over the past three years and has allowed me to achieve so many of my goals during my undergraduate career as an athletic training student. I don't know where I would be without them.”
Geisler commended Dolan for her desire to do service for athletic training, and predicted that she is on her way to the NATA Hall of Fame.
“It’s just the start for her. I think the important part too is that she doesn’t do it to put it on her resume and brag,” Geisler said. “She put the time and energy in, and she’s learned a lot.”