Wright State graduates and faculty well represented at Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association Awards ceremony

Siobhan Fagan, center, clinical education coordinator of the Master of Athletic Training program, joined Tony Ortiz, left, and Rebekah Bower, athletic training program director, as the third individual from Wright State to be inducted into the Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame.

Wright State University graduates and faculty recently swept the major categories in this year’s Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association Awards ceremony.

Wright State alums Craig Lindsey was named the Athletic Trainer of the Year, Erika Goodwin, Ph.D., took home the Linda Weber Daniel Outstanding Mentor Award, and Siobhan E. Fagan was inducted into the Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame.

Fagan, who is the clinical education coordinator of the Master of Athletic Training program, is the third individual from Wright State to achieve that pinnacle of success.

The Tony Ortiz Scholarship for Diversity and Inclusion — named for the founder of Wright State’s athletic training program — went to Bowling Green State University student Ebonie Whitted, who was instructed by a former pupil of Ortiz.

“What I liked best about WSU were the great professors and staff who supported and inspired me to pursue my dream of being a college professor myself,” said Goodwin, who earned her master’s degree in athletic training from Wright State in 1998 and now serves as the vice president of academic and student affairs at Southern State Community College in Hillsboro. “Achieving my master’s degree propelled me into my lifelong career in higher education and gave me the confidence to complete a Ph.D. as well. I feel very fortunate to have had those people in my life at that time.”

Ortiz arrived at Wright State in 1985 after teaching in Beavercreek and interning with the Philadelphia Eagles to work as an athletic trainer and adjunct instructor. The university did not have an athletic training department upon his arrival, but Ortiz began adding courses and expanding the program until it achieved full accreditation in 2001. The program now offers a graduate degree as part of the Department of Kinesiology and Health in the College of Health, Education and Human Services.

Wright State alum Erika Goodwin received the Linda Weber Daniel Outstanding Mentor Award from the Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association.

More than 300 students have interned or graduated through Wright State’s accredited athletic training program and how work in multidisciplinary fields as athletic trainers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, physician assistants, chiropractors and physicians. Graduates are employed in such diverse settings as sports medicine and physician clinics, universities, public safety, the performing arts and recreation. Wright State graduates represent 30% of the athletic trainers in the area.

“Wright State has a long history of developing athletic trainers and many of them stay right here in the Dayton area,” said Rebekah Bower, athletic training program director. “It’s very satisfying to see our students go on to be successful professionally and personally. And many of our graduates have become preceptors for our athletic training program.”

A 1995 Wright State graduate, Lindsey has been the head athletic trainer at Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School for nearly 30 years and serves as the athletic trainer manager for Beacon Orthopedics. Lindsey credits Ortiz for taking a chance on him following his graduation from Berea College.

“Tony graciously allowed me the opportunity to be a part of his athletic training cohort as a nontraditional student, where I was able to complete all of their curriculum thus allowing me to sit for the Board of Certification in Athletic Training exam,” he said.

Once housed in a 1,800-square-foot space in the Wright State University Nutter Center, Wright State’s athletic training program now operates in a contemporary, state-of-the-art 10,000-square-foot facility in the Wright State Physicians building on the Dayton Campus.

Wright State alum Craig Lindsey was named the Ohio Athletic Trainer of the Year.

“Tony built a tremendous base, and we have developed the graduate degree, adding new classes, faculty and diverse clinical settings,” said Bower, who along with Ortiz, are the other Wright State members in the Ohio Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame. “He is the foundation.”

Fagan, who was a graduate student at Wright State from 2002-04 and is now a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology and Health, found herself humbled by her induction into the hall of fame and thrilled to be joining her colleagues.

“I am grateful to join the ranks of esteemed colleagues who have made significant contributions to the profession,” Fagan said. “My recognition cannot be attributed solely to personal achievement but serves as a testament to the dedication and collective efforts of those who have molded and shaped my journey in athletic training, including Tony Ortiz and Becky Bower. It is an absolute honor to join them in the OATA Hall of Fame as their guidance and wisdom propelled me forward and inspired me to continually seek new opportunities to grow.”