June 29, 2006

ABILENE, Texas - David Stuckey, who recently stepped down as the head athletic trainer at Hardin-Simmons University, was named the Division III Head Athletic Trainer of the Year at the 57th annual National Athletic Trainers' Association national convention in Atlanta.

Stuckey, who has been with the Hardin-Simmons athletic department for 20 years, has accepted a new role as the department head in the Department of Fitness and Sports Sciences at HSU. He also is the director of athletic training education at the school.

The award is one of the highest honors given by NATA and recipients had to have at least 15 years of college experience, must be certified, must be active in the community, district, state and national athletic training activities, must promote athletic training and show exceptional athletic training performance. Stuckey was nominated for the award by the HSU athletic training alumni.

"I am honored to win an award presented by my peers," said Stuckey. "It is even more special that my former students are the ones that nominated me for the award."

Stuckey has brought the HSU athletic training a long way from its humble beginnings.

"When I came here we started with nothing," said Stuckey. "We did not have football yet and our equipment, facilities, and staffing were all behind. Today, I think in a lot of ways we are a model at the Division III level. We have a good number of staff, we are able to offer more services, our education program is accredited and our graduates have a good reputation as far as getting good jobs."

Stuckey will still be involved with the teaching portion of the program but will no longer be in the training room on a daily basis. He will be able to spend more time with his wife Jennifer and kids Haley (7) and Jayton (2).

"It was time to spend more time with my family," said Stuckey. "The university offered me a position that I could not turn down. I love teaching and I think it is time to be around home more. You have a huge time commitment with a lot of nights and weekends away from home when you are in the training room and it will be nice to have more normal working hours."

Stuckey has been replaced by former HSU athletic training student and recent assistant D.J. Gililland. The White Deer, Texas, native recently was named the director.

"It feels good to have one of my own as my replacement," said Stuckey. "He was able to leave after his undergrad and get some experience and then he has come back and been an assistant. He loves HSU and he should enable the program to continue to grow."