Article courtesy of Sean Gothier, Minnesota Chapter – National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
St. Paul, Minn. – The Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame honored outstanding individuals from the world of professional and amateur football in Minnesota at the Chapter’s annual awards dinner on Sunday, April 22. The Fifth Annual “Honoring Legends, Inspiring Leaders” awards dinner, which was held at the University of St. Thomas, featured a keynote address by former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher defensive lineman Bobby Bell. Among the list of prestigious award winners was former Gustavus Head Athletic Trainer Gary Reinholtz.
Gary Reinholtz is the 2012 recipient of the Fred Zamberletti Award. The award, named for the legendary athletic trainer for the Minnesota Vikings, honors an outstanding Minnesotan athletic trainer who has had strong impact in the athletic training profession.
The first full-time athletic trainer for the Gustavus Adolphus College athletic department, Reinholtz started the athletic training major at the College in 1976. The Madison, Wis., native served as head athletic trainer for 22 years and retired in 2003 as the program director for the athletic training major in the Department of Health and Exercise Science.
A graduate of Mankato State University, Gary has been a driving force in the athletic training profession regionally as well as nationally. His research at the University of Washington in the mid-’70s led to the publication of the first programmed text for use in athletic training curriculums. He then moved on to Gustavus where he began developing one of the top undergraduate athletic training programs in the country. While at Gustavus, Reinholtz mentored hundreds of students in the athletic training program and treated approximately 7,000 student-athletes. He is also in the Gustavus Adolphus Athletics Hall of Fame.