After Buffalo Bills S Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest in Week 17’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the football world paid closer attention to the team behind the team. Athletic training can be a bit of a thankless job, but this moment magnified its importance in the eyes of fans. It wasn’t just the athletic trainers who helped save Hamlin’s life, but also those across the league who make an impact on a daily basis.
The Kansas City Chiefs are blessed to have an award-winning athletic training staff headed up by VP of Sports Medicine and Performance, Rick Burkholder. During the latest episode of “The Franchise” the Chiefs took some time to profile their athletic training staff and explain their role in keeping players healthy and upright throughout a long and grueling NFL season.
“I’ll argue with anybody that I have the best staff in the National Football League,” Burkholder said. “I’ll start with David Glover, who is my longest-standing employee and the most loyal guy I know. His skill set has grown drastically since I’ve been here because he’s eager to learn and wants to be ‘the guy.’
“The next person on the staff I hired when I got here was Evan Craft. I rely on him for our performance stuff. He’s a very knowledgeable guy when it comes to recovery and performance and stuff like that.
“Then, I hired Tiffany Morton. She’s one of the first female (athletic trainers) to work in the National Football League. I consider her the first lady of athletic training because she’s always on TV on ESPN, NFL Network. The NFL uses her as a figurehead for females in the profession.
“The last person I hired was Julie Frymyer. She probably has more education than probably anybody in the building. I will say this on record, she’s the single-best clinician I have ever been around and that includes 36 years of athletic training, NATA Hall of Famers, pro football people, college athletic trainers — she’s the very best clinician.”
One of the reasons this group has seemingly found so much success is because of the diversity of staff members. They have the ability to match up training staff members with different players based on their wants and needs to best improve their health and recovery efforts. Burkholder even went so far as to use an example.
“That’s the art of sports medicine,” Burkholder said. “And sometimes I get it wrong. So, in 2013 when we got here, (Travis) Kelce gets hurt and we start his rehab and I’m treating him like his brother. And he and I are making zero progress. Then it dawned on me that I wasn’t the right person to rehabilitate Travis Kelce, so I turned him over to David Glover and they sailed.”
To find out more about the Chiefs’ athletic training staff, watch the latest episode of “The Franchise” at the top of the page or on YouTube and head to the 11-minute mark.
