Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. Welcome
Speaker 1: to another edition of Tom's Talks. This week's podcast takes
Speaker 1: us into the training room, well sort of. The seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers have built a world class facility for the team
Speaker 1: and with that, a world class medical team to care
Speaker 1: for and treat the seventy Sixers players. In the middle
Speaker 1: of it all is athletic trainer Kevin Johnson. He's been
Speaker 1: with the seventy sixers for seventeen seasons. Now here's my
Speaker 1: conversation with kJ. Well, welcome to another edition of Tom's Talks,
Speaker 1: and we are joining by the long time athletic trainer
Speaker 1: of the seventy six Ers, Kevin Johnson, one of our favorites,
Speaker 1: so popular among the staff and obviously the players. kJ.
Speaker 1: How are you doing. I'm doing fine, Tom, Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me. I really appreciate this opportunity and I hope
Speaker 1: you and all your loved loans are staying safe. Same.
Speaker 1: It's been three months since the season went out a hiatus.
Speaker 1: What had been doing to fill your time? I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've had some meetings with staff and whatnot, but what
Speaker 1: else aside from zoom and preparing to come back to
Speaker 1: play and check it in with the players daily to
Speaker 1: make sure that they're okay and all of their needs
Speaker 1: are met, you know, physically and mentally as well. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of them have a lot of questions, so
Speaker 1: you would answer questions that they might have or they
Speaker 1: might have about their loved ones. So even though there's
Speaker 1: been what we would consider downtime, we've been very, very
Speaker 1: busy trying to prepare and keep a safe environment, in
Speaker 1: a clean environment for everyone to return back into the
Speaker 1: facility and return to play. I can imagine, and that
Speaker 1: seems to be right around the corner where your thoughts
Speaker 1: and about going back to play and eventually going down
Speaker 1: to Florida. You know, the league is going to do
Speaker 1: a great job, as they always do. They're going to
Speaker 1: think everything out, So it's going to be well thought out.
Speaker 1: It's going to be well staffed from a medical standpoint
Speaker 1: with regards to everything the league has done, from a
Speaker 1: testing standpoint to just everything. I mean, the league never
Speaker 1: bears an expense and doesn't follow through on all their
Speaker 1: research and details, so it's going to be as safe
Speaker 1: as can be You've been around long enough to have
Speaker 1: endured not one, but probably two lockouts, but that was
Speaker 1: different because you weren't able to communicate with the players.
Speaker 1: And as you say, now, with this being such an
Speaker 1: unusual situation and worried about their health and safety and
Speaker 1: their conditioning, it'll be interesting to see what you get
Speaker 1: back because all the different players have been in different
Speaker 1: situations with different workout apparatus or lack thereof. It'll be
Speaker 1: interesting in that light as well. Correct, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's definitely been an unloading period, if you will. I
Speaker 1: mean the bone, the tendons, the muscles. It's just not
Speaker 1: the same load you would get going up and down
Speaker 1: the court. Now, our staff has done a great job preparing,
Speaker 1: doing zoom workouts, giving having equipment dropped off at their house.
Speaker 1: I mean everything from the mticals to bikes, to free weights,
Speaker 1: to basketballs to bands, you name it, they got it.
Speaker 1: I mean the staff and then the players attentiveness to
Speaker 1: trying to stay in shape has been great as well.
Speaker 1: So I mean kudos to the staff and the players
Speaker 1: and the organization. I mean everything for meals to anything
Speaker 1: you need. That's great. Certainly times of change with the
Speaker 1: ability to communicate in this manner and everything that's part
Speaker 1: of today's world in twenty twenty, particularly in this most
Speaker 1: unusual of times. But let's go back. You grew up
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis. I always laugh, I grew up in Illinois.
Speaker 1: So when we go back to the Midwest, you always
Speaker 1: joke about it being God's country. But you're very proud
Speaker 1: from Indianapolis. You went to Indiana State. Basketball in Indiana
Speaker 1: is such a huge staple of wife and the loser state.
Speaker 1: What's it like, particularly on the high school level, of
Speaker 1: being a young basketball player growing up in Indiana. In Indiana,
Speaker 1: basketball just like Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio is everything. You can
Speaker 1: drive down a street in the neighborhood and every other
Speaker 1: house or every three houses has a basketball hoop outside,
Speaker 1: and you know, you go by the parks and they're
Speaker 1: full of people just playing, and you go there and
Speaker 1: if you're not there first, you're waiting sometimes forty five
Speaker 1: minutes to an hour to play. But it's just a
Speaker 1: focal point and it goes without saying. In the summertime,
Speaker 1: you know, after you make up your bed and brush
Speaker 1: your teeth and do what you're supposed to do as
Speaker 1: a kid, you're going down to your neighbor's house and
Speaker 1: you're playing, and then when you get tired of their court,
Speaker 1: they're coming back to your house and your plan on
Speaker 1: your home court, so no one gets home court advantage.
Speaker 1: You know, you're trying to alternate and rotate because every
Speaker 1: who has different obstacles. You got to navigate to if
Speaker 1: you're driving or if you're shooting and things like that.
Speaker 1: But I know there's some some huge gyms there like
Speaker 1: the Marians, De Andersons and whatnot. But Indiana is also
Speaker 1: known for the field House, and Butler of course hosted
Speaker 1: the state tournament for years. But our mutual friend Courtney Whittie,
Speaker 1: who grew up in Indiana, ended up playing at IU
Speaker 1: as a staff member with the Pacers. Probably when you
Speaker 1: were there, talked about a lot of staff members taking
Speaker 1: trips during the season down to some of the smaller
Speaker 1: places and to the field houses where that's kind of
Speaker 1: what we think of too. I think maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit from the movie Hoosiers. But when you think of
Speaker 1: Indiana basketball, and I always go back, I hearken back
Speaker 1: to that thing. They used to use it, but then
Speaker 1: Consaco field House and that is when they would open
Speaker 1: the game just about to introduce the Pacers, and they
Speaker 1: would say, you know, and every forty nine others they
Speaker 1: just basketball. But this is Indiana and that's right. Speak
Speaker 1: to that a little bit about the small fieldhouse teams
Speaker 1: and whatnot. I mean, it's if you think about the
Speaker 1: movie Hoosiers, it sums up Indiana basketball. Up until recently,
Speaker 1: you could have we didn't have different classes, so you'd
Speaker 1: have a one A class playing against a five A
Speaker 1: class high school to win the state championship. And I
Speaker 1: think that's why it was so unique. We had one champion.
Speaker 1: You know, some states have a class one A champ
Speaker 1: but two, three, four, five A know, we had one
Speaker 1: championship and that meant everything. And to play for that
Speaker 1: and to work out every day with that as your
Speaker 1: end all coal. I mean, you have women and old
Speaker 1: three grandmothers and little girls. Everybody knows about basketball. I
Speaker 1: remember going to see my sister play and she played
Speaker 1: in high school and they had three on three where
Speaker 1: it was three offensive players or three defensive players. A
Speaker 1: lot of the weirdest thing. But everyone plays basketball. I'm everyone.
Speaker 1: And in the end, that deal with the three on
Speaker 1: three my professional basketball stant if you will started in
Speaker 1: Iowa in the CBA. As I mentioned probably too often,
Speaker 1: but Iowas still had that. And when you say that
Speaker 1: about the three, and they were six players but only
Speaker 1: run to half court, you were either an offensive player
Speaker 1: or defensive player. So you'd get it across an bird.
Speaker 1: You would stop at the top of money. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have about antiquated basketball, but it wasn't that long ago. No, No,
Speaker 1: I'm talking. My sister graduated in nineteen seventy nine, so
Speaker 1: maybe they changed it after that or right before that,
Speaker 1: right around seventy eight seventy nine. Right, little known fact.
Speaker 1: You can still shoot the rock and we've shot over
Speaker 1: the years. We joke about the championship belt and you've
Speaker 1: had it more than I but you can fill it up.
Speaker 1: That's been a little bit of something that's never left you,
Speaker 1: that ability to shoot the ball, you know. And that's
Speaker 1: the one thing I say about people from Indiana. They
Speaker 1: don't have the crossovers and around the back and go
Speaker 1: into the basket. But the one thing we pride ourselves
Speaker 1: on is being a shooter. And that's how I knew
Speaker 1: you were from the Midwest. Top when I would sit
Speaker 1: there and watch you. That was a defender. I would
Speaker 1: see you shoot five, big, five, six, seven in a
Speaker 1: row and it was like, yeah, he's got to be
Speaker 1: And this was before we had been formally introduced to
Speaker 1: seeing you on the courier. Right. I still love to
Speaker 1: get out there and shoot. I'm fifty three now, so
Speaker 1: I don't do a lot of up and down. I
Speaker 1: might play a half court game every now and then,
Speaker 1: but my game now was around the world or horse right,
Speaker 1: me too, because there's a price to pay. If you
Speaker 1: do anything more than that, that's for sure, I'll be
Speaker 1: coming to see again. So then after high school you
Speaker 1: went to Indiana State. It wasn't long after Larry Bird.
Speaker 1: Speaking of nineteen seventy nine, that's when Burn and the
Speaker 1: Sycamorees made it to the NCAA Championship game, still to
Speaker 1: my knowledge, the most ever watch game in college basketball
Speaker 1: game with Michigan State. But it wasn't idealic Indiana State
Speaker 1: is in terror out Indiana. It's southern Indiana, and as
Speaker 1: you've mentioned before, Indiana is one of the most conservative states.
Speaker 1: They were one of the last states to recognize the
Speaker 1: holiday for Martin Luther King's birthday in January, and you
Speaker 1: shared with us as a staff, some of your personal experiences.
Speaker 1: The six ers HBSc is a larger whole company has
Speaker 1: been great in terms of all of us getting together
Speaker 1: and listening to people's stories, people of color. And you
Speaker 1: tell a story about in the dormitory at Indiana State
Speaker 1: and the ku Klux Klan kJ tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit more about that January on Martin Luther King Day,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six. Now I go down and August nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty five was my first year, so not even through
Speaker 1: my first year, I saw the klu Klux clan march
Speaker 1: down the street in front of my doorm there right
Speaker 1: there on Third Street in downtown Tera Hode to Indiana
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, and every year thereafter on Martin King Day,
Speaker 1: and it just sent a message to how things hadn't changed,
Speaker 1: even though it seemed like things really had changed. They
Speaker 1: always sent that message that we're still trying to control
Speaker 1: your minds and the situation down here in Tara Hope,
Speaker 1: and it was just it was something you couldn't even
Speaker 1: finish class that day. Literally you'd sit there and go,
Speaker 1: oh my God, like you wouldn't be able to study.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. It's the most and the things that they
Speaker 1: would say and chant and throw business cards and flyers,
Speaker 1: and you know, people would pick them up and look
Speaker 1: at that and they say, hey, you want one? I
Speaker 1: was like, what would I want with that for? But
Speaker 1: it was just the reality in nineteen eighty six that
Speaker 1: we had not made the changes that every that some
Speaker 1: people thought we had me And now with the groundswell
Speaker 1: of support and peaceful protests and so much action, it
Speaker 1: seems like we are on the cusp of what could
Speaker 1: be tangible change. You feel that way, Yes, see what happened.
Speaker 1: The invention of the cell phone with video on it
Speaker 1: has changed things for me. To tell you that story
Speaker 1: is one thing. But had the portable video quarter been
Speaker 1: out then and I took a video to show you, Tom,
Speaker 1: I mean my words and adjectives can't describe that at all.
Speaker 1: I mean, it just doesn't do with justice to see that,
Speaker 1: to hear that, to look in those people's eyes when
Speaker 1: they look at you, it's just unbelievable. And they would
Speaker 1: say things that, you know, my grandfather did something to
Speaker 1: your grandfather. I mean, things that you would hear just
Speaker 1: ripped you through to your bone. We'll have more with
Speaker 1: Kevin Johnson in a moment. In this time of social distancing,
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Speaker 1: And now back to my conversation with Kevin Johnson. Your career.
Speaker 1: Then after Indiana State, you got, I believe, an internship
Speaker 1: with the Colts. What was that like working in the
Speaker 1: National Football League in a huge training room. I can
Speaker 1: only imagine with all those players and working in the NFL.
Speaker 1: The NFL is a whole different animal and two in itself.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've got one hundred guys in during training camp,
Speaker 1: so they would bring in an additional six interns to
Speaker 1: help the three full time trainers that they had. I mean,
Speaker 1: we were the first ones there, last one to leave.
Speaker 1: You know, you start in July and you've got ninety
Speaker 1: five degree temperatures with high humidity and You're just trying
Speaker 1: to keep people from from cramping up, You're trying to
Speaker 1: keep them healthy from heat stroke and then all your
Speaker 1: other muscle skeletal injuries as well. I mean, it is
Speaker 1: if you work in the National Football League, you're not
Speaker 1: afraid to work. It's work, I can imagine. And then
Speaker 1: not long after that, you get a job with your
Speaker 1: hometown professional basketball team, the Indiana Pacers, and your back
Speaker 1: you know, working in basketball and that it was still
Speaker 1: a great franchise. What was that transition like to be
Speaker 1: an assistant trainer in the India Going from an assistant
Speaker 1: trainer in the NFL to the NBA. You're looking at
Speaker 1: going from one hundred players in training camp to eighteen
Speaker 1: maybe twenty in training camp, and it was just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It allowed you to really see rehab through because the
Speaker 1: numbers were small, so small, it allowed you to develop
Speaker 1: relationships and learn that that's what these players really really
Speaker 1: value when you're taking care of their bodies is to
Speaker 1: know that you really care about them as well. So
Speaker 1: you spend a lot of time getting to know the
Speaker 1: athlete and their families and things like that. That's a
Speaker 1: tremendous fund. One of the players you became close to.
Speaker 1: Was the great Reggie Miller. Yes, yes, a good friend.
Speaker 1: We still talk quite a bit whenever they're in whenever
Speaker 1: he works with the networks and they cover our game,
Speaker 1: he always comes to the locker room and training room
Speaker 1: and says hello, and we give each other big hug
Speaker 1: and we talk about old time stories and you know,
Speaker 1: he was in my wedding and the whole line. So
Speaker 1: good guy. You know, we fished together, we swimming together.
Speaker 1: We did it all. Reggie Miller. You talk about body
Speaker 1: types in terms of the n FELL, the NBA obviously
Speaker 1: very slender six to seven. But what struck me and
Speaker 1: it struck my dad too, because we played those teams
Speaker 1: three times in a row and he was able to
Speaker 1: come down to Indianapolis for those games against the Pacers,
Speaker 1: but he was out there at four o'clock. I mean
Speaker 1: you talk about my dad was a big golfer, so
Speaker 1: he almost liked the range more than he liked competing
Speaker 1: on the course. The practicing, execution, and boy, Reggie Miller
Speaker 1: put in his time and he loved that and I
Speaker 1: love that and you saw that so much. I mean
Speaker 1: he put the working. Yes, he would call you on
Speaker 1: an off day and say, hey, I need to go shoot,
Speaker 1: but I want someone to stretch me out, or I
Speaker 1: want someone that iced me down when I'm done. And
Speaker 1: literally he would go down and shoot, and if he
Speaker 1: wasn't satisfied with making ten in a row from a
Speaker 1: spot that he struggled from the previous game, we'd be
Speaker 1: there all day and I say, hey, Rich, you know, like,
Speaker 1: although we're about the world is done, and we did.
Speaker 1: I would be shagging the balls for him sometimes as well. Right,
Speaker 1: his work as was incredible. He always wanted to have
Speaker 1: his workout done on game days before the visiting team arrived, right,
Speaker 1: And he was sitting in the gym and watched the
Speaker 1: team as they walked through and I and he would say,
Speaker 1: I'm already warmed up, guys. I hope you can get
Speaker 1: the little swagger there, rightwag. Yeah. So then you move
Speaker 1: on to the Washington Wizards. At the time, they were
Speaker 1: the Bullets, but it was Chris Webber. You had some
Speaker 1: pretty good teams down there with Washington. Tell us about that.
Speaker 1: Those are some good days. Um, you know, I was young,
Speaker 1: they were young. Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, George mures Son,
Speaker 1: Calbert Cheney, it was. It was unbelievable. We really played,
Speaker 1: we really played hard and well. We went to the
Speaker 1: first round in the playoffs and played the Chicago Bulls
Speaker 1: with Michael Jordan ninety eight, and back then it was
Speaker 1: the best three out of five, and we lost those
Speaker 1: three games by a total of I want to say
Speaker 1: eight or nine points. That's how Cloud played them. But
Speaker 1: you could just see his dominance. I mean, it was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: We did everything we could, but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, Michael Jordan's Michael Jordan, and we just couldn't
Speaker 1: beat him. So you must have, especially for somebody's been
Speaker 1: in the NBA, to watch the last dances everybody did
Speaker 1: a few weeks back. You had to send me a
Speaker 1: keen interest in that because you saw that you'd seen
Speaker 1: enough clothes. Oh man. One of my first games ever
Speaker 1: in the NBA, we played in Chicago in the old
Speaker 1: Chicago Stadium and Reggie Miller comes out and he hits
Speaker 1: I want to say, eleven straight points and Michael hasn't scored.
Speaker 1: So Phil doesn't like to call timeouts, or whoever the
Speaker 1: coach was didn't want to call a time out. Eventually
Speaker 1: there's a dead ball, so it's the TV timeout. I'm
Speaker 1: on the end of the bench and everyone's going crazy
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yeah, Reggie, keep giving it to them.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to see you tonight. And Reggie didn't
Speaker 1: even go to the huddle. He runs right to me
Speaker 1: and goes, don't say that. I don't want to wake
Speaker 1: this guy up. And I learned that that that was
Speaker 1: the end of my trash talking days as an athletic chairman.
Speaker 1: Speaking of timeouts, you and I was going to get
Speaker 1: to this, but this is pretty good point. You've always
Speaker 1: kept the fowls and the timeouts, and then if the
Speaker 1: shot clock got under five you yelled out red. I
Speaker 1: mean it, really, you have so much to do in
Speaker 1: terms of like taking care of the athletes, but you're
Speaker 1: part of the game in that sense. You must enjoy
Speaker 1: that and love that a lot. It really keeps the
Speaker 1: trainers locked in. You know, you're not caught looking into
Speaker 1: the stands or being distracted. You know, you really or
Speaker 1: there to sit there and watch for injuries and monitor
Speaker 1: minutes of guys that are coming back from injury. But
Speaker 1: keeping the timehouse, the team fouls, the shot clock, things
Speaker 1: like that really helped keep you locked in. On the
Speaker 1: job and good communication with the coach. So I'm not
Speaker 1: just telling the coach it's time for this guy to
Speaker 1: come out. We've already had dialogue and he knows that
Speaker 1: I'm looking out for the best interest at harm And
Speaker 1: you're not going to get on the referees because there's
Speaker 1: many times that you're in there with the team doctor
Speaker 1: and you're caring for the referees as well. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: so that's that's part of our obligation. Generally, it's it's
Speaker 1: someone on on the staff. It could be an assistant trainer,
Speaker 1: a head trainer, head athletic trainer, one of our pts, anyone,
Speaker 1: you know. So we do supplement the officials with care
Speaker 1: as well. Now you've traveled all over certainly with the
Speaker 1: six Years, recently China, in Spain and London. But when
Speaker 1: you're with the Wizards, the Sixers and the Wizards played
Speaker 1: in Mexico City preseason. You guys had Leonard Hamilton and
Speaker 1: we shared it together in Mexico City. Do you remember that?
Speaker 1: I sure do. Wow, we went to We actually went
Speaker 1: to Mexico City a few times, and I do remember
Speaker 1: those times and sitting down with the Sixers and having
Speaker 1: team dinnis. It's funny that this is, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we're on the zoom or the internet, I don't know
Speaker 1: what you call it now. But I did that game.
Speaker 1: And if you remember, they probably have a new arena
Speaker 1: nowtum but that used to be used for bullfighting, and
Speaker 1: so the upper reaches of that little arena in Mexico
Speaker 1: City had chicken wire on it, right, remember, so the
Speaker 1: fans couldn't come down. Yes, so this was at the
Speaker 1: very beginning of webcasting or whatever. So I did that.
Speaker 1: I don't know what this would have been, maybe ninety eight,
Speaker 1: maybe ninety nine, whenever, but so actually the NBA had
Speaker 1: gone they brokered their their webcasting if you will, through
Speaker 1: this company in Denver. The game went to I think
Speaker 1: two overtime. So it's preseason at this stage. Everyone's like,
Speaker 1: we done, and I was doing the game. I'm not
Speaker 1: on the radio, as I say, and it didn't ever
Speaker 1: get on. So I kept asking, like everybody okay, and
Speaker 1: the girl who was working with him, he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got I'm not looking for Finally got back. We
Speaker 1: went to Chapel Hill. We played a game up there.
Speaker 1: We had to stop in Houston and refuel and then
Speaker 1: fly to Raleigh. But and I found out the next
Speaker 1: day that didn't make it. So if you go to
Speaker 1: Mexico and you call a double overtime game in the
Speaker 1: preseason and you talked the old time that it never lands,
Speaker 1: it's like the tree, and course nobody heard it. I
Speaker 1: just didn't remember the most. The one of the things
Speaker 1: that stood out to me the most was when we
Speaker 1: walked in and the signs of the shower said do
Speaker 1: not open mouth, bile in shower, like they didn't want
Speaker 1: us to drink the water. Those are some of the
Speaker 1: things that people don't think about, you know, No, in
Speaker 1: our eyes, we were talking about that dinner that we had.
Speaker 1: We shared it, I believe the Intercontinental in Mexico City,
Speaker 1: we had staff members our home game, if you will,
Speaker 1: so we had staff members down there. We went to
Speaker 1: the consulate. Behelipe Lopez spoke for you guys, and one
Speaker 1: of the staff members, Patty Butler, went a great old
Speaker 1: time employees and the sixers that, hey, the guys, your
Speaker 1: eyes are all blood run. It was the error pollution
Speaker 1: in the city. Didn't even realize that that was affecting
Speaker 1: you just by walking around. So I guess you weren't
Speaker 1: supposed to open your eyes either, or had a great
Speaker 1: time in Mexico did so. But you come to the
Speaker 1: six Ers. You're in your seventeenth year. You've had a
Speaker 1: great run here and coming to an iconic franchise like
Speaker 1: the Sixers, you must have been stoked to come to Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: I was. It was really, to use the old cliche,
Speaker 1: a dream come true. So rich in history. I mean
Speaker 1: as a kid in Indiana on Sundays, there was the Celtics,
Speaker 1: the Sixers. You might see the Knicks. Didn't you have
Speaker 1: the Western Conference game with like Denver or the Lakers,
Speaker 1: But the Sixers seem like as a young kid, they
Speaker 1: were on every Sunday. And you know there was only
Speaker 1: four stations back then, or three stations NBC, ADC. It's
Speaker 1: CBS over the your stations, as they say. So it's
Speaker 1: been a great run for you, and I've shared this
Speaker 1: with you before, but you know, like we sit together
Speaker 1: in the back of the plane with a host of others,
Speaker 1: and I know your job is to take care of
Speaker 1: the players, obviously, but you've been so gracious with one
Speaker 1: of us, like for me personally, with my back over
Speaker 1: the years, whether it's coming to your suite and you know,
Speaker 1: trying to get some something to loosen up my back,
Speaker 1: or even if somebody comes back to you to get
Speaker 1: a tile at all or parall flu because they're under
Speaker 1: the weather. And you've just been so down to earth
Speaker 1: and helpful and kind. And it's never lost on me
Speaker 1: or the rest of us that come to you throughout
Speaker 1: the time. And you've got, you know, multimillionaire players, star
Speaker 1: athletes that you're taking care of, but you've never lost that.
Speaker 1: And I so much appreciate that, and I know we
Speaker 1: all do. Tom Thanks for me for the kind words.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate that. It means a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: I obviously want to take care of the players and
Speaker 1: the staff. That that's just part of what you do.
Speaker 1: If you're an athletic trainer, if you're in the medical field,
Speaker 1: you're you're a giver. You're a provider, you know, and
Speaker 1: you can't stand to see someone in need, and if
Speaker 1: you do, it's my job to help, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: paid by the team to take care of everybody after
Speaker 1: we've taken care of obviously the players. But that's just
Speaker 1: the way I was taught from my mentors with David
Speaker 1: Craig and Hunter Smith, and it's being a host of others.
Speaker 1: You have Pascal Gerrero and Leslie Gardner that work with you,
Speaker 1: and Lorena Torres works performance with the guys, and Scott
Speaker 1: Epsley is the medical director. So you have a great
Speaker 1: team around you with the sixers and the emphasis and
Speaker 1: treating the athletes the best way possible in today's world
Speaker 1: for sports fight and great soft tissue help with Doris
Speaker 1: and you know, uh, it really is a great staff.
Speaker 1: I think we have a great team that's been as symboled.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't it's and it's around the clock,
Speaker 1: trust me, it's around the clock. You know. When you
Speaker 1: get to the hotel, guys are on different schedules, you know.
Speaker 1: So and then again I'm on call, so I can
Speaker 1: get three thirty four in the morning and have some
Speaker 1: gastron ritis or whatever problem. You need to go take
Speaker 1: care of them. So that's what we do, and then
Speaker 1: get up and help somebody go get an image in
Speaker 1: a different city. And you're right there. I've been there
Speaker 1: drinking coffee and you guys are getting into an uber
Speaker 1: back in the day, a cab like you say, it's
Speaker 1: almost twenty four to seven with you, yes, yes, but
Speaker 1: you know it's a love and if you're passionate about
Speaker 1: your job and your passionate about athletic training, and you're
Speaker 1: passionate about helping people, that's what you do and you
Speaker 1: find the joy at the end of the day when
Speaker 1: someone like you just came and said, I appreciate what
Speaker 1: you've done. You know, it's a great satisfaction when you
Speaker 1: see a guy that had to be walked off the
Speaker 1: court to now go up and get his average and
Speaker 1: points or get to steal or whatever he does on
Speaker 1: whatever his job is, but to help him get back
Speaker 1: to doing his job, and say with you, you know
Speaker 1: you couldn't do your job and then you needed some help,
Speaker 1: whether you were sick or under the weather or whatever.
Speaker 1: And then you know, hey, listen and you hear Tom say,
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? And you're like, hey, he's back
Speaker 1: crunched over like the letter C with my back, but
Speaker 1: actually I can't talk when I've had it's embarrassed you
Speaker 1: walking around the arena when it's out, shall we say.
Speaker 1: And you've been recognized, you know, you were the chairman
Speaker 1: for two years from fifteen to seventeen with the National
Speaker 1: Athletic Basketball Trainers Association. You've got Trainer of the Year
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. That must make you feel proud to
Speaker 1: be a a leader in your field and then to
Speaker 1: be recognized as such as well, Yeah, those two really
Speaker 1: special moments in my life. Winning the Athletic Trainer of
Speaker 1: the Year from the Physicians of Podiatric Sports Medicine, so
Speaker 1: the foot doctors also voted me that year. Those are
Speaker 1: special individual awards. But I'm happy about that, but I'd
Speaker 1: be really, really really happy tom them when you get
Speaker 1: to say the seventy sixers are crowned NBA champions. That's
Speaker 1: that's the goal we want and that's what we're striving for.
Speaker 1: I want to hear you say that. It would be
Speaker 1: the line. Apparently that's going to be the line right there.
Speaker 1: Twice or one and seventeen, you were the trainer for
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference All Star team. Now you know you
Speaker 1: might not be taping the ankles is tight that day,
Speaker 1: but to be around the best players in our game,
Speaker 1: that must have been really for a basketball guy, kind
Speaker 1: of a little slice of basketball heaven those times, those weekends,
Speaker 1: it is, and to see them when they're not so
Speaker 1: focused just on winning. Now, this last All Star game
Speaker 1: was was quite different, but typically the other ones that
Speaker 1: I've been a part of, Um, it's a little more
Speaker 1: laid back atmosphere. You get to see guys being themselves
Speaker 1: and it's it's it is good especially, it's great, especially
Speaker 1: when you're a basketball fan, as I am as well. Right,
Speaker 1: So you touched on this a little bit earlier, and
Speaker 1: you kind of just brought us into the locker room
Speaker 1: a little bit. I'm sure there's a lot of joking
Speaker 1: in that All Star setting, but you spend so much
Speaker 1: time with the players and as you said, they know
Speaker 1: you're vested in their best interests, with their health and
Speaker 1: mind and their well being, and there's times that you're
Speaker 1: I would imagine a lot a listener where you're they're
Speaker 1: unloading and they they're venting and or even sharing in
Speaker 1: something that's they can't go bragging around the locker room.
Speaker 1: So you've really created a bond and known these players
Speaker 1: and really get close to them over the years. Correct, Yes, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's that's an interesting side of it too. And as
Speaker 1: I've been in the field for quite some time now,
Speaker 1: you've go from being looked upon as one of their
Speaker 1: peers almost someone that's around their same age to now
Speaker 1: it's like uncle Kajor or you know, almost like their father,
Speaker 1: and they ask you about oh man child, you know,
Speaker 1: raising kids, or being in relationships, or how to handle
Speaker 1: different real life situations. And that's fun as well. I
Speaker 1: know something else speaking of relationship. You've been involved in
Speaker 1: Big Brothers throughout the years, and when we start to
Speaker 1: tackle this issue of mentoring young people and trying to
Speaker 1: raise people to see people evenly across the board and
Speaker 1: fairly and justly, that's a great way right there, because
Speaker 1: that's one on one. I get a little of that
Speaker 1: in college. Obviously we do a lot of community work
Speaker 1: with the seventy six ers, but that's lasting right there.
Speaker 1: Speak to that relationship that you're able to build for
Speaker 1: a young person as a member of Big Brothers and
Speaker 1: Big Sisters. Tom, you said best, it's a great way
Speaker 1: to make a difference in a young child's life. We
Speaker 1: just don't know. I know, before I got involved, had
Speaker 1: no idea how many young men didn't have a young man,
Speaker 1: or how many young women didn't have a lady in
Speaker 1: their life to show them things and to be that
Speaker 1: voice that they could talk to You're not their parents,
Speaker 1: but you're there to give them a guidance and showing things.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful relationship. My little brother has now graduated
Speaker 1: from more House College, is working, has a great career,
Speaker 1: and is now about to start his own family. And
Speaker 1: we talked quite a bit and he tells me things
Speaker 1: about like I was. You know, he saw a man.
Speaker 1: I showed him how to shave things that people forget.
Speaker 1: It's not always just shooting a basketball. It's about telling
Speaker 1: him how to open a car door when he takes
Speaker 1: his girlfriend out on a day. Things of that nature
Speaker 1: that he mentions to me, and it's like, you still
Speaker 1: remember that I made an impression and you made an impression.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of people that can help make
Speaker 1: lasting impressions on people. And how to out of time
Speaker 1: because you've won Best Dress Trainer thirty years in a row. Right,
Speaker 1: it depends on whose voting the thank you. I did
Speaker 1: teach them how to tie a tie. That was one
Speaker 1: of the things I did as a as a how
Speaker 1: to speech when I was in college, speaking of Indiana State,
Speaker 1: which was a way to get a quick a if
Speaker 1: you knew how to tie tie. And this was before
Speaker 1: YouTube so you know, my dad showed me had a
Speaker 1: tie tie the old demonstration speech, right, yes, yes, right, Well,
Speaker 1: I know you're going back to work, and but you
Speaker 1: love to go fishing. You have a boat. I see
Speaker 1: your pictures. I'm the absolute worst fisherman, but you've caught
Speaker 1: some big ones. Don't catch them all. Save something for me.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about your time out in
Speaker 1: the water, throwing one in, throwing the line in the water.
Speaker 1: I think one of the most satisfying times was I
Speaker 1: went out two years ago on Father's Day and as
Speaker 1: you know, luck and a little bit of skill kind
Speaker 1: of matched up one day and I was able to
Speaker 1: bring back enough stripe a bass to feed the staff
Speaker 1: and some of the players at the facility, and our
Speaker 1: chef he played them all up and then we had
Speaker 1: grilled stripe fast. I love to go to Tom and
Speaker 1: one of these things. When I retire, it'll be mentoring
Speaker 1: youth and fishing and just give him back. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of people opened a lot of doors for me, man,
Speaker 1: So I'm very thankful. I'm thankful to the Sixers organization
Speaker 1: and everybody from top to bomb you know. Well, with that,
Speaker 1: we appreciate your time and I know it's going to
Speaker 1: be a busy time, an unusual time for you as
Speaker 1: you get ready to go back down to Florida. And
Speaker 1: again we appreciate it and all you do. Thank you, kJ, Tom,
Speaker 1: thank you, Thanks everyone out there that's listening, take care
Speaker 1: of please stay safe. Thanks for listening to Tom's talks
Speaker 1: with me Tom McGinnis on the seventy sixers podcast Network.
Speaker 1: Check for new episodes every weekend.