If not for a car accident more than three decades ago, Brian Jones would have never taken an interest in athletic training.
So one could say there’s a direct line from that day in 1988 to May 12 when Jones, the University of Toledo’s senior associate athletic director for health and wellness, was named the Division I head athletic trainer of the year by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine.
“I was down in Florida with my family and I literally just broke down,” Jones said. “I was like, ‘Holy smokes!’”
One of the first phone calls he received came from John Coddington, the athletic trainer who assisted Jones’ mom with physical therapy, a result of the car accident.