Professor Earns Athletic Training Honor

Jan 20, 2020

Dr. Linda Platt Meyer is inducted into the Eastern Athletic Trainers' Association '49 Club.

Meyer

Dr. Linda Platt Meyer, a professor in Cal U’s Department of Exercise Science and Sport Studies, began the new year with a distinguished honor as a new member of the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association ’49 Club. 

She received the honor at the 72nd annual EATA Conference, which was held Jan. 10-13 in Mashantucket, Conn. 

Formed in 1949, the EATA consists of more than 8,000 athletic trainers and athletic training students from Maine to Delaware. EATA provides educational sessions, scholarships and research grants to athletic trainers in Districts 1 and 2 of the National Athletic Trainers' Association. 

The ’49 Club recognizes EATA members who demonstrate sustained leadership and reflect positively on the EATA and their home districts. Their work advances the profession of athletic training as a result of their exceptional accomplishments and dedication to sustained service and leadership. 

Meyer teaches in the online master's degree program in exercise science and health promotion. She was a member of the state Board of Osteopathic Medicine and is involved with the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers’ Society. 

For the past 30 years, Meyer has volunteered as an athletic trainer for Special Olympics Pennsylvania (SOPA). 

Her vision was to create an interdisciplinary sports medicine team, where physicians, athletic trainers, nurses, and emergency medical services personnel work together to provide coverage for Special Olympics events. Today, all SOPA state level events have interdisciplinary healthcare teams providing coverage at competitions. 

Meyer traveled as one of two athletic trainers with Team USA for the 1993 World Winter Games in Salzburg, Austria, and was the only athletic trainer with Team Pennsylvania for four other World Games ­— Minneapolis, Minn., in 1991; New Haven, Conn., in 1995; Raleigh and Durham, N.C., in 1999; and Anchorage, Alaska, in 2001. 

Since 1990, Meyer has served as the medical coordinator for Special Olympics Pennsylvania’s State Winter Games. Over the decades, she recruited hundreds of athletic trainers and athletic training students to volunteer for the Special Olympics Winter Games at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion, Pa.

She has presented at international, national, district and state levels on topics related to athletic training, Special Olympics, and leadership. Some of her work on leadership, athletic training and Special Olympics topics have appeared in the Journal of Athletic Training and Athletic Therapy Today.

“The ’49 Club is considered the highest honor an EATA member can achieve and is equivalent to Hall of Fame recognition,” said Dr. Thomas West, EATA member and Cal U professor in the Department of Exercise Science and Sport Studies. “It is a very impressive honor, and Linda is very deserving.

"She is truly the person that best embodies the personification of professionalism. She has been deeply involved in the profession of athletic training at the state, district and national level, but her greatest contribution and possibly her greatest passion has been in providing service as an athletic trainer to the Special Olympics here in Pennsylvania, in particular at the Winter Games."

In 2013, Meyer was inducted into the Pennsylvania Athletic Training Hall of Fame along with Cal U colleagues Dr. Barry McGlumphy and Julie Ramsey-Emrhein. 

She is proud that she was able to provide a life-changing opportunity for hundreds of athletic training students and athletic trainers as they volunteered for the SOPA State Winter Games and interacted with Special Olympics athletes. 

“It is my hope that many of these athletic training students, now certified, have continued to volunteer for Special Olympics events across the nation and beyond, engaging other athletic training students to experience this incredible population and continuing the tradition of paying it forward,” she said. 

“While this ‘49 Club recognition may have my name tagged, I want to share it with all athletic trainers who have volunteered for Special Olympics events, because they make a difference in the lives of these incredible athletes.”