DALLAS, Feb. 5, 2018 – Steve Donohue, ATC, has been selected as one of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s 2018 Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer (MDAT) award recipients. Donohue, a native of Bronxville, New York, is the current Head Athletic Trainer for the New York Yankees.
The Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer award recognizes NATA members who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to leadership, volunteer service, advocacy and distinguished professional activities as an athletic trainer. MDAT exclusively recognizes NATA members who have been involved in service and leadership activities at the national and district level.
This award acknowledges outstanding dedication and service to the athletic training profession. Candidates for the award must have held the certified athletic trainer (ATC) credential, conferred by the Board of Certification, and have been an NATA member, both for at least 20 years.
About the award, PBATS President Mark O’Neal said, “We’re thrilled to see Steve Donohue honored by the NATA. The NATA is a group that holds athletic trainers to the highest of all standards, and Steve has truly exceeded those standards throughout his legendary career. PBATS members all across Major League Baseball have the utmost respect for Steve, his career with the New York Yankees, and for all that he does for the athletic training profession. He is beyond deserving and we could not be happier for Steve and his family.”
Donohue, this year, begins his 40th consecutive season in the New York Yankees organization, and seventh as the team’s Head Athletic Trainer, a position he has held since 2012. Steve spent 26 years (1986-2011) as the Yankees’ Assistant Athletic Trainer under Gene Monahan, sharing the Major League Baseball “Athletic Training Staff of the Year” award with Monahan in 1990 and 2010.
The presentation of Donohue’s award will be made during NATA’s 69th Clinical Symposia & AT Expo in the summer of 2018 in New Orleans.
About PBATS: The mission of the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) is to serve as an educational resource for the Major League and Minor League Baseball athletic trainers. PBATS serves its members by providing for the continued education of the athletic trainer as it relates to the profession, helping to improve their understanding of sports medicine so as to better promote the health of the constituency— professional baseball players. Visit www.pbats.com
About NATA: Athletic trainers are health care professionals who specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and sport-related illnesses. They prevent and treat chronic musculoskeletal injuries from sports, physical and occupational activity, and provide immediate care for acute injuries. Athletic trainers offer a continuum of care that is unparalleled in health care. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association represents and supports 44,000 members of the athletic training profession. Visit www.nata.org.