President Mark O’Neal of the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) announced Larry Starr, Gene Monahan and Kent Biggerstaff as 2016 PBATS Hall of Fame inductees at the MLB Winter Meetings in Washington, D.C.
The Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society, established in 1983, now has nine Hall of Fame members.
“I am extremely proud to announce our newest Hall of Fame members. Everyone at PBATS knows how much impact these guys have had on so many current members and the lives of so many players,” O’Neal said. “It’s amazing to see how much our society has grown in the past 20 years, and we owe a lot of that success to these three guys and the other six members of the Hall of Fame. We couldn’t be more proud as a society of the Hall of Fame class of 2016.”
Gene Monahan spent almost 50 years with the New York Yankees organization before retiring in 2011. During his tenue with the Yankees, Monahan cared for players on seven World Championship teams, 11 pennant winning teams and 19 post-season teams. Since 2011, he has served as a consultant for NASCAR team Hedrick Motorsports as part of the team’s pit crew staff.
Larry Starr is currently president at Starr Athletic Solutions, LLC, and adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He was the assistant athletic director for sports medicine at Nova Southeastern from 2002-2010, and he previously served as the head athletic trainer for the Florida Marlins and Cincinnati Reds. Starr was the first certified athletic trainer in Major League Baseball. He has been part of four world championship teams and was the National League athletic trainer for five All-Star Games. From 1968-1971, Starr was an assistant athletic trainer at Ohio University.
Kent Biggerstaff worked for the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers and his last 23 years as the Head Athletic Trainer of the Pittsburgh Pirates. During this tenure, he earned many honors including selection as the All Star Athletic Trainer in the National League in 1990, 1994 and 2002. Kent was also selected as the Athletic Trainer for the 1996 Major League All Star Tour of Japan and was named 2002 Major League Athletic Trainer of the Year.