Noonan Receives Hall Call

July 16, 2015

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Editor’s Note: The following first appeared in the University of Iowa’s Hawk Talk Daily, an e-newsletter that offers a daily look at the Iowa Hawkeyes, delivered free each morning to thousands of fans of the Hawkeyes worldwide. To receive daily news from the Iowa Hawkeyes, sign up HERE.

By DARREN MILLER
hawkeyesports.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Terry Noonan, director of athletic training services at the University of Iowa, was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame on June 25 in St. Louis.

Noonan, 59, began working at the UI in April, 2010. He has been in the profession since 1981.

“It means a lot more once you take it all in,” Noonan said. “You don’t set out to get into the Hall of Fame, but once you get in, you’re honored. It’s amazing hearing `thank you’ from the number of people you have influenced. You get a real perspective of your achievement when you are informed that about one percent of close to 30,000 members of the National Athletic Trainers Association are in the Hall of Fame.”

A native of Dubuque, Iowa, Noonan received a bachelor’s degree in recreation administration with a minor in business administration from Loras College in 1978. He went to Eastern Kentucky University and earned a master’s degree in recreation administration in 1979.

Noonan wanted to become an athletic trainer, so he enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa and functioned as a graduate assistant and completed athletic training courses. After working two years at Waterloo (Iowa) Columbus High School (1981-83), Noonan returned to UNI as assistant (1983-85) and head athletic trainer (1985-99). From 1999-2007, he was at Oklahoma State University as director of sports medicine/athletic training program. Noonan made another stop at UNI as executive director of human sport and performance program from 2007-10 while completing doctoral study in rehabilitative medicine.

Noonan received news that he was going into the Hall of Fame two years ago, but he delayed his induction until it was in a city within NATA’s District V, where he was president from 1999-2005. The ceremony in St. Louis also made it easier for his wife, son, brother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, bother-in-law, and sister-in-law to attend.

Noonan began athletic training at Loras after his baseball coach taught him a Cramer course.

“That got me started,” Noonan said. “I didn’t have much to do and (Loras) needed somebody to help with basketball.”

At Iowa, Noonan oversees policies, procedures, and insurance for all 24 sports. His main responsibility is with the sport of volleyball. There are four associate directors of athletic training services at the UI: Russ Haynes, Mike Lawler, Doug West, and Nobutaka Takashima.

Of all the stops Noonan has made over the years, nothing has felt more like home than being at Iowa.

“This is the best environment I have worked in,” Noonan said. “It is a family atmosphere and it is a lot more diverse than other places I have been. (Points to the Tigerhawk logo on his shirt) It is this emblem. You can’t walk through an airport without somebody saying `Go Hawks.'”

Noonan is a member of the Iowa Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame, District V of the NATA Hall of Fame, and he received the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer award from the NATA in June 2012. He holds Certification in Active Release Techniques for the total body, and Certification in First Aid and CPR. Noonan is the first athletic trainer from the UI to be inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame.

Noonan and his wife, Jeri, have a son, Casey, who works for a land management company in Oklahoma City.