Through all the changes that have taken place at the U since 1977, one thing that has remained constant is Deb Willardson, who has served as the athletic trainer for the women’s basketball team for more than 35 years. Her retirement this past spring marked the end of an award-winning career during which she also supervised training for the women’s volleyball team and was the associate director of sports medicine at the U.
Willardson graduated from Utah State University with plans of becoming a high school teacher. While playing volleyball and basketball for the Aggies, she was plagued with shin splints and was told to go see athletic trainer Jim Riley. At the time, women weren’t allowed in the training room during regular hours.
“When I was there, I would ask Jim about the injuries of other people on my team,” Willardson said. “So, while playing, I was slowly learning from him how to tape ankles and treat other problems.”
After graduating, Willardson was told that the U wanted to provide the same programs to female athletes as it had for men and was interested in finding a woman to work in the training room. She took the entrance exam for graduate school and in 1975, became the first woman admitted into the U’s athletic training program.
As a female in the male-dominated world of athletic training, Willardson faced many challenges when she first began.
“There were coaches at the U that didn’t want me there,” Willardson said. “They thought I just wanted to be by the athletes, you know, get a better social calendar going. Title IX was coming into play then and they thought, ‘Oh great, another thing we have to deal with, a woman who doesn’t know what it’s all about.’ One or two of those coaches wouldn’t even speak to me for about a year.”
Willardson was also hazed by some of the athletes.
“Sometimes the male athletes would come into the training room with nothing on,” she recalled. “I think part of that was to shock me, to see if I would stay, but I never quit on a thing in my life and I wasn’t about to start.”
After finishing the graduate program, Willardson was immediately offered a job as a trainer with the women’s basketball team. Although she still had much to learn, she felt very appreciated by female athletes who until that point didn’t have a female trainer.
“The job grew as I grew,” Willardson said. “Things change so much every year and that is one of the greatest challenges of athletic training — to stay up to date on all the new info out there, and of what’s out there, to decide what is most meaningful and useful to your athletes.”
As Willardson gained experience and knowledge, she quickly discovered that her favorite part of being an athletic trainer was interacting with players and getting to know their personalities. She enjoyed pulling pranks on players that included putting plastic spiders in their lockers and sewing the leg holes of their shorts closed. While believing it was important to keep things light, Willardson also came to recognize valuable opportunities to listen to and counsel athletes.
“The training room has always been a place where coaches don’t come in very much,” Willardson said. “Players can really be themselves, relax and visit with one another. They will let down their barriers and tell you what they’re struggling with personally. Sometimes that struggle is a personality conflict with a coach. I was very careful about not betraying anyone’s confidence. I found that one or two things I would say or do would make the day better for them or give them a different perspective. I tried to help without harming.”
Willardson’s sincere love for the athletes and her desire to help them grow became her legacy. Coaches and athletes alike recognized how valuable this was to a team.
“Not only was Deb an excellent trainer, but most importantly the young women in our program communicated well with her, trusted her and felt comfortable under her care,” said Velaida Harris, an assistant coach of the women’s basketball team. “She loved our players and was 100 percent committed to the success of our program. She’s a legend. She’s family.”
For Willardson, her greatest career successes were not the awards she received, but rather seeing players succeed.
“I loved seeing players come in as freshmen from all different cultural backgrounds and watching them grow and bond as a team,” Willardson said. “To watch them excel outside of what they thought they could do, not just physically but as a person, that made me proud.”
Willardson especially enjoyed seeing players gain the perspective to look beyond just their athletic careers.
“You know, eventually their basketball career is going to end,” she said. “It was really rewarding to see women who finally got it and recognized [college basketball] as a wonderful opportunity for them to get a career and become successful in life beyond just being an athlete.”
As she begins her retirement, Willardson admits she will miss her teams and especially working with individual athletes, but she plans to stay busy. She has long felt that part of being a successful trainer is having a good outlet, something to think about besides the constant worries that come with caring for a team. For her, that outlet is fly-fishing and in the near future she plans to travel and enjoy fishing in new places. As far as her career as a trainer, Willardson is still certified and is open to the idea of working on a part-time basis if an offer comes up.
Liz Abel, senior associate athletics director at the U, has worked with and known Willardson for over 30 years.
“Deb did more than just train,” Abel said. “She was literally on call 24/7. I traveled with the basketball team for a number of years and would room with Deb on the road. There would be girls in our room at all hours and she would drop everything and go to all ends to work with them. Deb put her heart and soul into caring for and rehabbing those athletes and she did it in the right way. She was just fun.”
Willardson truly feels that she gained from those she worked with as much as she gave them.
“It was a wonderful time in my life, something I’ll never forget,” Willardson said. “Great coaches, great administration, just wonderful opportunities. Whatever I could do to make that experience better for the people who came there to play, it was a mutual gain for both of us.”