Richard "Dick" Cole was born in 1908; reportedly in Anamosa, Iowa. He completed high school here in Ames and was a state champion wrestler for the Little Cyclones.  Dick entered college at Iowa State and served as an athletic training student all while winning the 1931 NCAA Wrestling Championship at 135 pounds for the Cyclones.  Dick graduated from Iowa State in 1931 and was hired by Brown University as their athletic trainer and wrestling coach. He served Brown until they dropped wrestling in 1941 and at that time Dick was hired by the University of Rhode Island.  However, Cole did not begin working for the Rams until 1946 due to his service commitment to the U.S. Navy during World War II.  Dick was a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy V-5 program, which helped train Naval Aviation Cadets on college campuses.  He would return to Rhode Island in 1946 and continued to serve as their head athletic trainer and associate professor of physical education until 1975.  Dick was inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame in 1970 and passed away in 1978. Richard Cole's legacy is one of public relations; he was a frequent speaker and author, educating others about the profession.

Since 1975, Warren Ariail has been on staff of the Sports Medicine Division of the State Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the director of the Cleveland County Sports Medicine Center. His previous athletic training experiences include head athletic trainer jobs at Gardner-Webb College, the Houston Oilers, New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, Carolina Panthers, Indiana University, Iowa State University, Wake Forest University and Wofford College.

Warren also worked with the North Carolina Department of Education and founded the Sports Medicine Clinic in Shelby, NC.  Warren was also a World War II veteran serving in Iwo Jima. Warren retired to Gaffney, SC and passed away in 2013.

Frank Randall received his undergraduate degree from New Mexico State in 1962 and immediately became the Head Athletic Trainer for the University. He went on to serve as Head Athletic Trainer at New Mexico Military Junior College, the University of Idaho and finally at Iowa State University where Frank commanded the athletic training program for 29 years. Along the way he earned his master's degree at New Mexico Western. Randall served as the Vice President of the NATA during 1983-1984 and was the NATA District 5 director from 1978-1984. Randall also has served as the District 5 secretary and historian. He was an Oral Practical Examiner for the NATA Certification Exam from 1978-1980.

Mark J. Smaha, born and raised on an Iowa farm, began his athletic training career at Iowa State University in 1967. He received his B. S. degree in 1970 and attended Marshall University in West Virginia. He was an assistant athletic trainer and assumed the duties of head athletic trainer in 1970 following the Marshall air tragedy that killed 75 people including the football team, athletic personnel, and boosters. In 1972 he received his M.S. degree and moved to the University of Washington where he was a member of a research team studying athletic injuries at the high school level. He worked at the University of Washington and Interlake High School as a teacher/athletic trainer where he also co-authored a book on athletic training. In 1975 he became the head athletic trainer at the University of Idaho. He later became the head athletic trainer at Washington State University in 1978 where he served as Director of Athletic Medicine.

In 1979 he began his career as an officer in the NATA as Secretary-Treasurer of District 10 (NWATA). He became the Director/President of NWATA in 1982 and a member of the NATA Board of Directors. In 1986 he was elected Vice-President of the NATA. In 1988 he was elected President of the NATA serving until 1992. Mr. Smaha received the three Presidents Commendations for Life Saving Emergencies and was nominated for the NCAA Award of Valor in 1982. In 1994 he received the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award. Smaha serves as a consultant for Tinactin and has authored several home pages for their website and presently serves as a member of the Memorial Resolutions Committee and the committee planning the NATA's 50th Anniversary Celebration and Convention.

A native of Hawarden, Iowa, Miller earned his B.A. in physical education from Iowa State University in 1968, his M.S. in physical education from Syracuse in 1972 and his physical therapy degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973.

When Dennis Miller joined the athletic training staff of Purdue University in the Fall of 1973, he had already been in the profession for more than five years. However, working as an assistant for Pinky Newell gave Miller a new perspective on the role and responsibility of each member of a professional organization. Miller took Newell's advice to heart; becoming a leader in his own right. Having served his state and district organizations, Miller became involved in national athletic training issues and eventually completed two terms as NATA President before heading up initiatives that could alter sports medicine in the collegiate setting.

Since 1977, Miller has been the head athletic trainer/physical therapist for Purdue University where he continues to be a role model for athletes and athletic training students.

Peggy A. Houglum is an assistant professor in the Rangos School of Health Sciences Athletic Training Department at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. As a Minnesota native, Peg graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BS in physical therapy in 1971. After three years in the work force, she enrolled in Indiana State University’s graduate athletic training program. Upon graduation with her masters degree in 1975, she became a certified athletic trainer and worked as an instructor in ISU’s graduate and undergraduate athletic training programs. She also served as head athletic trainer for women’s sports.

In 1978 she moved to Ames, Iowa to serve in a similar position at Iowa State University. She was lured to the bright lights of Los Angeles in 1981 where she worked in sports medicine clinics and hospitals for the next 15 years. After a brief return to the Midwest, Peg went to the University of Virginia to pursue her doctoral degree. She graduated with her PhD in Sports Medicine in 2001.

Over the years Peg has served on numerous NATA committees at the district and national level and her continuing education program experience is vast. As current chair of the Education Council’s Continuing Education Committee, she and her committee have been responsible for all NATA-sponsored continuing education for athletic trainers since 1997. Peg’s service includes several Education Council sub-committees, the National Convention Committee and as the first woman to serve as an associate editor of the Journal of Athletic Training.

Peg has written articles on sports medicine, co-authored an athletic training assessment text and is sole author of a comprehensive athletic training therapeutic exercise text. Her professional expertise lies in rehabilitation and therapeutic exercise, a topic for which she has delivered several regional and national presentations. 

Leadership, dedication, integrity and service have been the hallmarks of the athletic training and athletics administration professional career of Pete Carlon. A native Iowan, Pete Carlon received his undergraduate education at Iowa State and earned his Masters of Education in Science from Northwest Missouri State.

Carlon began his professional career in the high school setting as an athletic trainer/health teacher at Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas from 1976-80. After a one year stint as head athletic trainer and NATA curriculum program director at Stephen F. Austin State University, Carlon returned to Arlington as the head athletic trainer at The University of Texas at Arlington in 1981. Carlon moved through the ranks from his current position of director of athletics.

Throughout his athletic training and athletics administration career, Carlon served in a number of athletic training leadership positions beginning with service on the NATA Certification Committee, as a BOC test site administrator (1992-91) and as District Six Honors and Awards co-chair (1984-91). His service to the Southwest Athletic Trainers' Association/NATA District Six began with election to his first term on the executive board as second vice president in 1985. Carlon played an instrumental role in SWATA moving its annual meeting from Waco to Arlington in 1986. He served as the SWATA President (1987-88) and was recognized with the Eddie Wojecki Award for service to SWATA. Carlon also received SWATA's prestigious Frank Medina Award for Service to Athletic Training and Mankind in 1989 and was inducted into the SWATA Hall of Fame in 1999. He was recognized by NATA as a Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer in 1998.

In 1990, Carlon was elected to his first of two terms on the NATA Board of Directors (1991-97). Carlon served as NATA vice president in (1993-94) and chaired several committees and task forces. He was also the board liaison to many committees during his tenure on the board.

Carlon served the profession with an appointment and service on the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee and the NCAA Drug Testing and Education Subcommittee (1998-2002). He continues to provide service to the athletic training profession by safeguarding the welfare of athletic trainers and student-athletes in his role as the Director of Athletics at The University of Texas at Arlington, President of the Southland Conference and President of the I-AAA Athletics Directors Association.

MaryBeth Horodyski is currently the director of research for the department of orthopedics and rehabilitation at the University of Florida and also serves as the athletic trainer at a small private high school in Gainesville. An expert in spine-injured patient care, Horodyski has been published more than 100 times in peer-reviewed journals and was selected as one of only five non-physicians to join the Cervical Spine Research Society. She has served in leadership roles with NATA as vice president, District Nine director, NATA Research & Education Foundation vice president and her current role as chair of the Executive Committee for Education. Additionally, she held the positions of president and secretary/treasurer for the Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Association (SEATA). Horodyski has received countless honors including the SEATA Hall of Fame, Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida Hall of Fame and NATA’s Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer and Athletic Trainer Service Awards and Fellows status.