Since the 1976 football season, Dan Wathen has been a fixture at most every YSU men's and women's sporting event, and as the head of the University's Sports Medicine Center, is looked upon as the "go to" man when in a time of need.
One of the most respected auÂthorities of both sports medicine and weight/strength training, Wathen's opinÂions are considered gospel by the coaches and their staffs as they prepare all of the men's and women's athletes for their seasons, then take care of them both in and out of season.
Brought to YSU in 1976 by former YSU Director of Athletics Paul Amodio upon the recommendation of former Penguin gridder and current Cincinnati Bengals scout Frank Smouse and Cleveland Browns trainer Leo Murphy, Wathen was reunited with then head football coach Bill Narduzzi as both were former assistants on their respective staffs at the University of Kentucky in 1974.
A Kentucky native, Wathen earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky and his master's at Eastern Kentucky University.
Over the past 20 years, he has worked with over 3,000 Penguin student-athletes and over 100 coaches as they seek his treatment, advise and opinions on a myriad of subjects.
He has worked with over one-third of the past Hall of Fame inductees including six of tonight's honorees.
He has been on the sidelines for nearly half of the school's football victories and has not missed a game, and only a few practices since his arrival in 1976.
As a specialist in fitness and conditioning, he has not missed a day of work due to illness during his time spent at YSU.
Arguably the most published person in the history of the YSU athletics department, he has had nearly 100 papers published in over a dozen journals and has written nearly a dozen chapters for textbooks dealing with conditioning and sports medicine.
A very active member of a number of professional organizations, he has served on the boards of a number of national organizations and serves as a reviewer for three peer reviewed journals. He is the sports medicine editor of the American Fitness Quarterly.
The winner of numerous service awards by various professional organizations, he has also served as an exam development editor for the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the National Athletic Trainer's Association.
An avid weightlifting enthusiast, he was named the Strength and Conditioning "Coach of the Year" in 1989 by the N.C.S.A., and has won numerous weightlifting titles while setting many records in the process He is an eight-time state of Kentucky open division champion, and has several Ohio and Pennsylvania open division titles as well.
Many of his former student trainers have gone on to become trainers for professional, intercollegiate and scholastic teams both locally and nationally.
A sought after speaker who gives dozens of lectures annually on the local, state and national level for various sports medical and fitness organizations, he lists his greatest honor as being able to work with the many fine people involved in YSU athletics over the years.
