and I feel education is our key. Having
my master’s degree and athletic training
experience gave me more respect within the
male community.” Ripping down barriers is
just another battle women have faced in the
pedorthic profession. However, that hasn’t
scared off those that have wanted success.
While interviewing Ms. Robertson she shared
a bit of her interesting Pedorthic journey with
me. It begins in 1972, her junior college, when
her record as a volleyball player earned her
a scholarship to the University of Northern
Alabama (UNA) in Florence. This was the
first year the university offered women any
sports scholarships. Unfortunately, a fall from a
horse during that spring kept Robertson from
using the award. She explained, “I dislocated
and had multiple fractures to my ankle, which
ended my volleyball career,” Robertson said,
“I was so disappointed in not being able to
play. But after I thought about it for about a
week, I decided I wanted to be involved. I
wanted to find a way to help my own ankle.”
Robertson learned to treat her injury and many
others from a male athletic trainer at UNA.
She has vivid memories of those days. Since
women weren’t allowed in the training room,
she’d knock on the door and wait for him to
come out and answer questions. Through this
inquisitive side of her, she gained knowledge
and experience, focusing on foot and ankle
injuries.
In her senior year, members of the 1968
Olympic women’s volleyball team and coaches
Mary Jo Peppler and Marilynn McReavy
Ms. Donna Robertson, MS, ATC, CPed
Nolan were in the audience when Robertson
delivered a presentation on injury prevention
for female athletes. They invited her to
work with players at the Olympic training
facility in Pasadena, TX. She then earned
another scholarship, this time for a graduate
assistantship at Murray State University in
Kentucky with athletic trainer Tom “Doc”
Simmons, ATC, who was starting the first coed
athletic training room in the southeast.
In 1975, legendary football coach Paul “Bear”
Bryant personally hired Robertson as the
first women’s athletic trainer at University of
Alabama (UA) in Tuscaloosa. Her $650 budget
Current Pedorthics July/August 2017
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