The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Ferguson Inducted Into Alabama Athletic Trainers' Association Hall Of Fame
June 25, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB Director of Sports Medicine Drew Ferguson has been inducted into the Alabama Athletic Trainers' Association (ALATA) Hall of Fame. The ALATA Hall of Fame honors athletic trainers who have distinguished themselves throughout the years in the service of athletic training in Alabama.
The athletic trainer is an allied healthcare provider who specializes in athletics healthcare. In cooperation with physicians and other allied health personnel, the athletic trainer functions as an integral member of the athletic healthcare team in secondary schools, colleges and universities, sports medicine clinics, professional sports programs and other athletic healthcare settings.
As specialists in the prevention, recognition, management and rehabilitation of injuries incurred by athletes, athletic trainers evaluate and administer immediate emergency care, minimize the athlete's reaction to injury, and maximize their physical status for return to competition. Using knowledge of each athlete's injuries and the factors influencing them, the athletic trainer, with the attending family or team physician, develops a treatment program based on medical, exercise, and sports sciences.
"It is certainly an honor to be inducted into the ALATA Hall of Fame," said Ferguson. "It is the highlight of my 28 years at UAB. I have been able to work in such a great environment with the UAB medical center, Children's Hospital and the UAB athletic department. We started the sports medicine clinic from scratch in 1975 and since that time I have had many unique opportunities. It has been my privilege to work with Dr. Bill Garth and all the athletic trainers throughout the years. It is just a great learning environment here at UAB and I have been fortunate enough to work at a place that I truly enjoy. Overall, it is a great honor and considering all the tremendous people that have been inducted to the ALATA Hall of Fame, it is also very humbling. However, this award is not just about me. It is also about the great sports medicine program that we have and all the great people that I have worked with."
Ferguson has been a member of the UAB athletic family since the program's inception. He was the athletic department's original head trainer (1978-82), and has served as director of the UAB Sports Medicine clinic since 1982.
As director of sports medicine for the athletic department, Ferguson works primarily with the UAB football program, but also coordinates medical services for some 400 student-athletes in 17 intercollegiate sports. He supervises a staff that includes four full-time trainers, eight certified graduate assistants and 25 student trainers.
Ferguson currently serves as chairman of the Alabama Board of Athletic Trainers (ABAT), the state licensing body for athletic trainers. He is also a founding member of the Alabama Sports Medicine Society and is a member of the ALATA Executive Council.
In the summer of 1996, Ferguson was one of 20 athletic trainers from around the United States to be selected to work at the track and field venue of the Olympic games in Atlanta.
Ferguson's long list of professional experience includes service as an assistant trainer with the Birmingham Vulcans and Birmingham Americans professional football teams in the 1970s.
A native of Birmingham, Ferguson is a 1974 graduate of the University of Georgia. He earned a master's degree in sports medicine from UAB in 1976.
