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John Omohundro, the NFL’s senior trainer, begins his 40th season with the Cardinals and his 35th campaign as the team’s head trainer.
When the Cardinals took the field at Detroit on 12/5/04, Omohundro celebrated his 750th NFL game, including preseason and postseason. The first preseason game of 2006 will be Omohundro’s 775th NFL game.
Omohundro and his assistants, Jim Shearer and Jeff Herndon, gained notoriety in 1993 when they were named the National Football League’s athletic training staff-of-the-year by the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society (PFATS). They were recognized for that achievement at the annual Ed Block Courage Awards Dinner.
During high school, Omohundro’s career in athletics and life-long love affair with baseball began wholesomely as the winner of a contest to become bat boy for the Pacific Coast League Salt Lake City Bees in his hometown. Omohundro soon became a jack-of-all-trades around the Bees’ clubhouse in the late 1950s and early ’60s with future major leaguers like Sam McDowell, Dick Hall, and Dick Stuart, and performing as a clubhouse assistant, traveling secretary, and assistant trainer for future San Francisco Giants head trainer Al Wylder.
Omohundro began his undergraduate studies while serving as head trainer at the College of Southern Utah from 1961-62. He spent 1962-65 in Laramie, Wyoming at the University of Wyoming, serving as a student athletic trainer during his undergraduate studies. After earning his bachelor’s degree in physical education/allied health sciences in 1965, Omohundro remained as a graduate assistant trainer.
He also served six years as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve as a senior medical specialist, including one stint on active duty from January-June, 1967 before beginning his long association with the Cardinals in time for the 1967 football season.
He served as the team’s assistant trainer for four seasons (1967-70) before his promotion to head trainer in 1971.
Omohundro has taken an active role in his professional associations throughout his career. He served PFATS as secretary/treasurer from 1976-82, followed by a two-year term as the National Football Conference representative. He also is the former member of the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) Ethics Committee. In 1993, NATA named Omohundro recipient of its 25-year distinguished service award. Omohundro also is a former chairman of the Missouri State Athletic Trainer Advisory Committee.
Omohundro is a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, and a member of the International Narcotics Officers’ Association.
In 1999, Seton Catholic High School in Chandler, Arizona honored Omohundro’s support and fund-raising efforts for the school’s baseball program by naming its field John Omohundro Field
Omohundro, wife Martha and sons John and Jim reside in Tempe, AZ while daughter Neely resides in St. Louis, MO. | 