Jim Gallaspy (1993) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Jim Gallaspy

Induction:
1993

So many times individuals are inducted based on contributions that can be entirely measured by a statistical scale. And even though that is a fair appraisal of an individual’s contribution, you must always look a little deeper to determine the total contribution to the University and the athletic department.
   Such is the case with athletic trainer Jim Gallaspy who became an integral part of Southern Miss athletics in 1966.
   Gallaspy began as a student trainer and it didn’t take him long to figure out he had found something that he enjoyed and by the end of his sophomore year and the beginning of his junior year, he had made a decision that sports medicine and being an athletic trainer is what he wanted to do.
   After several years working and teaching as an athletic trainer on the high school level, Gallaspy returned to Southern Miss in 1974, where he became an associate professor in what is now the School of Human performance and Recreation in the College of Health and Human Resources, and also returned to Golden Eagle athletics as an assistant trainer under Hall of Famer Larry (Doc) Harrington.
   He worked in conjunction with then Department chairman and Hall of Famer M.C. (Tuffy) Johnson and Harrington to establish the program to train students to become certified athletic trainers and the program received certification from the National Athletic Trainers Association in 1975, becoming one of the few schools in the country to have a program of that type.
   Gallaspy became just the fourth inductee to the Southern Miss Sports Hall of Fame that never played or coached, a special tribute from coaches and players who were well aware that results on the fields, courts, and diamonds sometimes lies in the skillful, caring and dedicated hands of trainer.
   Gallaspy is well known for his innovative and ingenious methods of designing casts or protective equipment that allow Golden Eagle athletes to keep competing and his knowledgeable methods of treatment and rehabilitation allowed them to return long before they might have been able to.
   He was instrumental in a bill passing in Mississippi licensing athletic trainers in 1991, one of just 20 states at the time that had passed such legislation.
   Among his many honors was receiving the Distinguished Educator Award from the NATA in 1992.
   He became the school’s head athletic trainer prior to the 1994 season when Harrington retired.
   This is the legacy of Jim Gallaspy. And in years to come future generations will be treated on the athletic fields and in the training rooms, by professionals who have learned from Gallaspy.