NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt athletic trainer Tom Bossung received the Chris Patrick Award from the Southeastern Conference. The award is given annually to the top athletic trainer in the SEC during the league’s sports medicine meetings.
Named after long-time Mississippi State and Florida athletic trainer Chris Patrick, the recipient must possess the following qualities emulating the characteristics of the professional for which the award is named:
• Goes above and beyond for the institution and team he/she works with
• Has a tireless work ethic
• Is loyal to the institution’s athletic department and athletic training staff’s mission
• Has a passion for the profession and the service of the student-athlete
• Expresses a caring personality in the healthcare delivery he/she is responsible for
• Demonstrates examples of being a strong advocate for the student-athlete
• Plays an active role in one or more of the professional associations he/she is a member of (NATA, District, SEC, etc.)
Bossung currently serves as assistant athletic director for sports medicine, following over two decades as Vandy’s lead athletic trainer for football. A graduate of Indiana State, he first came to Vanderbilt in 1990 as a graduate assistant, earning a master’s degree in health promotion and exercise science. After brief stints with the Lipscomb Sports Therapy Center and as the head athletic trainer at Tennessee State, he returned to Vandy in 1995.
He spent four years as the lead athletic trainer for the men’s basketball program before moving to football in 1999. Bossung was president of the SEC Sports Medicine Committee from 2006-08 and has served as an ATC medical staffer for the NFL since 2015.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Bossung and the rest of the athletic training staff assisted the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in standing up testing sites throughout Middle Tennessee.
