Guilford College’s Mary Broos to Retire As Head Athletic Trainer

Greensboro, N.C. — After 30 years of service to the Guilford College community, Mary Broos of Thomasville, N.C., will retire as Guilford’s head athletic trainer May 30. She will remain at the college in her role as an instructor in the sports studies department.

Mary Broos Mary Broos

Guilford has created an endowed fund to benefit the athletic training department in Broos’ honor. The Mary N. Broos Endowment for Athletic Training will create scholarships for students pursing a sports medicine degree and provide programmatic support for sports medicine and athletic training within the intercollegiate athletics program. The fund’s goal is $50,000 with a December 31, 2008, deadline. Should the goal not be met, donations will be placed in a restricted (not endowed) fund for athletic training.

Broos became the first female in North Carolina to lead a collegiate sports medicine program when she came to Guilford in 1978. Her efforts at the college have resulted in numerous honors and awards, including induction into the Guilford College Sports and the North Carolina Athletic Trainers Association (NCATA) Halls of Fame. The Girls and Women in Sports Day Committee presented her its 1996 Award of Excellence. NCATA recognized Broos as its 1989 Athletic Trainer of the Year. She also received the 1998 Heart and Hand Award from Guilford’s students.

Broos served on the athletic training staffs for the 1984 Summer Olympics, the 1986 World Lacrosse Games, the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival and the 1987 International Gymnastics Training Camp. A 1967 East Carolina University graduate, she was named to the State Superintendent’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee in 1989. Broos also spent 12 years on the Davidson County Board of Education, four as chairperson.

The college will honor Broos this Saturday, May 24, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. in Founders Hall on campus. A number of current and former student-athletes and administrators will speak at the ceremony. There is no admission to the program, but guests are asked to register in advance online at www.guilfordconnections.com. While there, individuals may also contribute to the Broos Endowment.

A national search for Broos’ replacement is underway.