Head trainer ‘Doc’ Smith embraces role at YCHS

Mike Smith, known as “Doc” at York Comprehensive High School, brings passion and professionalism to his job.

Smith, in his 31st year as head athletic trainer at the school, coached basketball and football at Harold C. Johnson Middle School before transferring to the high school to become athletic trainer.

“When I first started out, the athletic trainer was basically the assistant coach in charge of taping,” Smith said.

But things changed. “With the emphasis on concussion awareness and the tragic injuries that take place, athletic trainers have really come to the forefront as a true medical career,” he said.

Smith said now trainers are health care professionals “who collaborate with licensed medical physicians to provide preventative services, emergency care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions.”

Smith teaches sports medicine every semester, reaching as many as 50 to 55 students at YCHS.

“We have student athletic training aides,” he said. “Due to liability, they’re limited to what they can do. We do give them a certain amount of freedom to perform certain tasks as long as Sara Messer, our assistant athletic trainer, and I are with them.”

Smith said student trainers are a big help. The athletic training aides are seniors Dustin McNeely, Caroline Whetstine and Gracen Ramsey and junior Kaitlin Milam.

“They are learning a profession, a possible career pathway,” said Smith.

Smith is the public address announcer and sound system guru for Cougar boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, delivering the home team’s starting lineups with a rousing rendition that works the crowd.

“I’m a Cougar fan,” said Smith. “It’s all about the black, gray and white and giving 100 percent. That’s the way we do things in York.”

With his association with so many YCHS head coaches through the years, Smith was asked to give his impressions of three legendary football coaches — Bill Pate, Steve Boyd and Bobby Carroll.

Here are his responses:

▪  Pate: “Coach Pate was a coach that came here and picked us up by our boot straps and straightened things out. He got York into the winning ways that they were accustomed to by doing things the right way.”

▪  Boyd: “In addition to his success as a head football coach, Steve is one of the best athletic directors I’ve ever worked for. He is supportive of anything that goes on in this athletic department, as long as it’s positive and for the kids.

“He is supportive of all of the activities. The band, he is supportive of that, too. He is very well respected throughout the state and the community.”

▪  Carroll: “Bobby came in and brought a different mindset. It was the same type of intense mindset coach Pate brought. He brought in a mindset that I call good common sense football. We practice fast. We practice hard, but we’re not gonna beat each other up. We’re gonna do things the right way. Bobby also takes care of his student-athletes real well and takes care of the coaching staff. He wants to make sure everything’s done the right way. Like any coach, when the athletic trainer says he’s got to pull a player out the rest of the game, I know, having been a coach myself, that’s not what he wants to hear. I also know that Bobby understands.”

Boyd, athletic director at YCHS, said Smith has contributed a lot to the athletic program.

“Mike was one of the first athletic trainers in South Carolina,” said Boyd. “He’s very professional and knowledgeable. We’re very fortunate to have him at York.”

Boyd added: “Mike is good at working with kids. He’s saved our kids and parents money by being able to treat the athletes and take care of them during the week instead of sending them to a doctor sometimes.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Head trainer ‘Doc’ Smith embraces role at YCHS."