ALPINE Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine Billy Ray Laxton will be inducted into the Texas State Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Honor this June.
“Billy Ray being inducted in the TSATA Hall of Honor is very well deserved,” Sul Ross VP for Finance and Operations and Interim Athletic Director Jim Goodman said. “He is well known and highly respected in the athletic community in Texas. Along with being a tireless worker for the safety and well-being of student-athletes, he’s a terrific man and role model. I’m lucky to be able to call him a friend. Congratulations, BR!”
The TSATA was created to own, operate, and maintain an association exclusive to the promotion, enhancement, and advancement of the athletic training profession and of the association’s members. The TSATA is “by Texas athletic trainers, about Texas athletic trainers, and for Texas athletic trainers” and strives to serve as the voice of athletic trainers in Texas.
“Billy Ray Laxton represents the best of Sul Ross,” Sul Ross President Pete Gallego said. “He leads by example – devoted to our university’s athletes, committed to our community’s children through service on the local school board, giving graciously of his time, and pitching in wherever he can to make Sul Ross a better place.”
Laxton joined Sul Ross in May of 2018 as head athletics trainer and was named associate athletics director for athletic training in July of 2019. He previously served as outreach coordinator at Scott and White Hospital in Temple since 2011. Before that, Laxton served as head athletic trainer and assistant professor of athletic training at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
“I am extremely honored to enter the hall of honor with people I admire, love and respect,” Laxton said. “I would like to thank all the student-athletes and student trainers that I’ve encountered over the years. I am so thankful to have so many mentors. I also could not have done this without my family. My wife Joanna has been so supportive over the years and has been in a position where she could take care of business for our family.”
Laxton is set to be inducted on June 12 as TSATA celebrates its 20th anniversary and 50 years of Texas licensure.
