GREENCASTLE, Indiana — A generation of student-athletes have come and gone at DePauw University, but the care they receive to treat the bumps and bruises has remained constant.

Rex Call, the head athletic trainer at the Division III institution for two stints over a 21-year period, has treated thousands of injuries over that time. One look at a day in the life of Call shows the commitment he has to helping student-athletes return to full strength, and the respect he receives from his grateful constituency.

Proof of the latter is represented by a plaque the 2004 men’s basketball senior class presented Call with the inscription, "To serve as a reminder of the bond we developed through our four years at DePauw University. We thank you for your concern for our health, your dedication toward our rehabilitation, and most importantly, for the relationships formed that will be forever cherished."

"If I don’t have the trust and confidence of the student-athlete, I’m not going to be effective at my job," Call said. "It is all about communication and being good at what you do. The student-athletes recognize that what you tell them is the right thing to do. After spending so much time with them, they recognize that you care. They appreciate that."

The lives of athletic trainers are filled with long hours, but rewarding experiences. That was evident after spending a day with Call on the DePauw campus.

7:30 a.m.

Call arrives in his office at the Lilly Physical Education and Recreation Center a little earlier than normal on September 27 since it is a Wednesday, which means in addition to the treatments he does for student-athletes, Call is making plans for the class he will teach — Injury Recognition and Evaluation II — later that morning.

Because it is relatively early in the fall semester, Call concentrates primarily on the Tigers football team. The first player, junior linebacker J.J. Costello, arrives for treatment of a leg injury sustained in DePauw’s last game at Trinity University (Texas). Call knows it will be a busy day for morning treatments because he barely saw any of the Trinity game due to the number of injuries his team suffered in the previous contest.

Not only were there a lot of ice bags and evaluations that had to be made, but Mother Nature also made the DePauw football team change its travel plans. Six minutes into the September 23 Trinity game, a lightning storm forced the game to be delayed until the next day. That meant reservations for everyone in the travel party had to be changed for a Monday return.

It also means missed class time for the student-athletes. The reason Costello is in the training room at 7:30 a.m. is because it gives him time before his class schedule starts.

Call in fact asks every football student-athlete about his class schedule so he can arrange follow-up treatments that do not conflict with academics.

After Costello is finished, Call evaluates and treats injuries of several student-athletes who are still feeling the physical effects of the last game. He checks the progress of a sprained ankle, a sprained shoulder and a hip pointer over the next hour. Call has to complete paperwork for each case.

Call, who worked at DePauw from 1980 to 1983 and then returned in 1989 after working in a private practice and on the athletic training staff at the University of Pittsburgh, said filling out forms comes with the territory.

"One of the things that has changed in athletic training is the attention to detail administratively," Call said. "A lot of it has to do with liability, insurance, record keeping, HIPAA laws and medical confidentiality. There are so many more things we have to know and be concerned about now than 10 or 15 years ago."

9:40 a.m.

Call is completely immersed into the campus scene. In addition to his daily athletic training duties, he is a member of the Health Science Advisory Committee and the Kinesiology Curriculum Committee.

At 9:40, he meets with women’s volleyball coach Deb Zellers, who also coordinates the campus CHAMPS/Life Skills program, and university dietician Alicia Oskay about conducting a seminar for student-athletes focusing on healthy eating habits.

The trio discusses potential topics such as pregame meals, beneficial snacks, eating disorders and the best ways to gain and lose weight in a healthy manner.

After that meeting, Call updates the football team injury list. The coaches can view it any time of day on the institution’s computer system. He also prepares for his class coming up in less than an hour. Call is the director of sports medicine with the rank of associate professor.

At 10:30, former DePauw Athletics Director Ted Katula stops by the training room. Katula, who as DePauw golf coach mentored former Vice President Dan Quayle, was the man who hired Call for his second stint in the Tigers athletics department.

The two men catch up for a few minutes until Call has a meeting with assistant athletic trainer Roger Doan and swim coach Adam Cohen about coverage of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships this coming winter. Doan and Jen Pipkin are the only other full-time staff members. Call also has a graduate assistant, Becky Rausch.

DePauw sponsors 21 varsity teams, and each athletic trainer is assigned several as their primary responsibility. Call’s are football, men’s basketball and softball.

He spends time this day hunting down a reference for a potential part-time athletic trainer who will work at the university during times in the fall and spring when sports overlap.

"One of our biggest challenges is making sure we are providing quality service in terms of coverage," Call said. "Then you throw in the nontraditional seasons, and the workload