Trail Blazer to Trailblazer

Ray Mack is inducted into the St. Francis High School Hall of Fame by Dr. Deborah Kerr, Superintendent of Schools, on December 9, 2022

Many physical therapists have an injury story that contributes to a career path.

But most don’t include a connection to a legendary Wisconsin team whose mad dash to a national championship helped make March Madness what it is today.

Ray Mack of Advanced Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine vividly recalled a high school football injury from six decades ago that led him from athlete to athletic trainer.

“As defensive end, it was my job to get crushed first on a student body left,” Mack said. “Hurt my back and that was it. To continue participating in sports, I decided to become a student athletic trainer.”

And the rest, they say, is history. A history that includes the improbable journey with the Marquette Warriors basketball team from 1973 through 1977.

Understand that at the time of Mack’s injury, circa 1970, athletic training was in its infancy: it was the coaches who primarily handled injuries to their athletes. Outside of football hotbeds like Texas, the presence of athletic trainers was few and far between.

The year after Mack’s injury, he became the student trainer at St. Francis High School and would continue for the remainder of his high school career.

“I wanted to continue participating in sports and I had the aptitude for the health and medical stuff,” said Mack.

As a result of his performance, the St. Francis football coach obtained a scholarship for Mack to Marquette University as a student athletic trainer, which also allowed him to attend physical therapy school there. He covered multiple sports at the university including soccer, wrestling and cross country/track. Ray was also one of the first student athletic trainers for the new Marquette University's Title IX women’s sports program.

It was Division 1 college basketball, however, that powered the engine that was Marquette sports.

“I was blessed to be part of the national championship at Marquette in 1977 under legends Al McGuire, Hank Raymonds, Rick Majerus, and Bob Weingart,” said Mack. “All Hall of Fame members.”

While many know the names of the coaching legends, Mack highlighted Weingart’s impressive resume, which included 38 years as Marquette’s head athletic trainer as well as trainer for the USA track team in the 1972 Olympics.

“He was the man at Marquette,” said Mack. “Working with Bob was both an honor and an opportunity.”

It was during Mack’s senior year stint as the Warriors student athletic trainer when he was told he couldn’t continue with the basketball program during his second semester, as he was being sent to New York for his physical therapy residence—exactly when Marquette would make their run to college basketball’s ultimate prize.

Though Mack didn’t exactly appreciate the timing of the move, he later came to appreciate the wisdom of the choice his advisors made, sending him to areas that took him well beyond his identified niche in sports medicine.

“As a function of that experience, I became through my VA tenure an amputee specialist and a medical surgical clinic specialist,” said Mack. “It broadened my horizons dramatically.”

After 45+ years as a physical therapist, Mack continues to treat patients, specializing in the non-operative treatment of orthopedic-related injuries of the spine/pelvis and extremities. His personal interests are as vast as his medical pursuits and include photography, website development, history, learning theory and aquatics.

Oh, throw in mustaches and Hawaiian shirts too.

Mack described his work as an athletic trainer and physical therapist not as an occupation but a vocation, something he was meant to do in life. And while there is plenty to look back upon, there’s much more ahead.

“I'll do this for as long as I feel like I can contribute and make a difference.”