Episode 53: René Revis Shingles
John Twork 0:00
John, welcome to Redbird Buzz. I'm John Twork from University Marketing and Communications. Our guest today is Dr Rene Revis Shingles, a trailblazing Illinois State alum who in 1987 became just the 13th black woman in the US to become a certified athletic trainer. Shingles earned a master's degree from Illinois State School of Kinesiology and Recreation in 1986 which launched her long and impactful career as a practitioner and educator of athletic training. In 1996 she was chosen to be an athletic trainer for the Olympic Games, and in 2018 she was the first African American woman to be inducted into the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame. She's now a professor emeritus at Central Michigan University, where she taught since 1992. and it's my pleasure to welcome Dr Rene Revis Shingles to Redbird Buzz. What's the word Redbird? Rene, Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you ended up at Illinois State to pursue your master's degree back in the mid 80s.
René Revis Shingles 1:15
Well, thank you, John, for having me. And hello to Redbird nation. It is great to talk to you with Redbird Buzz. I came to Illinois State had an interest in athletic training in high school, went on to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and at that time, there were only 10 schools who had master's level athletic training programs, and Illinois State was one of them, and it was recommended that I consider Illinois State, so I applied and was admitted. But what really brought me there were one of the professors who was there at the time, who was the chair of the department, Dr Robert Koehler, and he called me directly and asked me why I had not applied for a graduate assistantship. I was a first generation student, so I didn't know what a graduate assistantship was, and he told me that it was an opportunity to work and gain experience, and I thought I had to work really hard in school, so I'm going to work as an athletic trainer, and I'm going to take classes and I'm going to do this graduate assistantship? I did not think I'd be able to do all of those things. And then he also shared with me that it came with a stipend as well as that experience and a tuition it helped with my tuition in terms of a tuition waiver. And I went, Okay, we're going to figure this out. And I have to have to credit Dr Bob Kohler for helping to get me to Illinois State University.
John Twork 2:52
So why athletic training? What sparked your interest in that field?
René Revis Shingles 2:56
I was always interested in medicine in the 11th grade. Actually thought I was going to deliver babies. I was interested in that, and I was a cheerleader in high school, so I was interested in sport as well. And I had shin splints, and went in to see the athletic trainer, and became quite curious about what he was doing, how he was treating me, and why he was treating me the way that he was. And I looked, looked around the athletic training room and said, This looks like fun. Can I do this too? And he said, Sure, so I was the only female high school athletic student athletic trainer at my school, and didn't know that you could go to school to do athletic training until my my mentor, he told me that you could do that. So off, I went to the University of North Carolina, initially to do physical therapy, and then I was going to go on to athletic training. And so I worked with some of the best and Hall of Famers themselves in at the University of North Carolina. So that started me down that path chemistry and not chemistry, and I were not very good friends. And before my GPA was something that was not acceptable, I switched gears and moved into actually education, and then went on to get my master's degree. Knew I would get my Master's in athletic training. So hence how I got to Illinois State.
John Twork 4:23
our listeners probably have heard the term athletic training. But can you elaborate on exactly what an athletic trainer is responsible for and perhaps how that's evolved over the last couple of decades that you've been involved in the profession?
René Revis Shingles 4:35
Yes, athletic trainers are healthcare professionals who just happen to work, in many cases, in sport or in athletics. So the name is a little bit of a misnomer, but we've kept it we're not personal trainers, so and we're not dog trainers, we're athletic trainers, and we're healthcare professionals. So we take care of humans and we take care of people who have injured themselves. So we do prevention and mitigation of injury. For example, most people who know about athletic training know that we tape, but we also have to learn about the equipment that our patients are wearing and how to fit it properly. Understand about nutrition as well as their weight training, and how that helps to prevent injury by being, you know, strong in the right places and areas. We also are, if you're working in collegiate sport or in high school sports or professional sports, we're on the sidelines we're at practices every day, there to try to help mitigate injury. And if injury does occur, then we are the first ones to evaluate that injury, to triage that person appropriately to other healthcare professionals if necessary, or if we need to treat those individuals ourselves, so we can do the rehabilitation of those injuries and see the full cycle return that athlete back into their practice or games. But the evolution of athletic training has gone beyond just being at high schools and colleges, although that's primarily where we are, we work in sports medicine clinics as well. And some of the newer areas or the emerging settings, you'll see athletic trainers working with the military, and some of them are embedded with our military, and go with them and with what we have termed our tactical athletes. And so we also work with fire personnel and police personnel, again, trying to help mitigate the injuries that they might have, and then to take care of those injuries that they occur. I have alum who work for Cirque du Soleil and work in the performing arts, the athletic trainers who work in NASCAR and take care of the pit crew or the drivers themselves, and so athletic trainers in rodeo. So you'll see us in many places where there are individuals who are actively participating in sport or physical activity, you may find athletic trainers or industrial athletes and people who work for Delta or Amazon or other companies who are doing repetitive activities as a part of their job, but receive an injury or become injured because of that repetitive activity, athletic trainers are there as well. So that's the newest thing. It's really kind of cool.
John Twork 7:15
I had no idea that they were so many other places outside of the football field or the basketball court, that's amazing. Can you tell me what some of your favorite things about being an athletic trainer, when when you were a practitioner? What were some of the highlights, and then, what were some of the challenges?
René Revis Shingles 7:35
Well, I think some of the if you enjoy sport and you enjoy interacting with people, because it is a people profession. If you don't like working with people, athletic training is not for you. We work with people every day, and it is great to--you don't want your athletes or the patients you're working with to be hurt, but if they do become injured, it is, it is rewarding to help them to get back to doing what it is that they enjoy. It's very rewarding. And on the sports side of it, if you if you've got the best seat in the house, although you're looking differently, you're not a fan, you don't watch the game as a fan. But nonetheless, if the team wins, it's it's icing on the cake, for sure. And one of my students was on the sidelines for the Super Bowl because they work for Kansas City, and so it's real rewarding to know that, in my case, my students are out there doing their thing at the highest level. And unfortunately, this time, he doesn't get a ring, but he's got three others, so he'spretty happy about that.
John Twork 8:44
Oh, absolutely. And they are post, they're part of the team. I mean, though they're not on the field, they're instrumental in the work that the student or that the athletes in that case, are doing.
René Revis Shingles 8:56
Absolutely, you know, we do become a part of the team, and it takes a village, so to speak. You know what the what the fan sees on the field, on the court, on the mat, is one thing, but it's all the behind the scenes individuals that help those that help the athletes, to be able to do what they do that you don't often see. And for athletic trainers, we don't want to be seen if we're on the court, if you see us run out onto the court or the field, that's a problem, because someone's injured and someone's hurt, and we're going out there to assess the situation and then to take care of them and to try to get them back out there as quickly and as safely as possible. So no, we like being behind the scenes like that we're behind the scenes.
John Twork 9:43
What are some of the challenges associated with the profession?
René Revis Shingles 9:46
Some of the challenges, I think still is, there just aren't enough of us. I think about our high schoolers and those who don't have the opportunity to have someone to take care of them if they're injured. I think about our recreational athletes, we're seeing the growth of youth sport and no one, I won't say no one, let me rephrase that, very few people are taking care of those youngsters if they become injured, or to try to prevent the injuries in the first place. So we deal with things like heat related illness and how to take care of someone if they're having a heat stroke on the field, we take care of concussions and learn how to evaluate concussions and to do appropriate treatment and triage for someone and recognize the signs and symptoms of a concussion and monitor return to play and return to sport, return to the classroom if they are a student. And so I think those are still challenges that we just don't see enough of us out there in some of the spaces where we're needed.
John Twork 10:48
Yeah, I want to zero on a little bit more on your personal experience in your career. So you earned your master's degree from Illinois State in 1986 and then what you became a practitioner, and then eventually went on to get your PhD. But can you talk about sort of your career journey?
René Revis Shingles 11:05
Yes, I did not realize that I would do both teaching and athletic training as a practitioner concurrently. I certainly learned at Illinois State again, part of my grad assistantship was teaching. I was teaching first aid and CPR, and found that I enjoyed teaching college students, so I would do teaching in the morning and athletic training in the afternoon. And that went along with my with my career. I was at Newberry College for several years, and it eventually became the head athletic trainer, including the head athletic trainer with football, which was one of the early women, not very many women still today, are head athletic trainers with football, regardless of level and so. But I also taught. So I taught mornings. I went to athletic training room, you know, later in the afternoon, and I did that at Newberry College. And I went to, where did I go next up UNI University of Northern Iowa, and did the same thing, excuse me, UN I, and did the same thing there and and then went back to Illinois State. So I worked at Illinois State for two years, and I taught in the athletic training program. Provided some recruitment as well, and I was the athletic trainer for volleyball. So most of my career was dual tracked. I was teaching athletic training and practicing athletic training, and it wasn't until I came to Central Michigan that I got out of athletics. But like I said, I was still doing athletic training in our recreation facility, so I still provided Athletic Training Services and then teaching. And the neat thing about that is the opportunity to see the full circle, as I would tell my students, we learn it in the morning, so you are learning the theory and why you do what you do, and the decision making that goes behind what you do, and then in the afternoon you put it into practice. So theory to practice, and my students had a chance to actually see me do that. So I wasn't just talking the talk. I was walking the walk. So they knew that I could do what it was that I was teaching them to do. So that was really, really kind of a unique experience that I really enjoyed. Yeah,
John Twork 13:17
during your time at Illinois State, you were there at the same time as you as I called you a trailblazer, which you are, and you were there with some other trailblazing women coaches, student athletes. And you know, ISU has such a storied history that I've written about and have had the pleasure of interviewing folks such as Melinda Fisher, who, you know, recently retired as the head softball coach, Jill Hutchison, longtime women's basketball coach, Linda Herman, who was the volleyball coach for a long time and an administrator. Can you just talk about that opportunity that you had, and how perhaps women at Illinois State encouraged you to to keep going even when there there weren't a lot of other women who were coaches or certainly athletic trainers at that time.
René Revis Shingles 14:08
Oh, absolutely, I knew all of those women and certainly admired them and respected them, and, you know, appreciated their role modeling, even if they didn't know they were role modeling behavior for me. In that regard, the person you did not mention, I don't know if you knew, but Kathy Schniedwind, when who was a long time athletic trainer, and Kathy is indeed my mentor. To this day, Kathy is still my mentor. In fact, she came to my retirement party. I was so surprised to see need to see Schneed there, but she's a pioneer in her own right. She is in the Hall of Fame for athletic training. And I remember thinking, you know, if she can do it, I can do it too. And so she had these pins from the Olympics framed on her wall. And if you know anything about the Olympic Games, pin trading is a thing, okay? And so you have various pins representing your country, and you trade them with other people from other countries. And she had hers because she worked the Olympic Games with USA basketball for on two different Olympic Games. And so she had them framed and on the wall in her office. And I remember thinking I want pins on my wall one day, and sure enough, the opportunity presented itself for me to get involved with elite level athletes, which eventually led to my being selected to be on the medical staff of the 1996 Olympic Games. And so, of course, I had pins, I traded pins, and I have pins hanging on my wall. And I have other students who've also worked Olympic Games who had their pins hanging on their wall. So So yeah, Kathy was, and still is, a great mentor. She was one of the, again, early women working football as a head athletic trainer, and again, her role modeling what that looked like in the face sometimes of sexism and and being the only woman on the sideline. I again following her footsteps in the same way to know that I too could be a head athletic trainer with football. She was unbelievably involved in our national association and state associations. And so she actually got me involved in leadership and volunteering for our profession, and helped me to appreciate and understand the importance of doing that. And so I followed in her footsteps into the Hall of Fame. She is unbelievably involved in the Special Olympics. And the Special Olympics would be held at Illinois State the Summer Games, and she dragged me into working the Summer Games. I went willingly, but nonetheless, and I still am a volunteer on the medical staff for SOMi the Special Olympics Michigan, and the Summer Games are held here at Central Michigan. So I have followed in her footsteps in more ways than I can ever count, and am indebted to her, because she hired me, she she mentored me as a graduate student, and later hired me back on staff. And like I said, I have not made a career move in my entire life since I've known Kathy when I started athletic training that she has not been a part of, has not given me some wisdom, uh, regarding and and helped me in my career. I am and so blessed and so indebted, and for me, that that's a God thing. I was placed at, at at Illinois State, at the right time, with the right people who have the right who have guided my life and my career, and I couldn't be more thankful for the opportunities that Illinois State provided me. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say that the man that I married I met in Horton Field House,
John Twork 17:55
what a romantic place to meet somebody,
René Revis Shingles 17:57
I tell you, who knew that was going to be 39 years later. We actually just celebrated 39 years of having met each other. We've, Oh, wonderful. We've been married over 30 but and closer to 35 years and but have known each other for 39 and met in the Horton Field House. So, yeah, indebted to Illinois State,
John Twork 18:23
and you're talking about your husband, Stan shingles.
Well, I wanted to touch on on that real quick. I know that a few years ago, you and Stan committed a gift to support renovations and upgrades at the Multicultural Center here on campus. And now the Black Student Union office is named the Mr. Stan L and Dr Rene R. Shingles black student union office in recognition of your generosity. Why was it important for you to give back and what does that mean to have your legacy. You know, in name recognition like that at the university?
René Revis Shingles 19:07
well, it's about giving back and paying it forward. Yeah, To whom much is given, much is expected. As I said at my career path and trajectory would not have happened in the way that it did, if it were not connected to Illinois State University, I owe a debt to Illinois State and the people who were there at the time and have continued to support me. You know, again, I was a first generation student in the first in my my family to go and get a master's degree. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no clue. And I moved away from home. I went from North Carolina to the state of Illinois, knowing absolutely no one, and it was by the grace of God and the generosity of the people at Illinois State who helped me to find housing. I lived with one of our track coaches. She had a room to rent in her basement. And introduced me to lifelong colleagues that I have, as well as my life partner and and so for me, it was the right thing to in, the right thing to do. But more than just the right thing to do, it was the thing to do again, you give back and you pay it forward. So much was given to me, and this was just a blip for us to be able to support students at Illinois State, because people had supported us, and some just support us out of the woodwork. You had no idea where they came from or why they came into our lives, I like to say, sometimes for a reason, sometimes for a season and sometimes for a lifetime, but people came into our lives and provided for us and provided for me in particular, for sure, and it was a way to do the same thing that hopefully, as students go into that space, they know that they are supported and have a way to feel and find community, as was done for for Stan and I
John Twork 21:03
You talk about the mentorship that you received and and I'm I know that you have paid that forward probably tenfold with the students who you've mentored and taught throughout the decades. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, maybe, just generally speaking, or even if you have some specific examples of students who have gone on to do great things, sort of following in your footsteps, yeah,
René Revis Shingles 21:29
I've been really blessed. I tell Schnied, I tell Kathy Schniedwind that she has grand mentees or grand students. And so, in fact, when she was at my retirement event, one of my mentees, who is also an Illinois State grad, I met him when he was a freshman, and helped him, mentored him through anatomy, and he has gone on to own his own business. So he's an athletic training entrepreneur. I'm proud of him and his work, and he and Kathy, of course, know each other. And I said, Yes, here we are the three generations. I was mentored by Kathy, you were mentored by me. And so we've come full circle, and it's been really, really a blessing. I have another person who I have mentored, who has gone on. Again, worked for the USOTC, the United States Olympic training committee. So worked with para Olympics, and so got him involved in Special Olympics as well. Kind of drug him, because, again, we had Special Olympics on campus. And again, there's that Kathy connection, who connected me and I connected him and he and I would he became one of our directors of our sports medicine team, excuse me, associated with Special Olympics. And so it's been great to to watch that I have students who are, you know, working in high schools and providing athletic training services every day to young people and helping them to do what they enjoy doing, working their particular sports. So it's not just the the highlights, the ones who are working and and in the like I said, Cirque du Soleil and and the Super Bowl and the National Football games. I have a student who works with Ohio State actually works with the band. So he's doing athletic training for the performing arts. So wherever the Ohio State band goes, he goes and he's gone around the world taking care of those artisans. Yeah, and so, like I said, whether they're working in a high school or they're working in the and at the National Football Championship and their team winning. So he gets a ring for that too. Can I get a ring too? All these rings going around, then your mentor get a ring?
John Twork 21:30
I think so. I think you deserve one.
René Revis Shingles 22:31
But yeah, I've just been so proud of our students, having been at Central Michigan for as long as I have been, I've graduated, you know, upwards of 800 students, and it's just amazing what they're doing. And if I add on to that, my Illinois State students that I taught, or my University of Northern Illinois, or my Newberry College students. It's a it's quite a number of folk that I've had a chance to work with, and I'm just pleased and blessed that I've been able to be a part of their lives in some small way.
John Twork 24:31
As you reflect on your athletic training career, is there a highlight that stands out as maybe one of your favorite memories as an athletic trainer?
René Revis Shingles 24:40
as a practicing athletic trainer. I think one of the highlights is walking in the 1996 opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games. We were told along the way, you work several events along the way, and you never know if you're going to be one of the people selected. You know, I work. The the Olympic festivals, which no longer exists, and then the World University Games, and then the Olympic Games. And so we were told initially, if you were ever involved with an international event, if you got to that level, then that ended. So I thought, Oh, wow, I'm in Japan. It's international event for the World University Games. My chances of getting to the Olympics. Now have ended I've done an international event, and I get home and I have a letter on the counter from the United States Olympic Training Center, and in it, it says, Congratulations, you've been selected to be with the the medical staff for the 1996 Olympic Games. Of course, I'm jumping up and down and and all excited about that, but along the way, we were always told that we marched in these other games, but the medical staff does not march in the Olympic Games. Only the medical director marches to represent the medical staff. Okay, and so we were actually given a parade outfit. You know that we marched them thinking, why do we get a parade outfit? We don't get to march. But okay, sure, I'm gonna take it and I kept it with me, because you got to send certain things home. So I said, No, I'll just keep it here. And I come into the athletic training room the night of the opening ceremonies, and I was asked, Do you have your parade outfit? Yes, why? And he said, Well, they're gonna let us march. You're kidding me, we're gonna get to march in the Olympic games opening ceremonies. Are you kidding me? And so I was like, How much time do I have? You know, my team was tennis, so I was sweating, and, you know, certainly didn't look camera ready, but the imagination and so I'm high tailing it over to the Olympic village to go change clothes. I'm calling my mom, mom. You gotta set the VCR. I'm going to be on television. Those listening, You might not even know what a VCR is. You'll have to look it up, television and so, but to march into that stadium and to see Estados Unidos, you know, United States of America, and you're walking with the US delegation into the arena, and you walk around the track, and the entire world is represented there and in the audience. And who knows how many millions are watching. And then to watch Muhammad Ali light the flame. That's who lit the flame that year. Was just, I mean, it gives me chills to this day, there's only a handful of people who have that experience in their career, and I was blessed enough to have that. So that stands out the most. The other thing that two other things that really resonate with me, of course, being inducted into the Hall of Fame and what that means and what that represents. I still pinch myself over that, and then watching my students, my students inspire me all the time, every day, and getting a letter or a note back from them about something that they're doing in their life or in their career, and them just touching base, really, really, always touches my heart when I receive those it's could be an email or text message or a handwritten note, and I always, I'm thankful and appreciative of those opportunities. So
John Twork 28:15
I wanted to touch a little bit more on your national Athletic Trainers Association induction into the Hall of Fame, and becoming the first African American woman to be inducted into that Hall of Fame. And exactly how meaningful is that to you?
René Revis Shingles 28:28
Wow, unbelievably humbling and surprising. And just as I think about it, and am honored by the recognition of the work that I've done over the course of my career, that it would be deemed worthy of such a recognition by my peers, and to know that again, I kind of go back to Kathy because she could. I knew that I could too, not that I aspired to be in the Hall of Fame because I didn't. I aspired to do the type of work that she did in terms of service to the profession, and so my goal in the work that I did was to try to do meaningful work to our profession and to make a difference. You see a problem. You see something. You roll up your sleeves, you get the job done. You don't stand around and moan and groan and complain about it. You roll up your sleeves, you volunteer your time and you provide a solution. Don't be a part of the problem. And that's what I did, and my colleagues felt that my contributions were worthy of being recognized. And what I hope is that I'm not the last, and that by someone seeing me, some young person sees me as a part of the Hall of Fame, we get a green jacket. So I'm walking through the convention center, I have a green jacket on, and young people know what that means, that they also are inspired. Motivated to say, Okay, if she could, then I can too, and I can do that work. I remember being interviewed after I was inducted and someone said, so what's next? I said, I roll up my sleeves and get back to work. So I wind up being on the board of directors for our Board of Certification, which is our national certifying body. I became its vice president and then later its president. So I'm the first African American male or female to hold that particular position. So it's like, no, we go back to work. Just because I'm in the Hall of Fame doesn't mean that the work of athletic training has ended. We still have there's still things that need to be done. And so here's my opportunity to continue to contribute to that and so, so, yeah, it's, it's an unbelievable honor, and I don't take it lightly when I put my jacket on and and represent in that way. And like I said, hopefully be that next inspiration or mentor to the one that comes behind me that says, oh, okay, I can do that too. And I keep telling the young folk I said, I'm passing the torch. You do know this, right? Okay, I'm passing the torch. You know it's that's your turn. You've got work to do, so please, and let's get the job done. And you know, and if you do those things, then the opportunity to to be in the Hall of Fame comes there too. But you also have to be in a profession long enough. Just means that I'm old. You gotta be there at least 30, or I should say older, yeah, yeah. Gotta hang around long enough for that to happen.
John Twork 31:45
so much more than that, though, but you mentioned passing the torch, and it leads me into my final question, which is, what advice do you have for young people who are either considering a career in athletic training, or who are, you know, beginning to study athletic training, and what advice do you have for them to have a long and impactful career like yours?
René Revis Shingles 32:07
You have to do the work you really do, and whether that's in the classroom, you know, while you're still those who are students and are working now, you have to put the work in. So read your textbooks and the articles and the assignments that you're asked to do, and learn that so that you could be prepared to sit for your certification exam and to pass that exam, because you can't practice without the exam. So you have to do that work, learn all that you can--be a sponge, you know, in the classroom, in your clinical experience, when you're working with your patients and working with your mentors. Find a mentor. The Kathy Schniedwinds of the world are there, and some of those mentors may be for a reason, a particular space in time, or a little bit longer period of time, or like me and and with Kathy, it's a lifetime, but those individuals are there who can help you along the way and guide your career. And then listen to them, trust they have your best interests at heart. So listen to what they say. It's one thing to have a mentor, and then disregard everything that they tell you, but listen to what they have to say and how they can guide you, and then give back, I think is ultimately important to give back to our profession. So whether it's at the state level, at the national level, at the district level, but to give back and make a difference, and to be the next one, to look at the challenges or the issues that are going on in our profession and to help provide solutions to make things better for the next generation of athletic trainers, and ultimately, to give good patient care and have great patient outcomes. I think that's what's important.
John Twork 33:46
Dr. Shingles, thank you so much for your time. Congratulations on the recognition for an amazing career, and best of luck as you continue to keep those sleeves rolled up and working toward making the athletic training profession even better and continuing to mentor so many students. Thank you so much.
René Revis Shingles 34:06
You are very welcome, John, thank you so very much. I really appreciate the opportunity to chat with you and to chat with your audience and to give back to the Redbird spirit. So love that.
John Twork 34:22
That was Dr Rene Revis Shingles, thanks for joining us on Redbird Buzz, and be sure to tune in next time for more stories from beyond the quad.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai