UA Triathlon Team, Big Al Join to Support Grand Opening of UA’s deShazo Sports Medicine Center

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Members of The University of Alabama Triathlon team will help celebrate the grand opening of the Dr. Bill deShazo Sports Medicine Center Saturday, April 12, at the UA Quad.

Sports Medicine is the newest service provided at University Medical Center/College of Community Health Sciences.

The Grand Opening Celebration will feature University mascot Big Al, who will greet visitors from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Triathlon team members will be in attendance from 11 a.m. to noon along with their bikes and trainers. Visitors also may receive copies of Kid’s Life magazines and magnets listing University Medical Center services and phone numbers.

Two physicians who provide care for University of Alabama athletes will practice at the center: Dr. James Robinson and Dr. Craig Buettner, both of West Alabama Family Practice and Sports Medicine in Tuscaloosa.

“At the Sports Medicine Center, we will diagnose and treat injuries, such as muscular and skeletal injuries, and focus on prevention,” Robinson says.

He says the center will also provide youth sports physicals and will offer some services related to diet and nutrition.

The Dr. Bill deShazo Sports Medicine Center is open to the public as well as to University athletes. The center, which is accepting new patients, will be open Friday afternoons and will later include Tuesday afternoons. The center is a key component of a new Sports Medicine Fellowship Program that The University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa Campus is creating in partnership with The University of Alabama Athletic Department.

DeShazo introduced the sports medicine rotation into The University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa Campus curriculum and “always talked about having a sports medicine program at The University of Alabama,” says Dr. E. Eugene Marsh, dean of the College of Community Health Sciences and associate dean of The University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa Campus.

Marsh says the center and fellowship program will benefit UA and its athletes and provide additional training for future physicians “that will be felt in community sports programs throughout the state as fellows graduate from the program and establish their practices throughout Alabama and the Southeast region.”

The center is named in honor of Dr. Bill deShazo, a longtime faculty member of The University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa Campus who chaired its department of family medicine and who directed the Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency. DeShazo also was the team physician for The University of Alabama Athletic Department from 1972 to 1985, serving as a personal physician to Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant as well as a team physician for the football, basketball and baseball teams. DeShazo retired from the University in 1988 and died in 2006.