George Curtis III

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Born July 10, 1947 in Kansas City, Kansas, Curtis spent two decades at BYU after a two-year stint in the USFL, 13 years at Santa Ana College and serving as head athletic trainer for the U.S. men’s Olympic volleyball team. A 1971 graduate and former football player at Southern Utah University and Snow College, he is the only athletic trainer enshrined in the Thunderbirds’ Coaching Factory Hall of Fame in 2006, and received the inaugural Athletic Training Service Award and Outstanding Service Award from the National Athletic Trainers Association in 1995.

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Curtis was enshrined in the Santa Ana College Hall of Fame and BYU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009, went into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in 2006, and was recognized by the Utah Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame in 2003.

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Curtis, who retired at BYU in 2005, had an impact on nearly every athlete that came through BYU as much as any coach that has worked for the university since the 1980s. But he was more than a medical caregiver for an army of BYU athletes and coaches on campus.

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Curtis' official role with BYU athletics, but he was never afraid to take a personal interest in the lives of his students and athletes.

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"George's relationship with the athletes was no different than his relationship with his students," Durrant said. "He valued them, and he was an excellent role model for them."

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Curtis and his wife Jan were the parents of eight children, and grandparents of 23.