Jan. 4, 2011
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State Athletic Director Jim Sterk today announced the hiring of Tom Abdenour as the Aztecs' head athletic trainer. Abdenour comes to SDSU after 24 seasons with the Golden State Warriors and eight years at Weber State University. He is expected to assume his duties at San Diego State later this month.
A certified member of the National Athletic Trainers Association and an active member of the California Athletic Trainer's Association, Abdenour was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Fame on July 17, 2007, only the third NBA Athletic Trainer to receive such recognition. His other honors include the 2005 National Athletic Trainers' Association's Tim Kerin Award For Excellence In Athletic Training and being named the NBA's Athletic Trainer of the Year (1990).
During the summer of 2000, he served as athletic trainer for the gold medal-winning USA Men's Basketball Team at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. His list of accomplishments also includes serving as athletic trainer for the Western Conference at NBA All- Star 2000 (hosted by the Warriors) and as a volunteer athletic trainer at the 1999 Pan-Am Games, the Goodwill Games in New York City and the 1994 U.S. World Championships in Toronto.
In the summer of 2003, Abdenour worked with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and was a driving force behind the CHAMPION Guidance Center for Men, a center for homeless men in Oakland. For his efforts in helping create the CHAMPION Center, Abdenour was recognized in Sports Illustrated's "Faces In The Crowd" section in the July 25, 2005 issue.
Prior to joining the Warriors in 1987, Abdenour spent eight years as the athletic trainer for all 15 varsity sports programs at Weber State in Ogden, Utah. His career began in 1978 at Hillsdale College in South Central, Michigan, where he spent one year as its athletic trainer before moving on to Weber State.
A graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, Abdenour received his bachelor's degree in biology and his master's degree in science education in 1978. He is also currently enrolled in the doctorate of health science program at The Arizona School of Health Sciences. His brother, Mike, is the athletic trainer for the Detroit Pistons.
Tom and his wife, Christine, have three children - Rebecca, Carolyn (who is currently attending Syracuse University Law School) and Thomas (a student manager for the men's basketball team at the University of Utah).