Three Northwestern athletic trainers were not licensed by Illinois at the time of Rashidi Wheeler’s death, according to state records, but none of them were present at the workout where Wheeler died.
Paul Diaz, Danielle Colegrove and Aimee Miltenberger, all currently employed as assistant trainers, practiced at the university without a state license for about a year, according to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, which licenses individuals in about 50 different professions.
Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations, said all three trainers were professionally certified and properly educated when they were hired in the fall of 2000. Applying for a license is an additional step Illinois requires of athletic trainers.
Cubbage said in Wednesday’s Chicago Tribune that “paperwork glitches” delayed the licensing of the trainers.
Cubbage added that they were a non-factor because they were not there when the senior safety collapsed and died Aug. 3, 2001, during a sprinting drill.
“They weren’t involved in that event at all,” Cubbage said.
All three received their licenses in March 2002. As a condition, each was fined $200 and reprimanded for working without a license.
A reprimand is the least drastic form of punishment the department can enforce, department spokesman Tony Sanders said. The reprimand will not affect the trainers’ ability to work.
Miltenberger and Colegrove worked without a license for one year, according to the records, while Diaz worked without a license for 11 months.
Diaz referred all questions about the issue to university relations.
Linda Will, Wheeler’s mother, said the hiring of unlicensed trainers was another example of shoddy work by the athletic department.
“Northwestern has been totally irresponsible, not just negligent, but grossly negligent,” she said. “This comes as no surprise to me.”
In another development in the Wheeler case, Will said she and her attorneys will try to meet with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany to see if the conference has any power to take corrective action.
Will called Tuesday’s meeting with NCAA president Myles Brand “a wasted trip.” She expressed disappointment that the NCAA could not take further action against NU.
“I think (Brand) wants to do something,” she said. “But clearly he doesn’t have the power or authority.”
Will said she and her lawyers also plan to meet with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and the NU Board of Trustees.
