On the calendar, March celebrates both Women’s History Month and National Athletic Training Month. At Gonzaga Prep, those two observances intersect in an especially meaningful way through the stories of Tina (Valentine) Pitts `95 and current Athletic Trainer Millie Faber.
 
In 2004, Tina (Valentine) Pitts `95 pioneered the role of athletic trainer at the school, becoming the first to officially serve Prep student-athletes in that capacity. More than two decades later, the work she began continues in the hands of Athletic Trainer Millie Faber, who carries it forward with care and deep commitment to the students she serves.

When Pitts signed up to be a student trainer her freshman year as a Bullpup, she had no idea her path would eventually lead her back to Prep as its first athletic trainer. It started simply when the Cataldo 8th grader signed up to be a student manager as a freshman at Prep.

“They taught us to tape ankles and wrists. The hallway was a training room,” she recalls. “We’d go into the coaches' locker room to fetch ice.”

After her freshman year, she participated in an athletic training camp at Eastern Washington University. “That taught me there is more to it.” She attended the camp again after her sophomore year, and that’s when she realized it was the career path she wanted to pursue.

Those were still relatively early days for athletic training as a profession, which has only been around for about 50 years. Before certified athletic trainers became commonplace in high schools, Gonzaga Prep student-athletes were well-supported by physicians, including Dr. Bill Shanks `54 and Dr. Laura Fralich. But as athletics evolved in the 1990s and early 2000s, the need for a dedicated athletic trainer became increasingly clear.

Pitts’ path back to Prep had twists and turns, with Bullpup connections marking the way. It all comes down to relationships, she said.

She enrolled at Arizona State University, where legendary Prep football coach Don Anderson encouraged her to look up Dan Cozzetto `74, then a member of the Sun Devils coaching staff. “I knocked on his door, he said come on in, and I walked right into a meeting with the offensive line.”

Cozzetto connected her with what she needed to continue on that track. Graduate school followed at the University of Oregon, thanks in part to a recommendation from Cozzetto.

Her first job after graduate school took her to the University of Texas, El Paso, where she worked as a Division I athletic trainer. Two years in, fellow Prep alum Brian Cronin `98 called to tell her about the physical therapy practice he was opening—U-District PT. She said no. “I was a Division 1 athletic trainer.”

But life circumstances shifted, and in 2004, she reached back out to Cronin. Prep had contracted with U-District to provide athletic training services, so Pitts came aboard. She would work her shift at the clinic and then head straight to football practice at the school, officially becoming Gonzaga Prep’s first athletic trainer.

The role quickly grew beyond treating acute injuries. Having an athletic trainer became essential to the well-being of students. The work expanded to include rehabilitation, education about proper nutrition, and long-term care.

When Pitts left in 2010, current Athletic Trainer Chris Hawley stepped into the role and continued to build and expand the program. In 2014, a Whitworth student named Millie Faber interned under Hawley.

“That’s where my love of Prep started,” she says. For Faber, athletic training brought together her passion for science and athletics. “I was hooked.”

She graduated from Whitworth in 2016 and completed graduate school at Pacific University. In 2019, she returned to Gonzaga Prep, initially helping manage COVID testing for the school before stepping fully into the athletic trainer role. Today, Faber continues the work Pitts began, serving student-athletes alongside teacher and athletic trainer Chris Hawley as part of a collaborative athletic training team.

In just two decades, the profession has continued to evolve. Specialization in sports at younger ages has led to an increase in overuse injuries, and the growth of club sports presents new challenges for school programs. “We inherit club injuries,” says Faber.

Attention to head injuries is taken seriously and requires close communication with school counselors and the Learning Resource Center to support safe return-to-play decisions. Some parents don’t always agree with the protocols, but the focus remains steady. It’s about each student’s long-term wellness. It’s the whole picture.

At Prep, student-athletes benefit from in-house rehabilitation, saving families thousands of dollars that might otherwise be spent at physical therapy clinics and doctors’ offices. The new training room is state-of-the-art, but it is also something more: a safe space and a place where students gather, fostering community alongside recovery.

From a hallway that doubled as a training room to a dedicated facility designed for comprehensive care, the growth of athletic training at Gonzaga Prep reflects both the evolution of a profession and the enduring impact of relationships. What Pitts helped begin continues today—rooted in expertise, guided by mission, and centered on the well-being of every Bullpup—truly cura personalis.