Rudy Corona was well ahead of his time.

The man was a true pioneer in the field of athletic training. He is a Hall of Famer himself and was at least partially responsible for plenty of others attaining Hall of Fame careers.

Corona died last week at the age of 88.

Not only was he the first athletic trainer at Butler High School and then Slippery Rock State College, he was the first certified athletic trainer in all of western Pennsylvania.

Corona tirelessly served as an athletic trainer for more than 50 years. He wound up being the first trainer at Seneca Valley and Grove City high schools, along with Butler County Community College.

He was one of the founding fathers of the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers Association. Corona was a longtime teacher and coach as well.

It’s not like his contributions to the local sporting world hasn’t been recognized. He was inducted into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame — now Butler County HOF — back in 1992. He was recognized as a Butler Football Hometown Hero in 2006.

Corona also belongs to the Slippery Rock University Hall of Fame and Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame. All of those honors are well-deserved, naturally.

But Rudy Corona’s legacy isn’t about his career and how he finished. It’s about what he started and what continues to grow.

The care and medical treatment of young athletes, prevention, diagnosis and proper direction in dealing with injuries.

For years, Corona marched alone in that regard.

He would be the guy on the sidelines, no staff with him, making sure these kids were taken care of. Most schools had no athletic trainer to speak of during his early years.

That’s why he was the first of his kind at virtually every school he worked for.

Corona was a high school football player himself. Maybe he saw a need for the line of work he chose to enter.

Look around at the athletic training field now. SRU has an extended staff and a solid course of study. Every high school has athletic trainers and virtually any high school sporting activity that takes place has a trainer on site.

The American Medical Association didn’t formally recognize athletic training as a health care platform until 1991. The National Athletic Trainers Association didn’t approve athletic training curriculum until 1959.

Athletic training had only became a viable course of study at 10 universities by 1986.

As mentioned earlier, Rudy Corona was well ahead of his time.

Before a lot of this stuff became “official,” he was effectively applying it.

And thousands of young athletes in Butler County through all of those decades were better off for it.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle