Former Athletic Trainer Chuck Barta: “We had minimal tables … we had four tables in [the training room]. That was it. His theory on that whole thing was, ‘If you have five tables, you have five players injured. If you have six tables, you have six people that get injured. I’ve got four tables – I’ve got four people injured.’ Less people injured, you know? You see that, and it’s kind of true. But the tables, above each table he had a different player there, and when players would have significant injures, they would play through different things.
“It was something which, the players who were playing when I was there, at the time that he was there, you’re not putting them in danger, but they want to get back in play. And you’d find a way to help them get back out there and play. Whether they were wearing a cast, if it was wearing some type of device on the ankle or the knee to get them to play, but they wanted to get back out there. But you also needed a player who wanted to get back out there.”
Receiver and special teams ace Chris Walsh can laugh now about an expensive cribbage lesson he received from Zamberletti while on the mend from a torn ligament in his thumb. Walsh had numerous takeaways from his time with Zamberletti.
Receiver Chris Walsh: “He connected with everybody and had this sort of, like your grandfather, kind of loving [demeanor], but he also had this part where he would jump on you if you needed it. When he would rehab guys, he was old-school and he worked the heck out of guys to the point where they were like, ‘I’d rather practice than being doing this rehab.’
“When my back was spasmed up, he had two 300 pounders put knuckles on my back, and he was on top of their knuckles, trying to break the spasm out of my back. He was old-school, hardcore Italian old-school. It just totally worked.”
Tight end Jim Kleinsasser: “He knew how to kick your butt in gear, get you motivated. He was such a good reader of people. I came in in ’99, and I thought I was a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at News…