Retiring BYU trainer noted for his caring

He throws hay to the horses near the barn outside his house. Nearby is a pasture where he tends to the goats, a lanky 6-foot emu and 40 chickens. He dumps pellets for a cat and then distributes processed grub to a pair of dogs, one that just delivered eight pups.

George Curtis, 57, administers to those creatures as if he were Noah and they were headed up the plank to the ark. If you know George, feeding the chickens is kind of symbolic. It paints a picture of his life.

Curtis, BYU's head athletic trainer the past 20 years, will retire within weeks. He'll put aside his sideline tote bag early for health reasons, but he won't abandon his craft — tending and mending, an art he's perfected both as a professional and a man.

Two decades ago, Curtis came to Provo after serving as the trainer for the L.A. Express of the fledgling USFL. He'd been the trainer at Santa Ana College near Los Angeles. Without an official assignment at BYU, he filled a void left by legendary equipment manager, the late Floyd Johnson, also a fixer of things both physical and spiritual. When not officially asked or assigned, this kind of deal works best because it is respected, not pushed by a job description.

"George did it his own way, with his own gift," according to Philadelphia Eagle tight end Chad Lewis. "George treated me the same when I was a walk-on freshman as he did when I was an All-American. He cared."

Doug Tobler, his neighbor in Lindon, agrees. "George is a consummate neighbor. He is the only person who has organized block parties where everybody is invited and everybody is his neighbor.

"What is very fundamental with George, right down to the marrow of the bone, is the kind and genuine person he is. He would do anything for you. Now that he's gone through some health problems of his own, he hasn't changed. He's had great physical and moral courage to deal with all the surgeries he's had. George is living faith — what other people fear, he is not fearful of."

Whether tending to quarterback Ty Detmer's two separated shoulders after the Holiday Bowl loss to Texas A&M or looking running back Curtis Brown in the eyes and soft-selling some advice with a smart-aleck joke, George Curtis' act proved relentless in the Cougar camp.

"What he brought as a trainer, which is amazing to me in my experience in athletics," Lewis said, "is how selfless he has been through the years. He makes himself 100 percent available. If during the season I called because something was wrong, he would meet me at the training room night or day. If I had a problem, he'd personally walk me to the surgeon and to the hospital and make sure I knew what I was getting into, that I got the right treatment. That kind of attention is so rare."