Bernie Capps

There are just some people who do their job so well that nobody notices them until there is a need. Each one of us goes to sporting events and referees and umpires go unnoticed until they do something we don’t agree with.

There are others who stay in the background at sporting events that are only noticed when an accident happens and that is the Athletic Trainer. The only time you even think about them is when a player is down or you are worried about whether a player will be able to play the next game.

Rocky Mount for decades now has had the best athletic trainer in the State of North Carolina in Bernie Capps. Long before the State made schools have certified trainers Rocky Mount had one in Bernie. There are not many people alive that are in the Hall Of Fame but Bernie Capps has been in the Trainer’s Hall for years.

Bernie has been in the training room at Rocky Mount for 39 years in which it was his job, but he was in the training room long before that in high school. Bernie knew early on in life that athletic training was his life’s work. A student trainer in high school at Rocky Mount High School he was at practice after school when the only trainer was the coach and a doctor would be on the sidelines Friday nights.

Bernie is so good at his job other schools call him for help. He is famous for getting a player a Doctors appointment today when those schools have been told there is no availability to see your athlete.

There is simply no way of counting the number of Gryphon victories that Rocky Mount High school has had because a player was healthy enough to perform after treatment from Bernie. We are not just talking football but every sport whether it’s basketball, baseball or any sport where Bernie could work his magic. Bernie has been on the sidelines for nine of the Gryphons State Championships.  The others occurred while he was in college.

Bernie has been the Athletic Trainer at Rocky Mount for so long that today’s kids grand parents use to sit on Bernie’s training table. Time creeps up on all of us and the last couple of years Bernie can’t quite get to the ten yard line like he once did to check on an injured player. 

The last day of school will be Bernie’s last as Athletic Trainer at Rocky Mount High school. He is hanging up his tape. This brings up a good point. I wonder how many rolls of tape he has used over the years. There is no way for any of us who have ever gotten Bernie to do any thing for us to show our appreciation.

A couple of years ago our daughter Morgan started bruising for no reason that we can find. She was helping Bernie with student training. It had nothing to do with being an athlete but Bernie did all he could to help find the cause. It didn’t matter to Bernie whether she was an athlete or not she needed help and he tried and did just as much for us as Duke or UNC Hospitals were able to do.

That’s the way Bernie has been. If Raymond Cobb called and needed help Bernie was there. If you remember I think it was year before last when Hertford County’s quarterback got hurt the last game of the season. Bernie had him in front of a doctor that next morning trying to help get him ready for the playoffs.

You see Bernie just wasn’t the Gryphons Trainer but anybody who needed help trainer. Rocky Mount will have a body sitting in Bernie’s chair next year but they will sorely miss what he has given to us all.

Bernie Capps is to the Athletic Trainers version of John Wooten, “Bear” Bryant, Dean Smith or Coach K. Don’t you know Duke Dreads the day that Coach K leaves? It is a sad day to think that Bernie will not be in that office next to the practice field next fall.

Thank you Bernie Capps for your loyalty to all of us.