Former ASU trainer looks back on his time in the ’88 Games

By Steve Stockmar
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Looking back on his own Olympics experience, Troy Young knew something was up following the 1988 Summer Games.

An avid watcher of these past Olympic Games in Italy that saw U.S. teams claim 33 medals, second only to Norway’s 41, Young, the retired athletic trainer at Arizona State University, enjoyed a memorable run himself during the Summer Games in Seoul.

Young was the athletic trainer for Team USA’s men’s basketball team that summer; a team among the favorites to win the tournament yet settled for the bronze medal in what remains tied for the lowest Olympic finish by an American team for men’s basketball.

Those ’88 Games would be the last to feature a roster of amateur players out of college. Just four years later in Barcelona, the “Dream Team” would emphatically bring NBA players into the Olympic Village, and there was talk even in 1988 that change was coming.

“Yes there was,” Young said, recollecting on his Olympics experience from his home in Mesa. “We knew that that was going to happen. We heard that it was. The national trainer’s association fought that because they wanted their trainers naturally.”

The players themselves, too, sensed it. David Robinson, who would go on to a Hall of Fame pro career that included two NBA championships and 10 All-Star games, was then just a 23-year-old who had captured college Player of the Year honors in 1987 while starring with Navy.

Although Team USA that year fell short of expectations, Robinson – who would also play with the 1992 Dream Team – still thinks about the difference in amateur versus pro players.

“The Olympics was always considered a great opportunity for the college players. Going out and competing against the best players from around the world was a unique and special opportunity for all those college players,” Robinson told Basketball Network this month. “I think from an American standpoint, the college players, in some ways, seemed more pure than the pro players. You know, the college players seem like they’re playing for the joy of it than the pro players.”

Joy was the easy part at the 1988 Summer Olympics, Young says. The feeling was immediate when he walked out during the Opening Ceremony with all 527 Team USA athletes, a group that would claim 94 total medals.

“I was just numb. I almost cry now thinking about it,” Young said. “It was a time that I never felt so good and so blessed to be a part of it. It was just awesome.”

Young’s legendary athletic training career at Arizona State culminated with his enshrinement into the ASU Sun Devil Hall of Distinction in 2025. He served as director of sports medicine on the Tempe campus from 1968 to 1991, where he worked alongside some of the greatest coaches and moments in Sun Devil history, including Frank Kush and Ned Wulk.

Young is also a Hall of Fame inductee for the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Trainer’s Association, and the Arizona Athletic Trainers’ Association from whom he earned Athletic Trainer of the Year Award honors in 1980.

Speaking of 1980, Young was named athletic trainer for Team USA that year as well, although the U.S. boycotted that summer’s Games in Moscow, along with 64 other nations, to protest the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

After working the administrative side of athletic trainers for the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, by the time 1988 rolled around Bob Beeton, the USOC head trainer in Colorado Springs, called on Young again, and for more than just hoops.

“There were 10 or 12 sports that didn’t have a trainer so we would take turns taking care of them,” Young said.

That summer’s men’s basketball team was coached by John Thompson, the Hall of Fame coach at Georgetown, which won the 1984 NCAA championship. In addition to Robinson the roster included Dan Majerle, Hersey Hawkins, Danny Manning, and Mitch Richmond, among others.

David Robinson is seen during the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul as Team USA leaves the floor after a preliminary round win against the Brazilian national team on Sept. 26, 1988.

(Wiki Commons)

There was instant chemistry with Robinson, particularly since he and Young would end up as roommates for two weeks while the team practiced at Georgetown prior to heading to Seoul. They bonded over a shared love of jazz music and took trips to get ice cream at night in Robinson’s white Mercedes.

“I love that kid,” Young said. “He was the most respectful person I have ever met as far as an athlete is concerned.”

Young turns 90 in April, but by no means is he idle.

An avid world traveler, Young has trips planned to Ireland, Scotland, and the Panama Canal this year, plus fishing trips scheduled for Alaska and Northern Canada. He plays pickleball and tennis, and walks up to 10,000 steps daily.

With his heart still firmly planted in Sun Devil Nation, Young has season tickets to the football and basketball programs, and he attends ASU softball and baseball games as well as track meets.

As trainer with the last Olympic men’s basketball team to feature amateur college players, his ability to bond with players from the ’88 squad was helped by his work back home with Sun Devil athletes.

“I really didn’t have any problem with any of them,” Young said of the 1988 Olympic roster. “I loved them as much as I did my own kids here at Arizona State.”

And as for how he’ll spend his 90th birthday coming up in April?

He’s going skydiving in Eloy.

Steve Stockmar can be reached at sstockmar@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@inusua.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment YourValley.net

sstockmar@iniusa.org

Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.

Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.

Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.

Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.

Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.