How longtime Louisville athletics trainer Jerry May shaped sports medicine in Kentucky

Denny Crum oozed composure from the sideline during his three decades at the helm of the Louisville men's basketball program. But, in the words of a former student trainer, "Cool Hand Luke" had a "roughhouse edge."

His name was Jerry "Roughhouse" May, a Louisville native who tended to the Cardinals' best on the court, gridiron and elsewhere from 1971-2002 while rising through the ranks to become U of L's assistant athletic director for sports medicine.

"If you did not do it Jerry May's way, you were not doing it the right way," said Tim Amshoff, who worked for May as a student assistant during the 1990s. "Jerry May's way was, 'Always do right. Do no harm.'

"He made sure people didn't take (for granted) what opportunities they had. He made them respect where they were, but he always took care of you."

May, a champion of improving the sports medicine landscape across the commonwealth, died Sunday in his hometown after a year in which his health "really started to decline," his adopted son, Jimmy May, told The Courier Journal. He was 72.

Besides his son, May is survived by his wife of 32 years, Elaine, his brother Larry, his sister Pat Jones, seven grandchildren, eight nieces and nephews and three decades' worth of trainers whose lives he impacted.

"We were all part of this family at U of L," Jimmy May said. "There have been so many of them who have called me in the last few days, when they heard about his passing, and (said) just how grateful they were for him bringing them into the program or him taking a chance on them. ... It uplifted me so much to see all the support."

May's interest in sports medicine began when, as a student at Valley High School, he suffered a hip injury while playing basketball that ended his competitive career.

It did not, however, crush his competitive spirit. He enrolled at U of L in 1971, earning a student assistant job on Crum's inaugural team as a freshman, and remained on the late Hall of Fame coach's staff through his final season in 2000-01.

Along the way, May was a key member of six Final Four runs, two of which ended with NCAA championships, and tended to more than a dozen first-round NBA draft picks. And Crum entrusted him with responsibilities that went beyond sports medicine — everything from managing the team's equipment to coordinating travel and meals.

Their bond was strengthened by the fact that they were longtime neighbors, separated by a mile and some change on Routt Road. After Crum's death this spring at age 86, Amshoff said he drove an ailing May to the coach's house, where they sat for "at least three hours" sharing stories with his loved ones.

"It was unbelievable how much they both relied on each other," said Tom Steltenkamp, one of May's student assistants during the early 1980s. "He was just a person who always took care of Coach Crum, and Coach Crum took care of him, too. They truly had a remarkable relationship — it was kind of like salt and pepper."

Those who knew May said, behind his "Roughhouse" disposition, was a man who treasured relationships: with Crum, his family, the players who needed his aid and the students he helped prepare for careers in sports medicine.

"Jerry always had an open door, open phone," Amshoff said. "He would do whatever it would take to make things great for kids, whether they were Louisville athletes or a kid at a Little League game."

One of the cornerstones of his training method was assigning students to a Louisville high school, where they worked Friday night football games and other sporting events throughout the year to ensure teenagers competing around the city had access to immediate care. The Kentucky Legislature in the early 1980s passed an unfunded law requiring as much, but May worked with longtime U of L athletics physician Dr. Rudy J. Ellis and the Jefferson County Medical Society to ensure the commonwealth's largest city had a plan in place to carry it out.

Amshoff and Steltenkamp said the hands-on experience was invaluable to them at the time and led to partnerships that extended past their college days — Amshoff at Central, Steltenkamp at Valley.

That was just one part of May's push to better athletic training across Kentucky. He was the first, and a two-term, president of the Kentucky Athletic Trainers Society and was appointed by six different governors to a statewide sports medicine advisory council. For his efforts, he received the Athletic Trainer Service Award in 1997 from the National Athletic Trainers Association, the College Trainer of the Year Award from the Southeastern Athletic Trainers Association in 1999 and was inducted into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

"He might have been a little rough around the edges," Jimmy May said, "but, for the most part, everybody knew he was pretty generous. He was very kind to people and helped many people in a lot of ways."

Jimmy May was 10 years old and had a different last name when May married his mother in 1991. Having to uproot his life in Northern Kentucky and move to Louisville, he said he "needed somebody I could trust."

He found it in his stepfather, who brought him to countless U of L men's basketball practices and games both at Freedom Hall and on the road. It was "a tremendous honor and privilege," he said, to have a front-row seat to the Crum era and to bond with Cardinals such as Alvin Sims, Clifford Rozier and Craig Farmer over meals and games of "NBA Jam" in their hotel rooms on away trips.

Through it all, he saw the way May looked after his players and trainers and, in turn, him. And after a few years of immersing himself in the Louisville family, he told his stepfather during a trip to Disney World he wanted to be adopted and take his last name.

"He had some tremendous accomplishments," Jimmy May said, "and I don't want those to be forgotten."

May's visitation is scheduled from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Evergreen Funeral Home (4623 Preston Highway), with several speakers set to deliver remarks at 4 p.m. The evening will conclude with a rosary prayer, then a private ceremony and burial will follow Monday.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jerry May obituary: Longtime Louisville basketball trainer was pioneer