Jerry May

Jerry was born in Louisville, Kentucky to Lawrence and Bonnie (Heath). He graduated from Valley High School in 1970. He began his association with athletic training at UofL while serving as a student trainer for four years. Upon earning his B.S. degree in physical education in 1974, Jerry worked as assistant athletic trainer for the Cardinals before his appointment as head trainer in 1978, serving multiple Cardinal sports programs including football and basketball. He completed a Master of Arts in Teaching in 1984 at UofL.

Jerry served as a trainer for the University of Louisville's basketball squad for 30 years, from his time as a student assistant as a freshman in 1971 through 2001 when he worked at UofL as Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine.

Affectionately known by the many players he attended to as “Roughhouse,” He was elevated in 1998 to Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, a role he remained in until his departure from UofL in 2002 due to health issues. While he attended to the health matters for many sports at UofL, his focus was with the Cardinals’ basketball program. In addition to his training duties with Cardinal basketball, he also served as the team’s equipment manager and coordinated the team’s travel.

Jerry was a pioneer in athletic training, pushing the Kentucky state legislature for state certification and better training and education for athletic trainers across the state early in his career. He worked to help establish a system in which doctors would cover all high school football games in the Louisville area. His efforts and his work at UofL led to his lofty recognition as a 2011 inductee into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.

Jerry received the prestigious Athletic Trainer Service Award in 1997 from the National Athletic Trainers Association. He was awarded the College Trainer of the Year award from the Southeastern Athletic Trainers Association in 1999.

He served as the first president of the Kentucky Athletic Trainers Society -- a position he held for two terms -- and was a longtime member of the Governor's Advisory Counsel for Sports Medicine Programs. Jerry served as the chairman of the Kentucky Advisory Council on Athletic Trainers, a post he was appointed to by six Kentucky governors. He was a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers Association, a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, and the national faculty of the U.S. Sports Academy. He also served as president of the Metro Conference Trainers Association for a period and worked as a trainer at USA Basketball Trials for the 1987 Pan American Games.

Jerry enjoyed woodworking and built furniture and lockers for multiple local universities and high schools including the original lockers installed at the new Cardinal Stadium in 1998 and the Cardinal Park Soccer and Track Stadium in 2000. He was a former president of the L Club, and he helped in establishing the club at Cardinal Stadium, where you would find him on gamedays. He was also on the alumni board at Valley High School where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.

Jerry was very family oriented and would spend many summers at Nolin Lake with his wife and son, his friends and his brothers and sisters’ families. Student trainers and managers would often be referred to as “Jerry’s kids” and would continue to get together long after their time at UofL had passed. He was always looking to help and teach those who shared a similar path as his in life. To know Jerry was like being apart of his family.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his sister Joyce, and brother, Leon. Left to cherish his memory is his wife of 32 years, Elaine; son, Jimmy (Lindsay); seven grandchildren, Therese, Gemma, Isaiah, Stella, Maura, Brendan and Aidan; brother, Larry; sister, Pat (Frank), and his eight nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be on Sunday, September 17, 2023 from 2-6 pm at Evergreen Funeral Home, 4623 Preston Hwy, Louisville, KY 40213. Speakers on behalf of Jerry will begin at 4 pm. A rosary will be prayed at the funeral home at 6 pm that evening. A private ceremony and burial will be the following day.

In honor of Jerry’s career commitment to the University of Louisville, Coach Denny Crum and the Louisville community; in lieu of flowers, the family asks that you support the Denny Crum Scholarship Foundation. The Denny Crum Scholarship Fund and the University of Louisville continues to provide a pathway to education for the future of the Louisville community. Please visit: www.dennycrum.com or call 502-852-6910.