Rex L. Sharp was named Embry-Riddle Athletics' Director of Sports Medicine in July 2021 and elevated to Associate Director of Athletics for Health & Sport Performance in May 2023.
Sharp brought a wealth of experience to Embry-Riddle having been a head athletic trainer at the NCAA Division I level for 36 years. Prior to coming to ERAU, Sharp was the Associate Athletic Director of Sports Medicine at the University of Missouri, retiring after 25 years with the Tigers. The third athletic trainer in Missouri Athletics history, Sharp managed a staff of 21 athletic trainers and 50 undergraduate athletic training students to provide coverage for 20 athletic teams and directed the operation of the Dr. Glenn L. McElroy M.D. Sports Medicine Center, which is Missouri’s primary treatment and rehabilitation center. He played a key role in the formation of the Mizzou Integrated Healthcare Team (IHT) to provide mental health support for Missouri student-athletes and was a driving force behind the establishment of Missouri’s undergraduate athletic training program.
Sharp also served in many capacities outside of his oversight of the Missouri athletic training program. He worked with the clinical health care staff assigned to Missouri Football and was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. In addition, he served eight years on the prestigious College and University Athletic Trainers’ Committee and was the Chairman of the Big 12 Conference Medical Aspects of Sports Committee. Following Missouri’s move to the Southeastern Conference, Sharp was the Missouri representative to the SEC Sports Medicine Committee and was the NCAA Athletics Health Care Administrator for Missouri.
Prior to his tenure at Missouri, Sharp was the head athletic trainer at his alma mater Ball State for 11 years where he oversaw the athletic medical coverage for 18 teams. He supervised a staff of seven athletic trainers and was the clinical coordinator for the nationally recognized Ball State University Undergraduate Athletic Training Program, mentoring more than 100 athletic training students during his tenure.
Sharp has been widely recognized for his contributions to athletic training as a four-time Hall of Fame inductee. In 2005, he was inducted into the Ball State University Cardinal “Ring of Honor” at a ceremony at the NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sharp and his staff were recognized as the Big 12 Conference Sports Medicine Staff of the Year in 2000 and 2011, and he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield, Missouri in 2017 and the Missouri Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2018. His fourth induction was into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in September 2018.
Sharp graduated from Ball State in 1979 and earned a Master of Science degree in Biology specializing in Exercise Physiology from Michigan Technological University in 1983.
