You'd be hard pressed to remember many sporting events held at Pitman High School in the past 23 years without seeing Markus Turner and his family. But that will be the reality moving forward as the only athletic trainer the Pride have ever known is getting set for his next chapter.
This past week marked the last of the 2024-24 school year across the Turlock Unified School District, including at Pitman. It was also the last week of work for Turner, who has served as Pitman’s athletic trainer since the school opened in 2002. In the coming weeks, the Turners will be packing their bags for Indianapolis.
“There’s a time for everything,” Turner said. “It’s bittersweet to be leaving Pitman, but it was just time for the next adventure.”
That adventure in Indiana will revolve around family. Both he and his wife, Sarah, have root
“This has been in the works for a couple years because we’re always flying out with the kids, visiting family in Wisconsin and driving down to Chicago. It’s all about being closer to the family for us,” Turner said.
Turner has worked with every athlete to come through the Pitman halls. Many have gone on to play collegiately and even professionally, and several have taken with them the many lessons brought upon them in the trainer’s room.
Turner obtained his bachelor's degree in Biology from Tuskegee University in Alabama and a master’s degree in Sports Medicine with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology from the United States Sports Academy, also in Alabama. He has been an athletic trainer since 1998, practicing in a number of sports at multiple levels.
His past experiences include being an assistant performance training specialist for Argentina Rugby, the head athletic trainer for Berkeley High School, a physical therapy aide and athletic trainer for Asher Clinic in Larkspur, an intern athletic trainer for the United States Tennis Association, an intern athletic trainer for the Minnesota Twins, and an intern athletic trainer for his hometown Oakland Raiders.
And he has no plans of stopping. He will be taking a job as an athletic trainer at the Indiana middle school where his oldest son will enroll.
“It’s been the plan to transition out of the high school setting once my oldest kid got to middle school, because I knew that once he got to that level, he's going to be doing school sports and I didn't want to be watching other people's kids and missing my own kids play,” Turner said. “I knew the commitments were going to change.”
The work days as an athletic trainer are long, to say the least, having to be in attendance for the duration of nearly all athletic events and practices for an entire school year, which is why his five boys have come to know the Pitman campus as a second home.
“I’ve got five of them, so it’s like my own little basketball team. And they’re more locked in on the schedule than I am,” Turner joked. “They look forward to coming to all the games, and they just have a blast. I mean, my kids pretty much grew up around here.”
Just as it is common to see Turner roaming the sidelines of Pitman events or watching the games intently from the bleachers — or even driving back and forth in his golf cart between events happening at the same time — it’s common to see Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micaiah, Noah and Zachariah right there with him, waiting anxiously for intermissions to come, where they’d be able to put up shots on the court, kick soccer balls into the back of nets, and throw around footballs.
“My wife is an athletic trainer as well, so she understands the profession and knows how hectic our schedules are, so she brings my kids to function, and those times together have been some of my biggest memories here,” Turner said. “If she didn't bring them to functions, I wouldn't see them till the morning. A lot of times, by the time sports are over, it's like past nine o'clock, and they're probably in bed by then. She knows it’s important for me to have those relationships with our kids, and seeing them come through football games and basketball and volleyball games just watching their joy and excitement and just taking it all in from their perspective, that's been awesome.”
It was during Turner’s time at Berkeley High in which the full-time athletic training position was posted at Pitman High School, set to open in the fall of 2002. It was an appealing job for tens of dozens of individuals from around the country due to the fact that they’d be working in brand new facilities and, uniquely, was a full-time position at a public school, which remains uncommon.
“Usually, when athletic trainers work in a public school system, either they have to come on as a teacher and then get paid as a stipend, or they work through a physical therapy clinic that are contracted out to a school,” Turner explained. “But Turlock Unified is unique as far as always having their own full-time athletic trainers at their campuses, and it’s great that they saw the importance, and it’s something I’m grateful for.”
“Grateful” was a term Turner repeated multiple times.
“These student-athletes at Pitman were like a second family. They still are,” he said, referring to his long standing friendships with alumni from all 21 graduating classes. “The love and joy that I have when they come in and we do treatments and workouts, it’s special. It’s important to teach them how to take care of their bodies and how to recover and teach them why these injuries may have happened, and build that trust to do that.
“You know, my room has always been an open door and a safe space for them to just be able to talk and share what they’re feeling.”
Whether it be helping athletes deal with serious injuries and emotional rehabs, or watching championship seasons unfold, Turner has seen it all over two decades of work.
“But like that old saying goes, all good things have to come to an end at some point. And this is it for me,” Turner said. “But it's a new chapter, and me and my family are excited for it.”
