R.T. Floyd is in his forth-sixth year of providing athletic training services for the University of West Alabama. Currently, he serves as the Director of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine for the UWA Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Center, Program Director for UWA's CAATE accredited curriculum, and as a distinguished professor in the Department of Physical Education and Athletic Training, which he chairs. He also serves as chair of the recently established School of Health Sciences and Human Performance. He has taught numerous courses in physical education, exercise science and athletic training, including kinesiology, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels since 1980.
Floyd has maintained an active professional life throughout his career. In 2017, he completed two terms as President of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) Research & Education Foundation after serving in multiple roles on the Board of Directors since 2002. He previously finished eight years of service on the NATA Board of Directors representing District IX, the Southeast Athletic Trainers' Association (SEATA). Previously, he served as the District IX representative to the NATA Educational Multimedia Committee from 1988 to 2002. He has served as the Convention Site Selection Chair for District IX from 1986 to 2004 and has directed the annual SEATA Competencies in Athletic Training Student Workshop since 1997. He has also served as a NATA BOC examiner for well over a decade and has served as a Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Athletic Training site visitor several times. He has provided over a hundred professional presentations at the local, state, regional, and national levels and has published several articles and videos related to the practical aspects of athletic training. He began authoring the Manual of Structural Kinesiology in 1992 with the twelfth edition after the passing of Dr. Clem W. Thompson, who authored the fourth through the eleventh editions. In 2010, much of the content of this text was incorporated into Kinesiology for Manual Therapies, which he co-authored with Nancy Dail and Tim Agnew.
Floyd is a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers' Association, a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, and a Certified Personal Trainer in the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is also a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine, the American Sports Medicine Fellowship Society, SHAPE America, and the Athletic Equipment Managers' Association. Additionally, he is licensed in Alabama as an Athletic Trainer and an Emergency Medical Technician.
Floyd was presented the NATA Athletic Trainer Service Award in 1996, the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award by the NATA in 2003, and received the NATA Sayers "Bud" Miller Distinguished Educator Award in 2007. In 2013 he was inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame. He received the District IX Award for Outstanding Contribution to the field of Athletic Training by SEATA in 1990 and the Award of Merit in 2001 before being inducted into the organization's Hall of Fame in 2008. In 1997, the UWA Faculty and Board of Trustees recognized Floyd for outstanding achievement in scholarship, teaching, and leadership by presenting him with a Loraine McIlwain Bell Trustee Professorship. In 2001, he was induced into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the University of West Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Alabama Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Fame in May 2004. In 2012, he was presented the Great Minds Award by the UWA Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the Nellie Rose McCrory Service Excellence Award by UWA. In 2014, he was inducted into the Society of the Golden Key at UWA and was selected as the first recipient of the UWA Distinguished Professorship. Upon completion of its expansion in 2014, the athletic training facility was named the R.T. Floyd Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Center by the UWA Board of Trustees. In 2018, he received the NATA Research and Education Foundation Lifetime Contribution Award.
