From Butler Grizzly to NBA Champion: How Tony Katzenmeier Rose the Ranks

EL DORADO, Kan. – Tony Katzenmeier knew he wanted to pursue a career in sports when he headed to college. Having grown up with his dad as a basketball and baseball coach at Mulvane High School and playing sports throughout his four years at Wichita Heights High School, he was set on working in athletics.

"I knew my playing career wasn't going to continue after high school so I started picking people's brains on what I could do and what is available in and around sports," Katzenmeier said.

The possibility of being an athletic trainer was posed to Katzenmeier, and he considered it.

"Athletic training was young. I graduated high school in 1999 and we didn't have an athletic trainer. I wanted to learn more about it."

Katzenmeier began to visit colleges around the state, taking a look at each of their athletic training departments.

"I visited multiple universities like Kansas State and Pittsburg State. We were on our way back from a visit and were coming through El Dorado and my mom said what about Butler? She went there for a year and told me that I should consider it. I knew nothing about Butler County, I didn't even know if they had sports even though I grew up 30 minutes away."

Katzenmeier was further encouraged by a handful of friends on the Heights baseball team choosing to continue their playing careers at Butler. He decided to reach out and set up a visit in El Dorado.

"We headed over to Butler to visit with TC (Todd Carter, at the time head athletic trainer). My mom and I sat down with him at the gym, and he explained how the program worked and his expectations. I was immediately sold."

When Katzenmeier reported for duty in August 1999 as a freshman student and athletic trainer, he was not exactly sure what he was in store for. For the Grizzlies, football season was on the horizon.

"I started at the beginning of football training camp and had never really been around football, so it was a kick in the pants."

It was a sink or swim situation, and Katzenmeier had no choice. He bought in and began to learn.

"I fell in love with it right away and knew it was exactly what I wanted to do. It was TC and eight students who were running the show. He taught us everything we needed to know. He taught us first aid and how to tape and I thought man, this is where it's at."

From there, Katzenmeier learned a lot and began to pick up responsibilities as time went on. He also learned how difficult it can be trying to manage schoolwork and a job.

"I learned a lot of life lessons in the two years I was there which was perfect for me. I needed Butler to get my focus going and to understand how important school was. I learned how to work hard and how to balance work and school. There were days where he (TC) would throw me a first aid kit and say you're going with the basketball team to Colby, Kansas, or going with the track team to indoor championships in Manhattan. He put a lot of trust in us and expected us to work hard."

With all the hard work came some fun as the 1999 Grizzly football team finished 11-1 and won the program's second consecutive national title, taking down Dixie State 49-35 in St. George, Utah.

"The end of my first year there (1999), we won a national championship with the football team. I remember thinking it couldn't get much better than this. Rudi Johnson (Butler Hall of Fame running back and later Cincinnati Bengal) was doing unheard of things to defenses."

The two-year experience with the Grizzlies for Katzenmeier isn't lost on him.

"Butler just offered this great experience for me and it was just the perfect thing that I needed and the perfect profession to get started in. TC was a great mentor who I still talk to and visit. My family still lives in Wichita so if I am ever around and get some time, I shoot up to El Dorado and drive around or meet up with TC and go by the facility. Just to remember what it was all about. I spent a lot of time there."

From Butler, Katzenmeier decided to find a four-year university to continue in the field. After taking a look at Southwestern College in Winfield as well as Kansas State, he decided to head to Manhattan after a connection he made with someone while at Butler became the program director of athletic training for the Wildcats.

"Ultimately it was hard to pass up on Kansas State. I started there and it was a great next step for me. I was able to focus on one sport at a time which helped me refine my skills. I started with baseball and the next year I worked with the football team, which was a massive amount of work. We went to the Holiday Bowl and beat Arizona State that year."

The next year was Katzenmeier's first working basketball at Kansas State, the sport he ultimately ended up focusing on in his career.

"The next year I worked basketball and it was my first influx into working high level basketball. One of the coaches there was Mike Miller. He took a job the next year at Eastern Illinois and the next year when I graduated, I got a job there as a graduate assistant. After I finished up as a graduate assistant, EIU hired me full-time."

Katzenmeier and his wife, Heather, were athletic trainers together at Kansas State and she helped him begin working at Eastern Illinois as well.

"We were both full-time at EIU with me handling men's basketball and her women's basketball. We leaned on each other to get to different spots in our careers. Without her I wouldn't have been able to do any of this."

The Katzenmeier's were ready for the next step in life, and it just so happened that it would be in Los Angeles.

"We both applied at UCLA and she ended up getting a job with their women's soccer team and I didn't get a call back. So we moved from small town Illinois to Los Angeles. I got a job out there with a company called Athletes' Performance. I got that job and it was a massive blessing in disguise. We saw high performers across all sports and I had no idea the connections I would be able to make."

While in California, that is where Katzenmeier got his foot in the door with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the first time.

"While I was in LA, the Thunder were a year or two into being an organization. Their second year as an organization they made some noise and were playing the Lakers in the playoffs and I was keeping up with it."

One day while at work, Katzenmeier happened to have members of the Thunder training team walk into the facility as they were looking to learn and build on their program. He didn't let the opportunity pass.

"Some of the Thunder staff wanted to see the facility at Athletes' Performance. I saw them walk in and no one was around so I popped up there and introduced myself. I told them I was from Wichita which isn't too far from Oklahoma City and asked if I could show them around. I met Donnie Strack (OKC Thunder VP of Human and Player Performance) there, who is now my current boss. It was a good experience but I didn't think anything would come of it."

Two months later Strack called Katzenmeier and informed him of an open position for an athletic trainer with the Tulsa 66ers, the Thunder's D-League (now G-League) affiliate who have since moved to OKC and are now the Oklahoma City Blue. Katzenmeier decided to interview for the open spot. He was offered the job in 2010 and accepted.

Katzenmeier spent three years with the 66ers, all the while knowing he wanted to make the jump to the NBA and the Thunder.

"I tried to dig my feet in and create some staying power as much as I could. Three years later I got a full-time position with the Thunder in 2013 and have been there ever since."

The Thunder won the franchise's first NBA Championship this season with Katzenmeier on staff as the Director of Athletic Training. When asked about the team, Katzenmeier couldn't have had better things to say.

"The players from this year's team are great. You just want to cheer for them. They are genuine and the camaraderie is real which is rare in this sport. You don't see that a lot at this level, let alone any level. It's really the thing that has shot us up to the top quickly is the togetherness and the family-oriented players. From Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander, 2024-25 NBA MVP) all the way down to our G-League players, they are easy to talk to and hang out with. They understand we want the best for them and place their trust in us. It takes something special for a group with an average age of 23 to be this good and win a championship, it takes good people and great development and that is what we have here.

While noting how draining and tiring an NBA season can be, Katzenmeier mentioned how much fun the group was and admitted he wished the season was still going.

"I wanted to keep going with these guys. I could go back to work tomorrow and be taping the guys ankles or stretching someone out or filling up water because I'm doing it for these guys and getting to work with the staff that I do, I don't think there's a better spot in the world. It comes down to Sam Presti, Donnie Strack and just a lot of people here who have stayed consistent with their approach over the years. It has made the whole organization's mental health just that much better. Everyone is moving in the same direction. It's hard not to get on board with the momentum here."

As someone that got his start as a Butler Grizzly and is now at the top of the National Basketball Association, Katzenmeier has advice for young people that want to be successful and get a head start.

"Anyone who is successful had to start somewhere. Most don't start on the top. Most start on the ground floor and build a foundation. The ground floor isn't going to be pretty, easy or prestigious. I think a community college has a lot of opportunity to get your hands dirty quickly. You'll be put to work. There are still things that I take from Butler, TC and the coaches I worked with. The way I tape an ankle now is the same way TC taught me all those years ago. Those things stick with you forever. There's nothing better than getting that early experience. Really what put me in the place that I am today is that choice I made to go to Butler. It was the springboard that sent me in the right direction."