KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Rockhurst enters the postseason to take on Lee’s Summit, the Hawklets have a leader behind the scenes who shares a world of experience.
Step inside Paul McGannon’s office and there will be more than tape waiting.
McGannon owns Sports Rehab, an athletic therapy company, and when Rockhurst’s athletic trainer moved out of town eight years ago, the boss himself stepped in.
His time at Rockhurst goes back even further than that though.
“My dad was team doctor here at Rockhurst, so I was a student trainer here,” McGannon said. “I enjoyed it so much, I made it a profession.”
But McGannon’s first love isn’t football. It’s hockey.
As part of two NHL nonprofits, he’s been leading the effort to attract investors to the metro, hoping to bring hockey’s big league to the Sprint Center for keeps.
“We hope that someone decides to invest in Kansas City. We love the NHL. We love the Sprint Center,” he said. “The long-term dream is to get a team.”
Kansas City hasn’t had an NHL club since 1976, but McGannon believes it will happen again some day.
“It would be satisfying, but it’s not all about me,” he said. “It’s about sharing a great product with a great city.”
But outside hockey, the Hawklets know him as an expert in his field — with 41 years of experience.
“It’s fun to hear a lot of the history that he knows, a lot of that a lot of people who just migrate here don`t know,” Rockhurst Head Coach Tony Severino said.
Severino knows a thing or two about history. The longtime Hawklets coach is set to retire at the end of this season after 37 years as head coach.
And he and his players have nothing but praise for the team’s physician.
“He was doing sports medicine before it became en vogue here,” Rockhurst Head Coach Tony Severino said.
“He gets us taped right, and we just have fun with him,” fullback Chuck Ingram said. “There’s nobody better out there. We’re blessed to have Paul.”
McGannon will be on the sidelines Friday night, ready to help any Hawklet that needs it, as Rockhurst takes on Lee’s Summit in the first round of the postseason.
