When Julie Alexander joined the St. Cloud State sports medicine staff in 1989, she didn’t have the title of Head Athletic Trainer, but she jumped right in and assisted with all the duties of a head athletic trainer. In 1999 she finally received the title of Head Athletic Trainer, but that didn’t change much - she just kept pushing to move her athletes forward, and broke barriers for other women in college athletics in the process.

After graduating in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education from St. Olaf, Alexander spent two years as a health and physical education teacher and coach in Dodge Center. She went on to complete her masters in physical education and athletic training at Indiana University, and upon graduation in 1985, she served four years as the head women’s athletic trainer and an athletic training program instructor at Western Illinois University.

In 1989, Alexander was hired as an associate athletic trainer at St. Cloud State. Alexander, the first female athletic trainer in the SCSU athletic department, worked with every female team at the college and mentored graduate assistants and numerous students in the Athletic Training Education Program. She also served as an adjunct professor at the university and took over as the Huskies’ first female head strength and conditioning coordinator in 1997 - a position she held for eight years. 

In 1999, SCSU made the decision to formally hire a Head Athletic Trainer. At that time, you would not find a woman in charge of a training room, especially with a Division I hockey program. That didn’t matter to Alexander, or the Huskies, and from 1999 until her retirement in 2021, she ran the training room and kept the Huskies in top shape for competition.

Not only was she in charge of making sure all of the Huskies teams - which compete at the Division I level in hockey and the Division II level for all other sports - had the care and services they needed every day, she also worked closely with off-site medical providers. Alexander negotiated contracts and set up schedules with CentraCare, St. Cloud Orthopedics, Rejuv, local chiropractors, and more to ensure that her athletes received the pre- and post-game treatments they needed to keep them competing at a high level.

During her tenure at SCSU, Alexander was directly responsible for the daily coverage of many of the Division II sports, including: football, women’s basketball, volleyball, swimming and diving, wrestling, softball, track and field, and men’s soccer. This meant very few nights and weekends off, but she still found time to be with her family and support her daughters Katie and Annie, who were very involved at ROCORI High School.

As if balancing the training room and overseeing the Huskies’ strength and conditioning program wasn’t enough, Alexander also served as an adjunct professor in the Athletic Training Education Program from 1992 until 2021. She also took on the title of clinical coordinator for the ATE program from 2005-12. Outside of St. Cloud State, Alexander - who played volleyball, basketball, and softball at St. Olaf - coached Junior Olympic softball for the ROCORI Fastpitch Association and served as the association’s director of operations for seven years. She was inducted into the St. Olaf Athletic Department Hall of Fame in 2000.

In her estimation, Alexander mentored more than 300 women over the span of her long career in the athletic training room. She guided many current athletic trainers - men and women - when they were just starting out, and paved the way for future female athletic trainers to have a career and earn respect in athletic training rooms across collegiate athletics.