Primary Sport Responsibilities: Football (primary), Men's Lacrosse, Men's & Women's Golf

Chris Lenker is in his 19th year as Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine and 23rd overall at Tusculum University.

Lenker directs the overall operation and medical treatment of the student-athletes for the 23 intercollegiate sports offered by the University. In his two decades on the Greeneville campus, he has served as athletic trainer for football, men’s and women’s soccer, men and women’s basketball, baseball and men's lacrosse.  In 2017, Lenker was designated as Tusculum’s Health Care Administrator, overseeing compliance with NCAA health and safety-related legislation, policies and practices.

Lenker’s staff has been twice honored by the South Atlantic Conference as the league’s Athletic Training Staff of the Year during the 2008-2009 and 2016-2017 academic years.  During the 2016-2017 season, his accolades were adorned in glory again when he was the recipient of the Tusculum Sports Benefactor Award.  In 2016, Lenker was declared the University's Chili Cook-Off Champion as his prize-winning White Bean Chicken Chili claimed top culinary honors.

Lenker joined the Tusculum staff after serving as a graduate assistant athletic trainer at East Carolina University for two years. While at ECU, Lenker assisted in the management and rehabilitation of athletic injuries for 500 student-athletes in the 19 sports offered at the NCAA Division I program. His primary responsibilities included men’s soccer, baseball and football, which played in the 1999 inaugural Mobile, Alabama Bowl.

Prior to his stint at ECU, Lenker served as head athletic trainer at White Oak High School in Jacksonville, N.C. He was responsible for the medical coverage and rehabilitation for the student-athletes at White Oak, while also serving on the faculty.

Lenker participated in the United States Olympic Committee’s Volunteer Medical program in July of 2003, working with athletes training at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. He served as a staff athletic trainer at the Masters WaterSki and Wakeboard Tournament in Pine Mountain, Ga. since from 2010 to 2016.

The Iowa native is certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association Board of Certification and is licensed through the Tennessee Board of Athletic Training Examiners. He is a certified lifeguard and holds instructor certifications from the American Red Cross in First Aid, and CPR for the Professional Rescuer. He is also trained in dry needling.

Lenker served as president of the Mountain Athletic Trainers’ Society from 2016 to 2018.  He served as chair of the South Atlantic Conference Athletic Trainer Committee from 2008 to 2010.  From 2003 to 2019, he was active in Tusculum’s Athletic Training Education Program as a clinical preceptor and adjunct faculty member.

Lenker earned his Bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sports Science at East Carolina in 1997, and later earned his Master’s in Health Education at ECU in 2000.

Lenker achieved a personal milestone by earning his pilot’s license in 2008.

Lenker is the father of one son, Addison Cade.