GREENVILLE, NC: A funeral service for Rod Compton, 62, of Greenville, NC and formerly of Newark, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday at Brucker and Kishler Funeral Home, with Rev. Barbara Sholis officiating. Burial will follow in the Lutheran Reformed Cemetery, Thornville Cemetery. Rod passed away in Greenville, NC on February 12, 2010. He was born May 19, 1947, in Newark, Ohio to the late Clayton M. and Dorothy R. (Anspach) Compton. Rod graduated from Newark High School in 1965 and was considered Newark High School's first student athletic trainer. He was given credit for what is now the Newark Athletic Training position at NHS. Rod was inducted into the Newark High School Hall of Fame in 2008. He held a Bachelor of Science in Education from Ohio University and a Master's of Education in from Bowling Green University. Rod had been employed by East Carolina University as an Assistant Professor and Program Director of Safety and First Aid Education since 1970. He had done much research and publishing on topics of Sports Medicine and Athletic Training and had been the recipient of many honors including the Pioneer in Athletic Training Award (North Carolina Athletic Trainer's Association), the Sayers J. Miller, Jr. Distinguished Athletic Training Educator Award (National Athletic Trainers' Association) and the award of Appreciation for Service as Editor-In-Chief of Athletic Training, The Journal of the National Athletic Trainers' Association 1972-1979. He is survived by his sister, Barbara (John) Maier of Newark; nieces, Lesley Maier, Missy (Richard) Wortmann and Pam Gallatin; nephews, Corey Maier and Jeff Gallatin. Besides his parents; a brother, Norman Gallatin precedes him in death.