UPDATE: Respected athletic trainer killed in Becker County ATV crash

BECKER COUNTY, Minn. (Valley News Live) - An ATV rider, 61-year-old Jon Eric Darling, of Fargo, has died after he collided with a tree on the Rat Lake Trail near County Highway 35.

Emergency personnel responded to the report which came in just after 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 16. Life saving measures were performed on Darling, but they were unsuccessful.

The North Dakota Athletic Trainers’ Association posted about the accident, saying they are mourning the loss of “JD.” Darling was inducted into the Mid-America Athletic Trainers’ Association (MAATA) Hall of Fame in March 2023 and the North Dakota Athletic Trainers’ Association (NDATA) Hall of Fame in 2019.

MAATA says Darling dedicated more than 32 years as an athletic trainer, working with Red River Valley Sports Medicine, American Gold Gymnastics, Fargo Moorhead Fever CBA basketball, West Fargo High School and Fargo North High School. He also orchestrated an ongoing partnership between the NDATA and Special Olympics North Dakota to support athletes of all abilities.

JD served 20 years in the North Dakota North Dakota Army National Guard, was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and an active member of VFW Post 762.

The Becker County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the MN DNR-Conservation Div., White Earth Police Department, Carsonville Fire and Rescue Department, Elbow/Tulaby Fire Department, White Earth Ambulance, and St. Mary’s EMS.