Widely respected athletic trainer from Fargo is killed in ATV crash in northwestern Minnesota

An ATV operator crashed and died in northwestern Minnesota, officials said Sunday.

The wreck occurred around 5 p.m. Saturday about 30 miles northeast of Detroit Lakes on the Rat Lake Trail, the Becker County Sheriff's Office said.

Jon E. Darling, 61, of Fargo, hit a tree on the trail, crashed and was pronounced dead at the scene, the Sheriff's Office said. Officials have yet to indicate why Darling's ATV went off the trail.

Darling worked for more than 30 years as an athletic trainer and was honored with a spot in the Mid-America Athletic Trainers' Hall of Fame Class of 2023.

JD began his athletic training career in 1990 with Red River Valley Sports Medicine Institute working with American Gold Gymnastics. He was the athletic trainer for the Fargo Moorhead Fever CBA basketball team from 1992-1994, West Fargo High School from 1994-2000 and then for Fargo North High School through Sanford Health.

In 2019, he was a medical staff member for the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi and for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, Fla.

"Our deepest sympathies are extended to JD's family, friends, colleagues, and the many students he has worked with over the years," read a Facebook posting from the North Dakota Athletic Trainers' Association, which inducted Darling into its Hall of Fame in 2019.