As if he isn’t busy enough, Randall Nolin, a veteran of the U.S. Army and a second-year medical student at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM), devotes countless hours of his time skating for charitable causes.
Whether it’s a marathon hockey tournament for the families of veterans who have lost their lives to suicide or a hockey event at MSU’s Munn Ice Arena – that raised more than $83,000 for pediatric cancer patients – Nolin continually finds opportunities to help others through sports. His most current event on July 11, was planned with more than 250 special needs skaters at the Hockey Mentors Annual Summer Event in Troy, Mich., along with MSUCOM students to provide support both on-ice and off-ice.
Nolin sees service as integral to his calling to be an osteopathic physician.
“The way I see it, you can't treat a community if you're not part of it, and you can't be part of it unless you're doing things in the community,” he said. “You're who you are largely because of the community, so I really do think it's our responsibility to give back to help our community rise up.”
Nolin’s dedication to community service demonstrates how MSU students not only receive medical training in scores of different communities throughout Michigan but actively participate in other ways to assist the communities they serve.
“Our students are very service‑oriented, and Randall is a good example of that,” said MSUCOM Dean Joyce deJong, D.O. “They regularly find ways to contribute beyond the classroom, and his involvement in these efforts reflects the values we emphasize at MSUCOM.”
Nolin, 34, is at MSUCOM’s Macomb University Center campus, where besides his rigorous medical school schedule, he is focusing on additional charity events later this year with the Motor City Veterans Hockey Association. The group partners with other organizations to support adaptive health and sports as well as sports therapy for those with physical and mental health issues, particularly disabled veterans. More events on tap include a Veterans vs. Media Sled Hockey Game, a Salute to Service Tournament and, hopefully, a third trip to the USA Hockey Warrior National Championship, after Nolin and his teammates won gold the first time and silver the second.
If you had told 8-year-old Nolin that he would be studying to become a doctor in 2026, he would have thought you were crazy. The West Palm Beach, Fla., native graduated from high school in 2010 but readily admits he did not do well his first time in college.
“I had a 0.5 GPA and decided that college wasn't for me at the time,” Nolin said. “I needed to do some growing up, but I knew I wanted to help my community. So, I figured the best way to do both was the military.”
For eight years, Nolin served in the U.S. Army as a Sergeant with the 2-327IN, 1BCT, 101st Infantry Division, earning the Army Commendation Medal, four Army Achievement Medals and the Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. His dedication to volunteer service included coaching high school lacrosse and organizing various community initiatives, including a 24-hour lacrosse game called, “Shootout for Soldiers,” to raise money for veterans and Gold Star families.
As an infantryman and squad leader, Nolin received some medical training in the army known as Tactical Casualty Combat Care, or TC3. “That's self-aid and buddy aid, so if your friend gets shot, you can put a tourniquet on and keep them alive until the medic can get there,” he explained. “And that was my first foray into medicine.”
After getting out of the army in 2019, Nolin attended a community college in Florida where he earned an associate’s degree and emergency medical technician (EMT) license. He became an Emergency Room Technician II and EMT Supervisor at a Tampa, Fla., hospital, but soon realized he wanted to advance his medical career, so he transferred to the University of South Florida (USF).
While attending USF and living in Tampa, Nolin became a diehard Tampa Bay Lightning fan, especially after the team won back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2020 and 2021. He even got to see the Stanley Cup in person when the traveling trophy made an appearance at the hospital where he was working.
“There wasn’t much to do during COVID, so I was watching hockey a lot,” he recalled. “And I saw there was a local disabled veterans’ team, and you could play and practice, so I contacted them. And from that it was just a magical meeting, because I started volunteering through their community programs, and I brought some community programs to them, including youth hockey and coaching.”
What’s remarkable is that other than trying skating once or twice as a child, Nolin, a born-and-raised Floridian, had never played ice hockey before or even stepped foot on ice as an adult. It didn’t go well.
The very first time he attended hockey practice, he fell and separated his shoulder. Several weeks later after his shoulder had healed, he went to try again, but he almost changed his mind.
“I had that kind of apprehensive moment right before I stepped on the ice, like I'm already 30 years old at this point,” Nolin said. “Do I really want to get hurt playing ice hockey? But I'm so glad I did. Because of the experiences, including winning a national championship, building the camaraderie with my teammates, and the impact I have had a hand on in the community.”
Besides sports, Nolin also directed his volunteer efforts to help start a free Medical Response Unit on the USF campus. The student-run, volunteer initiative transported students and faculty in need of the service to the student clinic or local hospitals located near campus. Visitors on campus could also receive basic first aid medical care before EMS was called, relieving some of the strain from local EMS services.
Nolin graduated from NSF with honors, earning a degree in biomedical sciences. He added MSUCOM to the list of medical schools he was applying to once he learned that MSU offers in-state tuition for veterans.
“When I got the email for the interview at MSU, I was ecstatic,” Nolin said. “And when I got accepted to MSU, I had a few other schools that I had been accepted to, but as soon as I was accepted to MSU, I started calling and telling them, ‘I'm not going to attend because I found where I want to be.’ And besides,” he added with a smile, “I figured there'd be a little bit of hockey up here, too.”
While Nolin, a member of the MSUCOM class of 2029, said he is not leaving anything off the table when it comes to his future career as an osteopathic physician, he will most likely focus on emergency medicine and a subspecialty of sports medicine because of his passion for adaptive sports. He loves to promote the narrative that “hockey is healing” and “sports are for everyone.”
“When I got out of the Army, my knees and back and everything hurt, and I thought ‘There's no way I'm going to be able to play sports again at a competitive level,’” he said. “Then the Warriors (the veterans hockey team) got me out of it. And the best part of it is the positive impact it has on mental health. Our big message is that sports get you out of your house and out of your head. The whole idea of adaptive sports and getting people out instead of just sitting at home and being depressed – it's just such a cool experience.”
by Lynn Waldsmith
As if he isn’t busy enough, Randall Nolin, a veteran of the U.S. Army and a second-year medical student at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM), devotes countless hours of his time skating for charitable causes.
Whether it’s a marathon hockey tournament for the families of veterans who have lost their lives to suicide or a hockey event at MSU’s Munn Ice Arena – that raised more than $83,000 for pediatric cancer patients – Nolin continually finds opportunities to help others through sports. His most current event on July 11, was planned with more than 250 special needs skaters at the Hockey Mentors Annual Summer Event in Troy, Mich., along with MSUCOM students to provide support both on-ice and off-ice.
Nolin sees service as integral to his calling to be an osteopathic physician.
“The way I see it, you can't treat a community if you're not part of it, and you can't be part of it unless you're doing things in the community,” he said. “You're who you are largely because of the community, so I really do think it's our responsibility to give back to help our community rise up.”
Nolin’s dedication to community service demonstrates how MSU students not only receive medical training in scores of different communities throughout Michigan but actively participate in other ways to assist the communities they serve.
“Our students are very service‑oriented, and Randall is a good example of that,” said MSUCOM Dean Joyce deJong, D.O. “They regularly find ways to contribute beyond the classroom, and his involvement in these efforts reflects the values we emphasize at MSUCOM.”
Nolin, 34, is at MSUCOM’s Macomb University Center campus, where besides his rigorous medical school schedule, he is focusing on additional charity events later this year with the Motor City Veterans Hockey Association. The group partners with other organizations to support adaptive health and sports as well as sports therapy for those with physical and mental health issues, particularly disabled veterans. More events on tap include a Veterans vs. Media Sled Hockey Game, a Salute to Service Tournament and, hopefully, a third trip to the USA Hockey Warrior National Championship, after Nolin and his teammates won gold the first time and silver the second.
If you had told 8-year-old Nolin that he would be studying to become a doctor in 2026, he would have thought you were crazy. The West Palm Beach, Fla., native graduated from high school in 2010 but readily admits he did not do well his first time in college.
“I had a 0.5 GPA and decided that college wasn't for me at the time,” Nolin said. “I needed to do some growing up, but I knew I wanted to help my community. So, I figured the best way to do both was the military.”
For eight years, Nolin served in the U.S. Army as a Sergeant with the 2-327IN, 1BCT, 101st Infantry Division, earning the Army Commendation Medal, four Army Achievement Medals and the Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. His dedication to volunteer service included coaching high school lacrosse and organizing various community initiatives, including a 24-hour lacrosse game called, “Shootout for Soldiers,” to raise money for veterans and Gold Star families.
As an infantryman and squad leader, Nolin received some medical training in the army known as Tactical Casualty Combat Care, or TC3. “That's self-aid and buddy aid, so if your friend gets shot, you can put a tourniquet on and keep them alive until the medic can get there,” he explained. “And that was my first foray into medicine.”
After getting out of the army in 2019, Nolin attended a community college in Florida where he earned an associate’s degree and emergency medical technician (EMT) license. He became an Emergency Room Technician II and EMT Supervisor at a Tampa, Fla., hospital, but soon realized he wanted to advance his medical career, so he transferred to the University of South Florida (USF).
While attending USF and living in Tampa, Nolin became a diehard Tampa Bay Lightning fan, especially after the team won back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2020 and 2021. He even got to see the Stanley Cup in person when the traveling trophy made an appearance at the hospital where he was working.
“There wasn’t much to do during COVID, so I was watching hockey a lot,” he recalled. “And I saw there was a local disabled veterans’ team, and you could play and practice, so I contacted them. And from that it was just a magical meeting, because I started volunteering through their community programs, and I brought some community programs to them, including youth hockey and coaching.”
What’s remarkable is that other than trying skating once or twice as a child, Nolin, a born-and-raised Floridian, had never played ice hockey before or even stepped foot on ice as an adult. It didn’t go well.
The very first time he attended hockey practice, he fell and separated his shoulder. Several weeks later after his shoulder had healed, he went to try again, but he almost changed his mind.
“I had that kind of apprehensive moment right before I stepped on the ice, like I'm already 30 years old at this point,” Nolin said. “Do I really want to get hurt playing ice hockey? But I'm so glad I did. Because of the experiences, including winning a national championship, building the camaraderie with my teammates, and the impact I have had a hand on in the community.”
Besides sports, Nolin also directed his volunteer efforts to help start a free Medical Response Unit on the USF campus. The student-run, volunteer initiative transported students and faculty in need of the service to the student clinic or local hospitals located near campus. Visitors on campus could also receive basic first aid medical care before EMS was called, relieving some of the strain from local EMS services.
Nolin graduated from NSF with honors, earning a degree in biomedical sciences. He added MSUCOM to the list of medical schools he was applying to once he learned that MSU offers in-state tuition for veterans.
“When I got the email for the interview at MSU, I was ecstatic,” Nolin said. “And when I got accepted to MSU, I had a few other schools that I had been accepted to, but as soon as I was accepted to MSU, I started calling and telling them, ‘I'm not going to attend because I found where I want to be.’ And besides,” he added with a smile, “I figured there'd be a little bit of hockey up here, too.”
While Nolin, a member of the MSUCOM class of 2029, said he is not leaving anything off the table when it comes to his future career as an osteopathic physician, he will most likely focus on emergency medicine and a subspecialty of sports medicine because of his passion for adaptive sports. He loves to promote the narrative that “hockey is healing” and “sports are for everyone.”
“When I got out of the Army, my knees and back and everything hurt, and I thought ‘There's no way I'm going to be able to play sports again at a competitive level,’” he said. “Then the Warriors (the veterans hockey team) got me out of it. And the best part of it is the positive impact it has on mental health. Our big message is that sports get you out of your house and out of your head. The whole idea of adaptive sports and getting people out instead of just sitting at home and being depressed – it's just such a cool experience.”
by Lynn Waldsmith