American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine

So, now let's talk about you at an early age. And, we just talked about one of your earliest childhood memories, about going south each year. But, do you have another childhood memory that you can think of? Your earliest childhood memory.$$Earliest childhood memory. Oh, I got a lot of 'em. But, one that still 'til this day is relevant, is the fact that here in Chicago [Illinois] they had a big fire around Christmas time at a Catholic school [Our Lady of the Angels School, December 1, 1958], there was really in a Polish neighborhood. As you know, the demographics of Chicago, Chicago is probably the historically been the most segregated housing city in the United States. So, they had a Catholic school that was in a predominately Polish area. And, I think, it was week or so before Christmas, they had a horrific fire where--and, we had shortly before then got the old black and white TV. And, you could--they started running it on the news and you could see the house--the thing burning down. And, you could see the kids jumping out of the window. You could see them bringing out bodies on TV and, I think, at that point I was eight or nine years old. And, I sat there and watched it on TV and I said right then that I wanted to be a physician. 'Cause they showed all these kids at a morgue and they showed Cook County Hospital [later, John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois], 'cause at that time that's where they took a lot of 'em. And, I was so impacted by the visual picture of that that I internally, and externally, I think, I told my parents [Doretha Lowe Hill and James Hill, Sr.] then. And, they kinda thought I was just having a childhood moment like being a cowboy or a fireman kinda moment. But, I said, I was gonna be a physician. And, lo and behold as the twist and turns that life goes, I've been fortunate. I'm one of the few people that I can honestly say have lived their dream from being a little kid. So, that's one thing I remember is, 'cause that was impactful enough that even though I twist and turns of life and you don't really know where your roads gonna lend--end. Really my vision at that point of where it was gonna go to, actually came true.$Let's go on to what happens after your residency [at Cook County Hospital, later John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois].$$What happened, at that time, most people completed a residency and went into practice. I really felt, once again my idea of; one, trying to control my own destiny to--with what God let me control. 'Cause our God controls everything, but I wanna give him at least a few ideas that he (laughter) might wanna consider before he direct me in one way or another. So, I figured out that if I wanted to live up to my potential, I would be much better getting some, what you would consider an academia, some post-graduate training. And, in my group, Northwestern [University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois] had a fairly large residency. And, so, there were ten people in my year. And, I was the only one that elected to do a post-graduate training. Meaning, to spend time in another area where you--a concentrated area of orthopaedics, whether than just going into practice after a residency. So, that was an interesting story too. So, I went to the chairman, who was like I said from day one, you know, I was kind of his favorite. Actually, the other residents would even say it, even though they were all white, they said, "You the favorite. You can get away with anything, where he gives us a hard time." So, I went to the chairman, I said, you know, "I wanna do some extra training." And, then he looked at me. 'Cause he actually got a Ph.D. So, besides being an orthopaedic surgeon, he had actually spent time getting a Ph.D. So, to have a resident come to him that wanna actually do extra training, he was ecstatic. So, he said, "Well, what do you wanna do it in?" And, this was when sports medicine was just emerging, when people started doing knee sculpts and everything else. So, when my residency, everybody used to have the big incisions on the knee. And, so, we--they just had started, just had come from Japan where you can start doing microscopic surgery on knees. So, I said, you know, once again, me not liking sick people, "This guy taking care of athletes, during microscopic surgery, that's sounds like what I wanna do." So, I--he said, "Okay." Then the next thought is, "Then where do you wanna do it?" I said, of course, "The places that are the best." And, the place that are the best is, at California, the Kerlan-Jobe [Orthopaedic Clinic, Los Angeles, California], like the guy that operated on Tommy John's elbow, was one place. And, then the other place was Columbus, Georgia, the guy that operated on Archie [sic, Robert] Griffin, III. What's his name? But, anyway, Columbus, Georgia--Andrews, Jim [James] Andrews, were the two prominent places for sports medicine. So, of course, I said, "I wanna go there." It's interesting, the guy that was prominent--so he contacted them both, based on my desires.$$And, this Dr. who?$$Dr. [William J.] Kane.$$Kane. Okay.$$Dr. Kane, who was chairman. He contacted them both, 'cause like I said, it was unusual to do extra training. The guy down at the Hughston Clinic [Columbus, Georgia], I had met him at a meeting. And, he was the typically southerner was--you know, Columbus, Georgia is in the middle of nowhere, as you know. And, so, he was, you know, he was a typical southerner, next generation from plantation owners mentality. On the other hand, once again, and I've gone through life with this all the time, that after people get to know me then they don't--stop seeing color again. And, just like I don't see color. It's real interesting if you approach 'em that way so you don't see color to make your decision, they after a while forget that you're black (laughter). And, so, he even though he's a hardcore southerner, I had interact--'cause I had written papers as a resident. You know, I had done research and things in ra--so, he knew of me. And, so, the chairman at some meeting or something, he brought me to introduce me to 'em. Actually, I think it was in Atlanta [Georgia]. Where I was at a meeting in Atlanta, he was there, and he said, "Why don't you go ahead a meet Jack Hughston," which was a senior guy then. And, and, I have talked to him about you wanting to come down here and doing a residency. So, this is like '78 [1978]. And, so, I--he meets me, and say, "I have read some of the things you're written, I think you would be a great addition, but we're not ready to have someone black"--and he was, he was not saying it in a malignant way. He was truthfully honest. He said, "We're just not ready for a black to come down here examining patients. And, so, I want you to come, but I know we're not ready." And, so, I thanked him. And, he actually, to this day, he invited me back to lecture when I got done. I mean, but he was--I respect the fact that he was just blatantly honest and he didn't, he didn't sidestep the issue. So, then, I ended up of course, out in California. So, I ended up doing my extra training out there. They wanted me to stay. I actually, during my training, I got to go see Magic Johnson. I was, I actually went back with Kareem [Abdul Jabbar] 'cause he hurt his ankle. But, I got to see the [Los Angeles] Lakers win the World Championship. I was on the field at the, at Pasadena [California] when Lynn Swann made the catch in the Super Bowl [XIV, 1980]. I got to see the [Los Angeles] Dodgers work the World Series. I mean, they took care of all the teams in L.A. [Los Angeles, California]. They wanted me to stay.