If I asked you who is the only person to have played for the Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins, and you were a true Boston sports fan, you would immediately recognize this quaintly Hub trivia question.
You would know that the answer is John Kiley, who “played” for all of them–as the organist at the old Boston Garden and at Fenway Park back in those purer days before the jumbotron.
But Kiley’s record is just a cute answer to a trivia question.
If I asked you who is the only man to be a part of the Celtics, Red Sox, Lobsters, BU’s hockey team, two different America’s Cup teams and the US Olympic teams in 1980, ’84, ‘88 and ’92, you would probably be impressed…but stumped.
That answer is, of course, Dr. Robert Leach. Leach is a now retired orthopedic surgeon and long time resident of Weston, MA. If you went to a Celtics game in the old Garden during the Havlicek/Cowens/Jo Jo White era you probably saw his blond head somewhere near the bench.
Here’s a quick look at his (very abbreviated) resume:
· Orthopedic consultant to the Celtics for 20 years starting in 1968
· Consultant to the Red Sox in ’68 and ’69 (Does Lonborg’s knee ring a bell?)
· Head physician for the Boston Lobsters from ’74 – ‘79
· Head physician for the US Olympic Team in ’80 and ’84
· Chairman of the US Olympic Team Committee on Sports Medicine and Science in ’88 and ‘92
· Doctor for various marathoners including women’s winners Joan Benoit Samuelson and Patty Catalano
· Team doctor for BU hockey
All of these jobs were done without compensation, but as Leach readily admits, it led to his own burgeoning practice at a time when the term “sports medicine” didn’t exist and certainly was not the booming specialty it is today.
Leach objects to the notion that he “invented” sports medicine as a practice concentration, but he does acknowledge that he was one of the first in the field and for some time was certainly the most active practitioner in Boston.
Why is any of this important? Because with a resume like his, the man has stories, and, luckily he’s agreed to tell some of them to me through a series of extended interviews and stories that will appear here on the Storyguy blog.
But first, a little more background.on Dr. Leach.
“My medical career is the result of good timing and good luck,” he states with a large serving of humility.
First, the good timing. In the mid 1960’s he had been practicing his craft in the Navy (back in the days when everyone had to serve) at the naval hospital in San Diego, a hospital known at the time to offer and experiment with advanced orthopedic techniques. Here, Leach worked on several players from the US Marine Corps football team who became San Diego Chargers. Subsequently, because of this connection, he worked with other NFL players as well.
Then, right as he finished his service, several major orthopedic advances burst on the scene including, most significantly, arthroscopic and joint replacement surgical techniques.
“Prior to that time orthopedic surgeons really couldn’t do much,” says Leach. They set fractures and really didn’t do much else. But suddenly, these advances gave us new levels of capability allowing us to help patients much more dramatically than before. So the timing was perfect for me.”
Then the luck. He started his practice at the Lahey Clinic, was one of the first surgeons to use the new techniques and quickly became so much in demand that he exhausted available operating room space at Lahey and had to move many of his procedures to the Hahnemann Hospital on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.
It was at the Hahnemann that Leach’s career took some fortuitous turns. It was here that he met Drs. Thomas Tierney and Thomas Silva team doctors for the Red Sox and Celtics respectively.
He consulted with Dr. Tierney on the rather famous case of pitcher and unfortunate skier Jim Lonborg’s knee (and resulting shoulder problems) following the Sox impossible dream season of ’67. And with this, his rather amazing career in sports medicine began…and so do his stories.
His interviews and stories will follow here over the next few weeks.