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A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

A MEDICAL FIRST?

When I was describing the surgery on Gordon Granger which was performed by Dr. Landrum and Dr.
York, I had casually mentioned two older prominent doctors in Lake City, namely Dr. Harkness and Dr.
Bates.

I have no way of knowing this, it is just a thought that occurred to me, but I feel like Dr. T.H. Bates may
have been the first to cure a problem in the way that he did. The type of surgery he performed may well
have been a first, although I’m sure that by this time this procedure has been repeated many times.

What is concerned here is that one of my friends, who has been a friend of mine ever since I was a small
boy in school, was born with his right foot pointing backward. This was of course a serious birth defect,
and inasmuch as Dr. Bates had delivered him, and was probably the first to notice this defect, he
apparently searched his mind to see what could possibly be done about it. He consulted with my friend’s
parents, and they agreed to let him try it, because if he was successful it would make all the difference in
the world to their boy. What Dr. Bates proposed to do, and I am told that this is exactly what he did, was
to break the leg near the right ankle, and turn the foot partly toward the front. Apparently after this
operation, and the leg had time to re-heal, the foot probably pointed at about a 5 O’clock position.

Dr. Bates once again broke the ankle, and turned the foot so that it was pointing straight out to the right.
After which he let the fracture completely heal, arfcl he repeated this procedure, as I am told, two more
times until he got the foot straightened out completely and pointing to the front, as it should.

Although this was a very questionable procedure in that day, nevertheless it enabled my friend to
develop normally, and to pursue normal pursuits. These pursuits included playing in the band, and that
is where I got to know this young man. He started playing in the band when he was about a fifth grader,
and at that time I was a seventh grader. He played saxophone, and later he played the oboe.

Inasmuch as he was quite athletic, when he was in high school he dropped out of the band and went out
for football, but we remained good friends, as we do to this day.

The remarkable thing about this is that after playing football for the Arkansas Razorbacks on a football
scholarship, where he played lineman and did all the place kicking, he was drafted by the St. Louis
Cardinals in the National Football League, and played lineman and did all the place kicking, including
the kickoffs, field goals, and points after touchdowns.

He was later traded to the New York Giants, where he played defensive end and did all the place
kicking, keeping in mind that his place kicking was with the very foot which had been operated on by
Dr. Bates, and straightened out, and to this day he still holds the National Football record for the most
consecutive points after touchdown kicked by any kicker. In those days, the place kickers all kicked
straight on, that is, with the big toe as striking the football. The swinging-leg method, known as soccer
style, did not get popular until years later, which is almost without exception the style of kicking in the
National Football League today.

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