It is my distinct honor and privilege to present this year's Robert E. Leach Sports Medicine Leadership Award. This year's Leach Award recipient's life is characterized by leadership, yes, but also by scholarship, love, and fun-loving mischief. Born in Roxborough, North Carolina in 1949, our awardee, even at a young age, showed that mischievous grin. He was a fun-loving child and stories of his exploits, such as leaving manure-filled purses by the side of the road for passerbys to pick up, are legendary. He was also an athlete, playing center on the Person High Rockets football team, and was a shot-putter on the track team. He's on the left. He was also a leader amongst the athletes and somewhat spiritual. In fact, there's a well-documented story of him calling the Durham High School track team and the Person High Rockets track team together for a pre-meet prayer. Part of that prayer included the plea, and, Lord, please help the Pearson Rockets kick the snot out of these Durham boys. Our awardee was known as William, or Bill, or most commonly Billy, to his family and friends. He was quite a scholar. Billy was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the most prestigious scholarships in the country. He then went on to earn his MD and PhD degrees at Duke University. After graduating, he joined the Duke Orthopedic Faculty in Sports Medicine, working with one of the early pioneers of sports medicine, Frank Bassett, shown on Billy's left on the sideline of a Duke game. Of note, Dr. Bassett was a Leach Award winner in 1995. I was fortunate to be a medical student and a resident under both of these doctors, along with other legends in orthopedics and sports medicine, including 1994 Leach Award winner John Fagan, shown on the left in this photo, along with Frank Bassett, Leonard Goldner, Billy, and Jim Urbanik. It was a great time to be a student and resident working with these giants. Even among this group of legends, Billy was the smartest. Although he was so humble, you wouldn't recognize his brilliance unless you were paying close attention. He was also amazingly perceptive, witty, and fun to be around. I'd like to share a personal story that illustrates Billy's wit. Soon after my daughter Kate was born at Duke Hospital in May of 1999, or May of 1991, we had a promotion ceremony where I was promoted to major during Grand Rounds. This is a picture from following that ceremony. Following the ceremony, Billy congratulated me and my wife Ann and said, congratulations on your Star Wars baby. We said, what? Well your daughter was born on the 4th of May, right? And we said, yes, that's right. Well may the 4th be with you. Subsequently, May the 4th has come to be known as Star Wars Day, but Billy was the first person ever to mention it to our family. After my career in the Army, I was lucky enough to join Billy and the rest of the sports medicine staff at Duke. He was a fabulous partner and dedicated to training residents and fellows, some of whom are shown in these photos and some of whom are in this audience today. Thank you for being here. Of note, Billy was also chairman of orthopedics at the University of North Carolina. His love of teaching was recognized at both UNC and Duke. In fact, he's the only person ever to be awarded teaching awards at both institutions. Billy was also a consummate team physician. In addition to his team physician duties at Duke, he was the medical director and team physician for USA Soccer for both the men's and women's teams. Billy loved the AOSSM. He contributed in a myriad of ways, including serving as AOSSM president from 2003 to 2004. In the photo on the left, he and his wife, Janice, are pictured with Irv Bomberger and Camille Petrick. And in the photo on the right, Billy is assuming the AOSSM presidency from Pete Fowler, who is with his wife, Libby. His contributions to the AOSSM, sports medicine, and orthopedics have been recognized in multiple awards for education, research, and leadership, including induction into the AOSSM Hall of Fame in 2019. Billy was on the first traveling fellowship to Europe with Bruce Ryder and Lonnie Paulus. Their godfather, John Fagan, and their host in Europe, Werner Muller, were the creators of the sports medicine traveling fellowship program, which has been so successful throughout the years. Billy was on many traveling fellowships, but he always said the best one was the AOSSM exchange to ESCA. He had a wonderful time running with John Fagan, flying with Werner Muller, and impressing all the Europeans with those shot-putting skills honed from his days as a person high rocket. Billy was also the godfather on the 2008 traveling fellowship to Europe with Constance Chu, Bob Giffen, and Jason Dragoo, and as Constance points out in this slide, his humility was again impressive. He always made it about the fellows. He was a great mentor and a great friend to many, and especially to those traveling fellows. Billy loved sports and the outdoors as a fisherman, skier, sportsman, and tennis player, but his greatest love was that of his family. This photo shows Billy Bop, as he was known to his grandchildren, his wife Janice, or Niecy, as she is known, their three boys and their wives, and their nine grandchildren after they all scaled a mountain in western North Carolina. Niecy and Billy Bop were great friends to many of us, and they had wonderful adventures together throughout the years, some of which Ann and I were lucky enough to be a part. Billy said goodbye to this world in 2019. Ironically, he died on May the 4th, exactly 28 years after my Star Wars daughter, Kate, was born. But his legacy and the force lives on through his sons, Jonathan, Mikey, and David, and through Janice, or Mrs. Niecy. As you may expect, Billy named this boat, and all of their boats, Mrs. Niecy, another example of that witty, mischievous Billy touch. Here to accept the Robert E. Leach Sports Medicine Leadership Award for 2022, on behalf of their family, are Billy's wife, Janice, his son, David, and daughter-in-law, Carrie. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome them, and recognize this year's Leach Award winner, William Elwood Garrett Jr. I think David would like to say a few words. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Taylor, not only for the outstanding job on the introduction, but more importantly for yours and Mrs. Taylor, and so many others here, special friendship that you've given to my family for so many years. Now, I'd like to share just a quick conversation that I had with my father not long before it passed. He came home one night, it was late, he was tired, he was hungry, he looked exhausted, he'd been on his feet all day, and I couldn't help asking, Dad, when are you going to slow down and enjoy yourself? His response was quick, and it was unforgettable to me. He said, what do you mean? It's hard to have more fun than I'm having now. He absolutely loved what he did, he had a passion for orthopedics, and it was a beautiful sight to see that passion never fade, even up to the very end, he still had that passion for learning and growth, and it was just so beautiful to see. So on behalf of my mother, my two brothers, our spouses, nine grandchildren back home, we want to say that we are extremely proud of him and to be here, and we know that he would be incredibly honored to receive this award, but more importantly, we thank each and every one of you for the role that you played in making his work so enjoyable. Thank you.

Robert E. Leach Sports Medicine Leadership Award

William Elwood Garrett Jr.

leadership

scholarship

love