I’m one of many fortunate people who had the privilege of knowing Dr. Frank “Doc” McCue before he passed away on Sunday at the age of 82. Over the last 30 years I’d either seen him for knee problems or just a casual chat on the practice fields and sidelines. Doc McCue conducted both of my knee surgeries – the first to run some tests and remove torn cartilage in 1983 when I played high school football, and the second to replace my blown ACL in 1992 after a basketball injury at North Grounds.

Thanks to Doc McCue, I was able to complete another four years of military service in the U.S. Air Force Air National Guard. And I can still play sports (basketball, lacrosse and whatever my son encourages me to play). But without his guidance and expertise, I would have been done with a lot of activities at the age of 27. And having a 4-year-old son so late in life (I’m 46 now), I’m thankful that I can still keep up. I owe that to the Doc.

But like many, I’m going to miss Doc McCue for more than just his medical knowledge and expertise. He was a good friend to me and my family, and a friend to anyone who knew him. If you were around him for more than a couple of minutes, it wasn’t uncommon to see a number of people walk up to him just to say hello and shake his hand.

And Doc McCue didn’t have an impact on just University of Virginia Athletics, he helped improve the lives of so many others in the Charlottesville area and beyond. His reach extended well beyond the borders of the UVa health system, offering assistance to athletes from other high schools and state universities around the state.

Rest in peace, “Doc”.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2012 at 9:10 am and is filed under The Good Ol Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.