I had my first knee operation in 1976 to repair torn cartilage. My surgery was performed by the late Dr. Stan Lavine. Dr. Lavine was the Redskin Team Orthopedic Surgeon. The surgery was successful. Today I have two long scars on each side of my left knee as evidence of the surgery of over twenty five years ago. I would later have surgery in the spring of 1978 or 1979.
I remember that Edward Bennett Williams told me that I would be a great lawyer one day but now I was a great football player and I needed the surgery if I was to be ready for the next season. I had already paid cash for a full semester of legal education at George Washington University where I was attending at night. The post surgery rehab would make it impossible to attend class every night Monday through Friday as I would do over four and a half years in order to graduate attending as a part time/night student.
I had the surgery and dropped a whole semester of classes taking one for the burgundy and gold. And I was ready for that season. My operation was one of the first Arthroscopic surgeries in history. I am still walking today with no cartilage in my left knee which causes my left leg to be weaker than my right leg. I went skiing only one time in my life in the French Alps. My instructor noted my weak left knee and said I was in danger of skiing off the side of the mountain. But that is another story.
GOOD LUCK WILLIS McGAHAEE and every other NFL Player taking one for the team this season.
