Of Tiger, Tom and ACL knee injuries
The performance, the courage and drama of Tiger Woods’ U.S. Open victory this past week continued to draw high interest points when it was revealed he’ll be out the rest of the golf season due to impending knee surgery.
His injury, while all the details have not been made public, is said to involve the major stabilizing ligament in the knee, the ACL.
I once had a minor knee problem and a simple scope job got me back on track within a couple of weeks. But before I had that work done, it was extremely painful and I could hardly walk.
Interesting to note, there are some athletes who have performed on the highest level without ACLs. Two names come to mind – BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe and former defensive back coach, BYU and NFL player Brian Mitchell, now a coach at Texas Tech.
Mitchell played most all of his college and brief NFL career without an ACL in one of his knees.
Holmoe, is another story.
In his senior year at BYU, Holmoe hurt his knee and missed a lot of practices but never missed a game. He finished his college career by going to the All-Star Bowl in Honolulu. There, he hurt the knee again, but though he could finish the game, so he taped it up and played. Afterwards, it was killing him. He had it checked out and was told he hat some cartilage damage but he’d be OK. So, he took some time off, got feeling better and then made a push for an NFL career by attending several pre-draft combines.
He could run. He could show his speed. He could cut. He played a tough position as cornerback and he went through all the rigors of combines.
He had more than half a dozen doctors representing NFL clubs examine him. None of them was the San Francisco 49ers. The doctors looked at his knee, examined it and were flabbergasted. “You have no ACL,” they told him.
Well, the 49ers ended up drafting Holmoe and when he reported to camp for a physical, the team orthopedic expert was stunned. “Did you know you don’t have an ACL in that left knee?’ Holmoe shrugged, not knowing if he be seen as damaged goods, a dud and a risky blown draft pick.
Back in those days, ACL surgery was pretty invasive and players who had one would take a risk that they’d never play, or be limited in what they could do. Others wore braces on the knee after surgery and were OK. “But generally, back then, it was the belief that ACL surgery would slow you down,” said Holmoe.
Holmoe agreed that he would have to be taped from ankle to hip every day he played for the 49ers – but he never had ACL surgery and never wore a brace during his seven-year NFL career. In after his fourth season, he asked that he not tape up the knee, that he felt fine. He had to sign a waiver but the 49ers let him play and it felt pretty good and he played.
Towards the end of his 49er career, he did have trouble and his knee hurt. The team cut him several times, opting not to put him on injured reserve. Going on IR meant he’d be done. He survived as long as he could, pulling in a pro pay check before he had to retire from the game with his Super Bowl rings.
The last year he played, he strained his calf and quad muscles in that left leg several times in a seven month period before it got so bad he could not perform to his expectations.
To the present day, Holmoe can’t play basketball or tennis because of what it does to his knee but he can do things that allow him to run in a straight line, like jogging. “I can ski, but ski slow,” he said.
The ACL. Most of us can’t do much without them. Others can.
Tiger’s got to get his worked on to return to the game, it appears.
Do you have an example of an athlete like Holmoe succeeding despite battling an ACL issue, with or without one?
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According to folks at Timpanogos High, 6-foot-7, 240 DE Joe Kruger received a scholarship offer from BYU’s Bronco Mendenhall this week during a summer camp. He is the younger brother of two Utah football players currently enjoying success with the Utes. Utah did offer Joe a scholarship last year. He will be a junior for the Timberwolves this coming season.