College Football: 1) Name the top 5 all-time winningest
Division I-A coaches (total victories)? 2) Who has more players
in the Hall of Fame, Bear Bryant or Joe Paterno? [This is tricky]
Answers below.
Dr. Christiaan Barnard
I did a piece on Barnard last December, but with his passing last
week and the tremendous role that he played in medical history, I
thought it was worth repeating again.
Christiaan Barnard was born back in 1922, the son of an
Afrikaner preacher. He went to medical school both in South
Africa as well as the University of Minnesota. When he settled
back in Cape Town, at Groote Schuur Hospital, he began
experimenting on heart transplantation, mostly with dogs. By the
fall of 1967, Barnard and his team were convinced that they had
performed enough research to try the procedure on a human.
Of course, Barnard needed the perfect patient, as well as a donor.
The patient was Louis Washkansky, a 55-year-old with diabetes
and incurable heart disease. Washkansky was first told about 3
weeks before the transplant that Barnard thought he was a good
candidate. Years later, Barnard wrote of the decision that
Washkansky faced.
“For a dying man it is not a difficult decision because he knows
he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled
with crocodiles, you will leap into the water convinced you have
a chance to swim to the other side. But you would never accept
such odds if there were no lion.”
Barnard also said at the time, in a matter of fact way, “We didn”t
see the heart as the seat of the soul. The cessation of the heart
did not mean the end of life. We knew that.”
A few days before December 3, 1967 a donor was found, but
died too soon for the operation to take place. Then, on the 2nd, a
24-year-old by the name of Denise Darvall was brought to
Groote Schuur Hospital with massive injuries suffered in an auto
accident. It was clear she wasn”t going to live, yet most of her
vital organs were in good shape, particularly her heart and
kidneys. The blood and tissue types also matched what Barnard
needed.
But the doctor first needed approval from Darvall”s father. Poor
Mr. Darvall had also lost his wife in the same accident (she died
instantly). The father gave permission for the transplants
(Denise”s kidneys were transplanted into a 10-year-old at another
hospital nearby).
Darvall died and the doctors had to act fast (within 30 minutes of
her death), to transplant her heart into Washkansky. [This
occurred after midnight on the 3rd.]
A team of 20 surgeons and nurses took five hours to complete
the operation. Said one surgeon, “It was like watching a
bullfight. Certain classical maneuvers had to be done before the
grand finale.”
Then came the moment of truth. Electrodes were applied to
Washkansky”s new heart and it resumed beating. Said a member
of the team, “It was like turning the ignition switch of a car.”
At this moment Barnard was reported to have said, “It”s going to
work. I need a cup of tea.”
Right after the operation Barnard also said, “If it had not been for
(Washkansky”s) courage and will to live the operation would
never have succeeded.”
But one of the many amazing things about this historic moment
in time was that Barnard was so nonchalant he didn”t even take
pictures of the operation.
I read an account of the transplant in the December 4, 1967
edition of the New York Times. [Barnard wasn”t even
mentioned until about the 20th paragraph of the story.] A
spokesman for the hospital commented at the time.
“The longer Washkansky goes on, the better, although.the body
could decide in 5 or 10 years” time that it doesn”t want this
heart.” Washkansky, himself, was kept “dead quiet” in the
recovery room…no one said a word while he was being
monitored.
But, unfortunately, Washkansky didn”t live 5 or 10 years. He
died 18 days later from double pneumonia as a result of his
suppressed immune system; his courage and place in medical
history, however, well-established.
Washkansky”s death didn”t discourage Barnard, though, and his
second heart transplant patient, Philip Blaiberg, lived for 18
months. Later on, another, Dirk van Zyl, lived 23 years before
dying of diabetes – unrelated to his heart condition.
As you might imagine, Christiaan Barnard became an instant
world celebrity, and the fame got to him. Initially, he enjoyed it
immensely, partying with the likes of Sophia Loren, Audrey
Hepburn, Richard Burton and Peter Sellers. His affair with Gina
Lollobrigida was said to have contributed to the divorce from his
first wife (he would marry 3 times), but he later shied away from
the limelight.
About 45,000 heart transplants have now been performed over
the last 33 years. 90% survive the operation, with 70-75% living
for 5 years thereafter.
[Dr. Denton Cooley was the first to perform a transplant in
America; 17 in 1968 alone, with his first patient living 204 days.]
Shark Attacks
The initial reports are saying that the two fatalities from this past
weekend were caused by sand or sandbar sharks. If so, these
would be the first recorded “kills” by this specie.ever. We”re
talking in recorded shark attack history (non air-sea disaster)
going back to 1580. Ergo, I say, doubtful. I”m betting both were
the victims of a bull shark. For the period 1580-Oct. 2000, the
leading killers are:
Great whites.67
Tiger.29
Bull.17
Hammerheads have never killed anyone. So the next time you”re
sitting in a bar discussing sharks, if someone claims
hammerheads are dangerous, tell them to take a hike. [But they
make great carpenters.] Also, kudos to the Galapagos and
Ganges sharks, who have attacked just one person each
(unprovoked.or, non-chum related), and, err, disposed of said
victim. In other words, batting 1.000. [Source: ISAF]
Porcupines
As a follow-up to my story on the porcupine, our wildlife expert
Harry K. tells me that they not only make for good survival food,
but the quills are great for sewing. “If it”s cold you”ll need a lot
of calories to survive, and a nice fat, greasy porcupine is just the
ticket.”
Now Harry tells me that wolves have been known to flip
porcupines (to get at the exposed underbelly), but if their timing
is off they often die from the quills. “You”d think they”d move
to the city,” says Harry, “to join their cousins the coyotes, eating
poodles and small children.”
On a related topic, Harry points out that any discussion of the
animal kingdom”s revolt needs to include the fact that 56 people
have been killed by bears in North America over the last 20 years
(compared to 128 for the entire century), while 7 were killed by
cougars in the decade of the 90s, versus 14 for the last 100 years.
Stuff
–Dick Selma died last week. I mention his passing not only
because he was a New York Met for four seasons while I was
growing up in the 60s, but after a solid 1968, Selma was traded
to San Diego and then on to Chicago, where he was a big
cheerleader in the Cubs clubhouse as his former Mets team
overtook the Cubbies and carved out some history. Bad timing
on Selma”s part. But Selma also holds a record that may not be
broken for some time to come. In 1970 with the Phillies, he
struck out 153 in relief in 134 innings, the most strikeouts for a
reliever in National League history. These days, in the era of
bullpen specialization, no one reliever is likely to throw that
many innings, let alone combine the work with a solid K-ratio.
–Troy State lost to Nebraska by only 42-14 last weekend. I said
in a previous Bar Chat that Nebraska would score 70. I
apologize to all the Troy State fans for being so pessimistic about
your team”s chances.
–StocksandNews sports radio:
“Hello?”
“Hello, you”re on the air.”
“@#$%^&%#% (background noise)..is this the Editor?”
“Yes, can you turn your radio down?”
“Oh.sorry. Editor, I have a trade for the Mets.”
“Fire away.”
“The Mets send Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile to the Rolando
Paulino All-Stars for Danny Almonte and Carlos Garcia.”
“I like it. Almonte steps right into the pen, and we don”t have to
pay him too much. And Garcia is another one of those 12-year-
olds who we know is really 19 or so and it looks like he has
tremendous upside.”
“Thanks, Editor.”
“Thanks for the call.”
–One of drag racing”s greatest, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, hit
303 mph this weekend for the first time ever, at the age of 69.
Quaff an ale to Big Daddy!
–So the editor”s Wake Forest Demon Deacons defeat an East
Carolina squad that went to a bowl game last year, 21-19, on
Saturday night. The USA Today / ESPN Top 25 poll then comes
out and ECU gets 11 votes and Wake none. Whassup with that?
–The New York Post reported that when Nicole Kidman showed
up the other day at the Venice Film Festival, she had 6
bodyguards and 22 suitcases. What to wear? Just what to wear?
–Michael Schumacher is now the all-time leader in Formula One
(Grand Prix) victories, winning his 52nd on Sunday, surpassing
Alain Prost.
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/2/72: #1 “Alone Again
(Naturally)” (Gilbert O”Sullivan) #2 “Long Cool Woman (In A
Black Dress)” (The Hollies) #3 “I”m Still In Love With You”
(Al Green)
College Football Quiz: 1) Top 5 coaches, wins: Bear Bryant,
323; Joe Paterno, 322; Pop Warner, 319; Bobby Bowden, 316
(including last week); Amos Alonzo Stagg, 314. 2) Hall of
Famers: Bryant beats Paterno, 5-3.it”s kind of a trick question.
Alabama (4): John Hannah, Joe Namath, Ozzie Newsome,
Dwight Stephenson. *But Bryant coached George Blanda while
Bear was at Kentucky. Penn State (3): Jack Ham, Franco
Harris, Mike Munchak. [Lenny Moore was well before
Paterno”s first season as coach, as was Bart Starr before Bryant
took over at ”Bama.]
Next Bar Chat, Friday. We”ll wrap up our “creatures of the
deep” and have a little baseball from Johnny Mac.
