Star Surgeon: Billy Bundrick Gets the 'Breaks' Everyday

              Star surgeon
Billy Bundrick gets the 'breaks'everyday
Text by Paul Hilbun
Photos by Billy Upshaw
Billy' B u n d r i c k is a
surgeon to the stars.
An orthopedic surgeon, he apparently
will go to any length to serve a patient's
best interest, even if it means an unof-ficial
adoption. Take the case of
Cherokee Rhone, Centenary's star
eager, who needed surgery for a basket-ball
injury. Going up for an outside
jump shot, Rhone's knee was cracked.
Cartilege had to be removed and a
ligament reconstructed.
The operation itself w.as no problem
for the skilled surgeon but to ward off
the press and a barrage of other vis-itors,
Bundrick gave a part of his name
to the Chief, as Rhone is commonly
called. The big center was checked into
Doctors Hospital as Bundrick Smith.
The ploy worked and so did the surgery.
"Chief's doing well," said Bundrick
who is team physician for Centenary as
well as other schools. "He had severe
ligament injuries. But we did surgery
and have had him on a rehabilitation
program. Hopefully, he will be healed
and ready to play well his senior year."
A standout athlete in his own right
during high school and college, Bun-drick
was considering a career in
coaching or maybe medicine. In sports
jargon, the decision was something of a
toss up. But when Bundrick flipped his
coin, so to speak, it came up medicine.
Born and schooled in Shreveport,
where his mother still lives, Bundrick
signed a football scholarship with Texas
A&M. The legendary Paul "Bear"
Bryant was in charge at College Station
and the star running back was John
David Crow, a Heisman Trophy winner.
Bryant has since moved to Alabama,
making a career of coaching teams to
national football titles.
After one year deep in the heart of
Texas, his designs on a medical career
steered Bundrick back home; he trans-ferred
to Louisiana Tech, majoring in
pre-medicine. Wanting to attend LSU
Medical School, he realized entrance
would be difficult with an out-of-state
degree. So, Tech got the nod.
He played three years for the Bull-dogs
in Ruston, graduating in 1960.
Bundrick was co-captain for the great
1959 outfit that compiled a 9-1 record.
Tech was a lot of fun, a good experience
but there were knee injuries. "Maybe
those injuries got me started in or-thopedics,"
said Bundrick.
One thing is sure; there was no family
tradition that led him into medicine. To
the contrary, his father was in the
furniture business before his death. "I
got interested in medicine all of a
sudden," he said. "My dad couldn't be-lieve
it."
After;Tech, it was on to
LSU Medical School
in New Orleans where he was graduated
in 1964. Starting out in general surgery,
the graduate completed a five-year in-ternship
and orthopedic residency at
Confederate Memorial Medical Center.
During that time, Bundrick helped
Byrd High one year as assistant team
doctor, an experience that helped hook
him on orthopedics — and sports medi-cine.
He joined The Bone and Joint
Clinic in 1969 and has been there since.
That is not to say he has been idling.
Not at all. Take Monday, for example.
Billy Bundrick checks an x-ray
He saw patients all day — at least what
would have been a normal day by most
standards/But at 5 p.m. when many are
heading home to relax, prop up the old
feet and wait for dinner, Coach Bun-drick
was off for a practice session with
his fifth grade football team.
Finished putting his youthful charges
through their paces, he was back at the
clinic, seeing Tech athletes. Then he
looked at charts until 11 p.m. The sched-ule
is usually that hectic until the week-end.
If it's a Friday, he will be at a high
school game. Should the calendar show
a Saturday, you can bet Bundrick will
be at a Tech game, no matter where.
Tech has its own trainer but Bun-drick,
team doctor since 1973, makes
the trip to Ruston once a week on his
afternoon off. If that doesn't get the job
done, some of the Bulldog athletes come
to Shreveport, like Monday night.
Before taking on the Tech duties, in
1970 Bundrick started working with
Captain Shreve High. Now, it is with
particular pleasure that the team doc-tor
makes visits to Shreve. Son Stewart,
a senior there, is a split end on the
football squad.
Bundrick makes time for his other
children, too. Margaret is an ac-complished
swimmer but has given up
the water sport. She is a cheerleader at
Youree Drive Junior High. The physi-cian
coaches his youngest, John, a quar-terback
and safety on the First Baptist
fifth grade team.
Most athletic injuries, Bundrick ex-plains,
fall into the orthopedic realm.
That is, they are related to bone and
muscle problems. He finds orthopedics
a rewarding field. "I enjoy working with
all athletes, from the young fifth
graders all the way up to the pro-fessional
level," he said.
Picturesof pro-fessional
and college stars line the clinic walls,
testimony to Bundrick's prestigious
position in the field of sports medicine.
The list of players that seek his counsel
likely would fill several pages.
He speaks of them as individual peo-ple
with varying medical needs. His
clients include, but are not limited to,
such notables as:
• Bo Harris, a player at Captain
Shreve, LSU and now with the Cincin-nati
Bengals.
Roger Carr, receiver at Tech who
went on to the Baltimore Colts, needed
knee surgery.
• Mike Barber, Tech gridder now
with Houston's Oilers, has had two knee
operations.
• Pat Tilley, St. Louis Cardinal veter-an,
who lives in Shreveport in the off
season.
• Bert Jones, LSU and Baltimore
quarterback who does his summer
workouts at Tech, was put through a
shoulder rehabilitation program.
Bundrick's world of sport, though, is
not an entirely male domain. "One of
the better associations has been work-ing
with the Lady Techsters," he said of
the nationally famous female five.
"They are just as competitive as men."
A traveler on some road games, Bun-drick
speaks of the team as if it were his
very own. "We didnt lose any players
this past year," he explained. "And we
signed two high school All-Americas."
The Bundrick medical arena reaches
out in all directions from its Shreveport
hub. A few patients are in southern
Arkansas with a large group from East
Texas. His domain stretches east to
Ruston and south to Winnfield.
On occasion, he will venture beyond
the bounds of Louisiana, if there's skiing
or a football game on the agenda. Re-cently,
he attended the Tech game with
the Texas Aggies at College Station. It
was something of a homecoming —
Bundrick had not been to the campus
since toiling under Bryant as a frosh.
Skiing is a favorite activity, one
which often includes the children. A
framed picture of Snowmass is telling;
that is a favored haunt.
Ironically, the man with seeming
magical orthopedic powers has had
much of' his own physical activity
A possible break here?
eliminated by injuries. Tennis elbow
and a bad knee ended his net endeavors.
Bundrick can no longer jog because of
an old football injury but rides a bicycle
and works out at a health club.
Butatheltics is never far from
mind. A licensed pilot, he
combines two of his loves. "To get in
some air time, we might fly down to
Winnfield to check on some players and
then go on up to Tech.
"Orthopedics is a wide field," said
Bundrick. "There are a lot of op-portunities.
Sometimes we keep too
busy and I wonder what I could do, what
type job wouldn't drive me crazy."
But, he adds, "I like orthopedics. It's
the complete realm of medicine and age
groups, providing treatment for young
and old."
A conversation with Bundrick can be
a many-faceted thing, but it is obvious
that Tech holds a special place for the
famous physician. "I enjoyed Tech and
my years there," he nods. "I had a good
time. The classes were not that large
and the folks were friendly."
Then, too, duck hunting at his grand-mother's
Bienville Parish property
helped make college enjoyable. Bun-drick
still hunts on the place and also
tries to make one annual trip to South
Louisiana during the season.
"Tech's a good school," he continues.
"I like working with them and helping
them recruit. I can tell prospective
athletes about the school, especially if
they are interested in the medical
field."
While he goes along on recruiting
trips, the arrangement is reciprocal.
Tech coaches are welcome guests in the
Bundrick residence.
Besides duties as team doctor, Bun-drick
was chosen president of the alum-ni
foundation. In 1980, he was honored
"Alumnus of the Year" during home-coming
activities. "That honor meant a
lot to me," he said. "I was pleased, you
know, because of the type folks who
held it before."