Gary Freeman

1934 - 2023

Gary Freeman
12/04/1934 - 05/08/2022
Gary C. Freeman was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas to Bonnie Vaught (Gravette, Ar) and Clarence Cornelius Freeman (Paris/Monticello Ar). He attended Rogers grade school, Darby Junior high and Fort Smith Senior High School where he lettered in all 4 sports. He was football team captain, served as president of Allied Youth, was named to the school hall of fame and graduated in the class of 1952 with an A average.

He left Arkansas on a baseball scholarship to Baylor University where he was a member of Alpha Chi, national honorary scholarship fraternity, that limits membership to the top 5% in university classes; member of Pi Gamma Mu, social science society; Pi Sigma Alpha, political science honor society and National debate society. He was baseball letterman all 4 years, Golden Gloves heavyweight boxer, starred in a school theater's production of Shakespeare's "Othello" and graduated Cum Laude with an A average Bachelor of Arts degree in english and history.

He completed a Master's Degree in history at Brown University on a Marston scholarship.

He returned to Texas to complete medical school at Baylor Medical School in Houston where he was President of the Osler society. Gary was an exceptional student and campus leader in all schools he attended. During the Vietnam War he completed residency training as a Lieutenant at Brooke Army Base in San Antonio. He became a surgeon and then added the subspecialty of hands. There was a dearth of other surgeons (they were busy with war casualties) so he also learned and performed plastic surgery and neurosurgery. Always one to learn more and excel, Gary took up needlepoint to further hone his fine motor skills during any "time off".

He married Dolores Eleanor Domning in 1963. They had 2 children; Georgeanne and Gregory Cornelius.

He was a pioneer in orthopedics. Medical journals describe his knee therapies and gait recommendations which are standard of care today. He was a gifted surgeon but also judicious and often said he never regretted a surgery he didn't perform. He had a warm and patient bedside manner that won him deep friendships over the years including the prolific painter Larry Dyke and sculptor Jack Burch. Many professional football players gifted him personalized autographed photos thanking him profusely for getting them back in the game (safely).

Gary was the Houston Oiler's Doctor 1972-1978. He was on the right side of history for refusing to give players steroids to keep them in the game after injuries. He loved football and its players and put players' safety first. In 1972, Lynn Dickey's second year quarterbacking for the Oilers in the Astrodome during a preseason game he fell with a St. Louis lineman on his back driving Dickey's left knee into the turf. The force rammed Dickey's upper leg straight through the back of his hip, cracking the pelvis and leaving the femoral head out of the socket. Gary saw it all happen. Dickey was going wild in pain. His entire body was quivering. It felt as if bolts of electricity were running through him. He was screaming, "It's my knee!" It's my knee!" Freeman checked his knee; it was fine. Freeman frantically searched his mind for an answer. All the schooling and training paid off. He pulled Dickey's legs together and saw one leg was longer than the other. He knew what the injury was, even though he had never seen it before on a football field and never would since. Caution told him to get Dickey x-rayed to make sure. Instead, he told Dickey to hold on. Freeman knew it was a risk, but had he waited for x-rays, it would have been too late. The femoral head has a huge amount of blood circulating in it - if it's knocked out of the socket that blood stops. He had maybe 5 minutes before the femoral head dies. So slowly, Freeman pulled on Dickey's leg and it popped back in, shutting off the current of pain. In less than 2 minutes Dickey started to get up; Freeman pushed him back down and taped his ankles together. Then he taped his knees and thighs together and they lifted him onto a stretcher. The next morning, Dickey was on a private jet headed for surgery in Boston. They repaired the hip socket that had broken when the leg was ripped out of it. The surgery was successful.

He worked near the Houston ship channel and repaired many a maimed hand from oil rig accidents. In the 1980s he added a law degree, J.D., from South Texas school of law. He attended classes at night, never missing a day of work as a surgeon. He defended other Doctors but also was not afraid to litigate against Doctors when they were in the wrong. He set medico-legal precedents in Texas that still stand.

He was a rugged individual, shockingly brave and never afraid to challenge the status quo. He died at 88 on May 8, 2022.

His life will be celebrated with a memorial service at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas April 22, 2023. For details contact his daughter, Georgeanne Freeman at: downtowndoctor@freemanmedicalclinic.com