Frank Jobe

Frank Jobe was an American orthopedic surgeon, born in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1925 and dead in 2014 at the age of 88. After serving in the Second World War as a medical staff sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division, he trained at Loma Linda University and in orthopedic surgery at the Los Angeles County Hospital. He began consulting for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1964 and with Robert Kerlan co-founded the clinic that became the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, a leading centre of sports medicine. On 25 September 1974 he performed the first reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow, on the pitcher Tommy John, a procedure now widely known as Tommy John surgery. In 1990 he also carried out the first major reconstructive shoulder operation on a major league player, Orel Hershiser. He wrote over 140 publications and mentored other sports surgeons.