S. W. Harrington

Stuart William Harrington, known as Tack, was an American physician and surgeon who lived from 1889 to 1975 and who also played and coached college football. He took his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1913, became a fellow in surgery at the Mayo Clinic in 1914 and by 1920 headed a section of surgery there, eventually as a full professor. On the advice of William James Mayo he moved from gastrointestinal and urologic surgery to thoracic and breast surgery, started the clinic's department of thoracic surgery, and gained an international reputation for treating diaphragmatic hernias and mediastinal tumors. He worked with the anesthesiologist John Lundy on early intubation and anesthesia methods for open chest operations and led the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 1937. In 1948 he helped found the American Board of Surgery.