Dr. James Andrews, world-renowned orthopedic surgeon and former All-SEC track star, is all SEC 7/3/2015 7:30:08 AM By GLENN GUILBEAU Tiger Rag Featured Columnist BATON ROUGE – Dr. James Rheuben Andrews graduated from LSU with a bachelor of science and a medical degree. He completed his residency at LSU rival Tulane. He did a fellowship at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He has been the team doctor for LSU rival Auburn for 40 years and has also been the team doctor for Alabama for decades. "I remember the first time I went back to LSU as Auburn’s team doctor,” Andrews said. "I came out of the visitor’s locker room, and I remember saying, ‘What in the world am I doing on this sideline?’” Andrews was born in New Orleans and grew up in Homer, 44 miles east of Shreveport, but he has lived most of his life in Alabama. He considers Alabama coach Nick Saban a good friend. "People don’t understand that I like Auburn and Alabama and LSU,” Andrews said. "I went to the national championship five years in a row (Alabama in 2009, ’11 and ’12 and Auburn in 2010 and ’13) with either Alabama or Auburn.” The rock star of orthopedic surgeons, he has operated on the rock stars of sports: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, former golfer Jack Nicklaus, two of his best Auburn friends – Charles Barkley and Bo Jackson – and the late former LSU football coach Charles McClendon. "I’m close to so many different teams. It just depends where I am at the time,” he said. "I do my job is the main thing. I pull for LSU, Auburn and Alabama to win. When they play each other, it’s hard.”
THE LEGEND OF DR JAMES ANDREWS, though, all began at LSU in 1959 – on Oct. 31, 1959, that is. A track star and football player at Homer High, Andrews was an invited recruit to the LSU campus for the LSU-Ole Miss game that night. Tailback Billy Cannon returned a punt 89 yards in the fourth quarter to give the No. 1 and undefeated Tigers a 7-3 victory over No. 3 Ole Miss. "I was at midfield for his run,” Andrews said in a phone interview from his home in Pensacola, Florida, which is near the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze, Florida. "It was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. He broke all those tackles, but it was also in the mud.” If Andrews wasn’t already sold on LSU, Cannon inadvertently garnished the Halloween Run with a little lagniappe just a few months later. In Baton Rouge for the state high school track meet, Andrews went out to jog at the track stadium before the meet. And legend met legend again. Cannon, who had won the Heisman Trophy not long after that Ole Miss game and was now a member of the Houston Oilers in the AFL as a first round draft pick, was preparing to run on the track. "I got to meet him in person,” Andrews said as if he was still 18 rather than a 72-year-old who has dozens of athletic friends and former patients as iconic as Cannon. "There was no way I wasn’t going to LSU.” Andrews could have gone to Columbia University in New York City to run track, but his visit to campus included no brushes with greatness– or crawfish for that matter. "I was walking around the campus, and I asked someone, ‘Where is the campus?’ It was blended into the city,” he said. "LSU was and is one of the most beautiful campuses you will see. It was such a great place for me to go to school.” It was also quite a change from Homer. "Homer was as good a place to grow up as there was in those days,” Andrews said. "I was very fortunate. I did all four sports in high school – football, basketball, track and baseball. But when I went to LSU on a track scholarship, Lord, it was like I was in another state.” He ate like a king at the training table at Broussard Hall. "I'll never forget, they served us boiled crawfish,” he said. "I didn’t know how to eat them. I had never seen them before.” There were no crawfish at Columbia. "I know how to eat them now,” he said. Andrews graduated in just three years at LSU and left a year of eligibility on the track. "I’ve often thought I should have stayed,” he said. "To reach my max as an athlete.” He was still very good. In 1963, Andrews won the SEC indoor and outdoor pole vault titles. "I was more interested in going to medical school,” he said. "I got a legislative grant that paid for all of my medical school. I made the right decision.”
ANDREWS MAY HAVE MORE ATHLETES on his cellular phone than your average agent. "I keep in touch with Charles Barkley and Bo Jackson a lot,” he said. "One of the joys of sports medicine is staying friends with your patients and playing golf with them.” The athletes and former athletes for whom Andrews has added years to their career or to their quality of life after athletics include Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, Tom Brady, Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Rob Gronkowski, Patrick Peterson, Albert Pujols, Carlos Beltran, John Smoltz, Reggie Bush and Rickie Weeks. One of his favorite patients was McClendon, LSU’s head football coach from 1962-79 who visited him at his office in Birmingham in the 1980s about his knees. "He’s one of the most mild mannered people or coaches you would have ever met,” Andrews said. "But all the athletes back when I was there were intimidated by him. So when he came for his appointment, I kept saying, ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘No sir.’” McClendon stopped Andrews and said, "Something’s not right here. You’re the doctor. I’m supposed to be saying, ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘No, sir.’” Andrews explained, "Coach, we were all scared to death of you.” And McClendon said, "Well, now I’m going to be scared of you because you’ve got the knife.” Andrews does not just work on famous athletes. At one time he was doing 15 surgeries a day. Finally, though, he has decided to cut back. "I don’t know when I’ll retire,” he said. "I’m still very busy, but I’ve slowed down some. I still see patients regularly, but not all day long anymore. I’m not working as hard as I used to. As long as I’m healthy, I can keep working at a good pace. There’s no reason to stop.”
Another Former Tiger worked under Dr James Andrews, Brett Bech... http://www.athletesperformance.com/blogs/in-the-news/sam-bradford-interview-on-fox-nfl-sunday.html
Can't remember exactly why but I believe he has neck or back issues and doesn't perform many surgeries these days compared to years past. Most of the time it is the surgeions under him who perform them, however you still pay the Andrews price. I know this was the case at least a year ago. I had a few friends go see him directly and he wouldn't perform the surgery even when specifically requested.
