Meet (Old) Joe Black

I once did a column where I interviewed a much younger Joe Black.  Today, I get to interview Old Joe Black (OJB) at 90.

JB:  Ninety.  Did you think you would make it this far?

OJB:  Actually I did.  When my dad had his first heart attack, I dedicated my life to living long and living well.

JB:  About that living well thing, how has it worked out for you?

OJB:  I don't know...I'm still around.  Can't hear worth squat.  I do lose my keys about every other day but then my daughter thinks I shouldn't be driving anyway.  Especially not on my motorcycle.

JB:  Speaking of that, are you still on the bicycle?

OJB:  Oh yeah.  Still out there with Steve and Emil although we can't keep up with Kadena and Maysoun anymore.  They're only in their 60's. 

JB:  When your own kids were growing up, you coached pretty much everything.  I always thought you would coach your grandkids.

OJB:  Well, I realized that was a parent's job.  Or maybe it was that I realized that the lessons that a parent can learn from coaching other kids is too valuable for my kids to pass up.  Or maybe it was something else. I forget.  I do that a lot lately. Forget things, I mean.

JB:  You used to play basketball all the time.  Ever shoot hoops anymore?

OJB:  Shot free throws just last week.  I won't tell you how many I hit (mainly because I can't remember).  I thought it was pretty cool that David Marsh's great-granddaughter just took over the girls basketball program at Alcoa. Always a Marsh. 

JB:  What about your diet?  Still on that low carbohydrate thing?

OJB:  Absolutely.    It's part of the reason I'm still here.  Although my Benton's Bacon intake has gone up.  Three mornings a week, like clockwork.  Allan Benton is still the king.

JB:  What about our grandkids?

OJB:  They're all out there in the real world.  One's a doctor.  One's a lawyer.  We've got one still racing motorcycles.   I think he's going to end up as a stuntman. The artist is still trying to decide whether to paint or design clothes.  More money in the latter, I think.   I'm pretty sure there's a CEO in one's future.  And then there's the one in the NFL.  Randall Cobb is his coach, you know.

JB: I didn't know that.

OJB:  Yeah, they won the Super Bowl last year. 

JB:  What would you have done differently?

OJB:   I wish I had taken up fly fishing earlier.  I really enjoy that.  Rusty  Humphreys got me into it way back in 2015. 

JB:  Any regrets?

OJB: Well...there was the time that...well, not really.  But then there was the time that...no, didn't really regret that either.  Nope.  No regrets.

Shedding the Rose-Colored Glasses

I got accused of doing the rose-colored glasses thing again last week.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about someone that just found me too positive, too cheery all the time.  Told me I was always looking at the world through rose-colored glasses.

OK.  Maybe.  I do always try to be positive.  The way I figure it, there's too much negativity in the world anyway.

Oh, I get my barbs in sometimes.  Most of it is hidden but not too deep. 

But I do have things that I really dislike.  So today, I'm gonna try and write about negatives...things I just don't like.

Like long fingernails on men.  Just can't stand it.  I guess it's just a personal grooming thing but I think it is partly just plain ol' laziness.

And reality TV.    I don't like Lima beans but I've learned to like Brussels Sprouts. 

I hate cancer or heart disease and wish no one had to suffer through either.  I don't like cigarettes but I do understand it is an addiction.

I hate cars that try and scare me on my bike and I've really not gotten a clear understanding of kale.  I don't like long lines, traffic, or bad service in a restaurant.

I don't like airplane delays, shopping in person, pretentiousness, or paperwork (and goodness knows that I do enough of that one).

I definitely don't like prejudice.  (Oh yeah...there's a big one for me.)

In today's world, I just don't see how it can continue to exist.  I cannot understand for the life of me how people can judge one another by the color of their skin.  Or their religion.  Or their culture.

But it happens.  A lot. Just ask someone that is in any kind of a minority what it feels like.  Or visit another country yourself, one that differs significantly from your world.

I believe in the freedom of expression but there are those that fly the Confederate flag for all the wrong reasons.  I have a friend even more southern than me that talks about the War of Northern Aggression  and we all laugh about it.

But more often than we want to admit, flying those stars and bars is a racist expression.   And so in my world, there is no place for it. 

I guess I just don't understand prejudice toward gender.  I raised my daughter to believe that she was not limited to things just because she was a girl.  Honey Boo Boo is the antithesis of my child-rearing philosophy. 

So, there you have it.  Things I hate. My first negative column. But don't expect it to be a regular feature.  I really hate negativity.  

2015 Sports Physical Therapy Section Election

This is quite a deviation from my usual blog. 

For one thing, it isn't taken directly from my weekly newspaper column.  This one is written for just one place--this blog. 

Secondly, it isn't intended to inform, educate, or enlighten.  It is intended for the small audience of physical therapists that are members of the American Physical Therapy Association's (APTA) Sports Physical Therapy Section (SPTS) in an effort to convince those members that I am the best candidate for Secretary of that organization.

Oh...I didn't tell you?  Yeah, I'm running for an office in an organization that is dear to my heart.  More on that later. 

Let me tell you about how I got involved with the SPTS.

A long time ago, when I was younger and not so gray, I made friends with Danny Smith.  Danny is a physical therapist and athletic trainer based in Elizabethton, Tennessee.  I really don't recall exactly where or when we first met but it does seem like we've always connected.

We have been great friends many, many years.  We've shared good times, bad times, and too many meals to even try and count.  He's one of those guys that has always been there for me. I can only hope that I've been that kind of friend to him.

About that same time, and mainly because of Danny, I became friends with some really great people that just happened to also be sports physical therapists.  Among those are Tab Blackburn, Mike Voight, Barney Poole, Skip Hunter, Tim Uhl.

We would go to meetings and hang out together, usually rooming together.  In the early days, the Sports Section would get a suite for the big meetings and the guys would crash in one room and the girls in another. 

You can imagine the bonding that came from that.

Along the way, my circle of SPTS friends grew.  Barb Sanders.  Barb Hoogenboom.  Pete Zulia.  Joe Giorno.  Bill Prentice.  George Davies.  Kevin Wilk.  Ron Peyton.  Bob Mangine.  Terry Malone.

Now think about it....these are the elite in our profession.  These folks teach, write textbooks, are widely published, speak internationally.  They've served at all levels from professional teams to 

Olympic teams and everything in between.

And they let this country boy from Maryville, Tennessee, who spent his time in a small private practice and on high school sidelines become a part of what they had.

What they had was phenomenal.  They had a network of contacts and practices that were perpetually cutting edge.  They were the first to know and do everything.  I mean, George Davies practically invented isokinetics.  Most physical therapy students today study a Bill Prentice textbook.

Mike Voight travels the world teaching about sports physical therapy.  Kevin Wilk is...well, Kevin Wilk!  Jim Andrews' right hand man!

The SPTS Hall of Fame Award is named after Tab Blackburn, for goodness sake.

Along this journey, my circle of friends kept expanding.  John Stemm.  Allen Hardin.  Gordon Eiland.  Tim Tyler.  Mark DeCarlo.  Gary Derscheid.  Walt Jenkins.  The list goes on and on.

I'll stop there because I will miss somebody but let's just say that the list just keeps growing.  That's the thing about the SPTS--it is all about inclusivity.  We bring everybody in and take them along for the ride.

Oh, along the way, I've done a lot of good things.  The '87 Pan-Am games. The '96 Olympics.  Speaking engagements of my own both far and wide.  Getting elected to a national office at the APTA.

The bottom line:  My association with the SPTS has given me opportunities and opened doors for me that when I was a physical therapy student in 1976 and joined the SPTS, I could only dream about.  I alluded to that in my campaign statement (https://www.spts.org/elections-2015/joe-black-secretary) but now you know the whole story.

And about that joining the SPTS as a student.  When I inquired about it, I got in big trouble with my program director.  Got called into her office over it.  "You're NOT going to waste this valuable physical therapy degree that we're giving you by working with athletes."

Uh...yeah.  They get injured too.

So I've built my career around it.  I still see patients three days a week, mostly athletes.  I still walk the football sidelines at the high school I've been at since 1982.  BTW, we win more than our share.  Since 1997, we have played in every state championship game except 2, and have won all of those that we've played in except three.  If you're counting, that's 12 state championships in 15 appearances over 17 years.  And I work for the winningest high school football coach in America (George Quarles--look it up).

Yes, I've worn a lot of hats for the SPTS but I've never ran for an elected office.  Until now. 

I've said "it's time to give back" but it's more than that.  Those opportunities and experiences that I've had through these years has given me a skillset that I truly believe can help our Section continue to grow and evolve.

Don't get me wrong--we have the best Section in APTA.  No doubt.  3 publications.  An engaged membership.

But we can be bigger.   Better.  Stronger. 

I'll close with my favorite line of poetry from Browning:

    That low man goes on adding one to one

   His hundred's soon hit:

   This high man aiming at a million

   Misses an unit.

I believe the Sports Physical Therapy Section should aim for a million.  We have the shoulders of giants to stand on so the path is already there.

Vote for me and I'll do everything I can to see that we get there.

Joe Black, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC

Peggy's Knees

A lot of people around here know Peggy Bratt.  She is something of an institution at Alcoa High School. 

Once, there was a rumor (untrue) that she might be moved from the sidelines at AHS.  I received death threats on that one.  The Alcoa community loves Peggy and Peggy loves them.  And especially her kids.

Those that have been around a while will also recall how painful it used to be to see Peggy run onto the football field.

You see, Peggy has had bad knees for all of her adult life, dating back to her high school days. 

She arrived at Maryville College in 1986 with the intention of playing basketball and softball.  Alas, her 3rd ACL surgery ended her basketball career.  She was able to continue with softball but let's just say that running the bases was not a particular strength for her. 

One good sidebar on the story is that all these knee problems gave her the career that she now has a passion for.  In my mind, Peggy was always meant to be an Athletic Trainer. 

So in 2008, at age 40, Peggy consented to her a Total Knee Replacement on her left  knee.  This surgery, performed by the now retired Dr. Ken Bell of Maryville Orthopedic Clinic, was a huge success.  Although there were still some problems to deal with on her other knee, Peggy's mobility was vastly improved. 

The active lifestyle that was given back to Peggy by this surgery allowed her to exercise more vigorously and more regularly, resulting in a weight loss of 60 pounds.  She continued to play basketball, although maybe a bit more cautiously now.

Move ahead 5  years and it was time for a Total Knee Replacement on her other knee.  This time, her Alcoa High School team physician, Dr. Mike Campbell, performed the surgery.

And again, the results were outstanding.  Peggy's limp is barely noticeable and she has continued to play half-court basketball.  The active lifestyle that she had rediscovered continues to this day and isn't likely to abate for many years to come. 

I talked to Dr. Campbell of Maryville Orthopedic Clinic, who did this second surgery, who said "studies have shown that your overall health will improve if you have this (Total Knee Replacement) done.  And it's not just your physical health but your mental health as well.  With rare exceptions, you will be able to return to a more active lifestyle and at the least, will have significantly reduced pain."

I asked Peggy if she would do it again (knowing pretty much what the answer would be).  She said "in a heartbeat!"  The lifestyle that it has given her has proven well worth the surgery and the rehab.

Dr. Campbell and I compared notes a bit on what we hear from patients when they are through with the process, and we found that we both hear often that "I wish I had done this a long time ago."

Maybe playing basketball isn't on the approved list of activities (cutting activities and stop-and-go sports put a lot of stress on the replaced joint) but the bottom line is that there is still a long list of activities that you might have assumed that you would never do again that are back on your list.

Retirement? Nah...

This week, I got asked for the millionth time  "are you still working." 

Well...yes.  I'm 61, consider myself pretty decent at what I do, and really have no plans to retire.  Oh I suppose I will retire eventually but right now I'm having too much fun.

I still look forward to coming to work in the morning (I also look forward to going home to my wife of 38 years).  And I do manage to play a bit.  The bike (which you probably hear too much about), hiking (with my wife-we especially like to find waterfalls), my grandkids. 

A buddy is getting me started in fly fishing and I just bought my first fishing license in probably 30 years.  So life is good and full and meaningful and rewarding. 

I've also said too many times that I'll give up my day job before I'll give up walking the football sidelines with George Quarles.  That's a gig that pretty much everybody would want to trade with me on. 

What is age, anyway?  Didn't President Reagan take office at 72?  I've said for many years that age is a number and now I'm fast approaching the age where it is time to put up or shut up.

So what does it take to keep those golden years golden?

I met a lady this week that was 62, looked 42, and rode a bike like she was 22.  She was asked by somebody else what the secret was.

Her answer:  Exercise and nutrition.

It should come as no surprise that I agree with that, but for most, there's a lot more to it than that.

Like genetics.  If your parents were healthy into their senior years, your chances just went up.  If they died young...well...you better go that extra mile.

And lifestyle.  You parents are more likely to have done manual labor, slept 8 hours a night, and eaten food that came from local providers. 

Most jobs today don't involve physical effort.  Even my job requires me to spend too much time in front of a computer (which I'm doing at this moment, by the way).  Lots of jobs are like that. 

I can tell you that in health care, paperwork is at times overwhelming.  Back in those early days, we spent a lot more time in direct patient care.  It seems now that the ratio of patient care to paper work is about 1:1. 

And nobody likes it.  Nobody.

Our lives today are so full (which is a good thing) and hectic (which isn't always) that it hardly leaves time for us to do those things that we know are good for us.  Like exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and laugh a lot.

What?  Laugh a lot?  What's that got to do with it?  

Check the research.  Those that laugh a lot live longer.  And that sometimes means time away from work, exercise, maybe even family. 

It means that we hang out with friends and relax and enjoy conversation and camaraderie.  It means we laugh at ourselves and see humor in things all around us. 

Didn't see that one coming, huh.

So...how do you sustain lifestyle changes?

I spoke to a local group last week.  Mostly about how to sustain an exercise program and a bit about nutrition.

This was a group that had just completed a company-sponsored walking program where they kept up with their steps during the day with a pedometer.  There was some friendly competition involved but mostly it was about working toward better health. 

Oh, a couple of them admitted that they were doing it for the financial reward but most were genuinely interested in doing it for their health. 

My question for them was how do you sustain it.  How do you keep going with this really great path you've started down without the incentives of competition, reward, and acknowledgement?

When the clock goes off in the morning and you haven't slept well and it's a lot easier just to hit the snooze button and skip the workout? 

Or you didn't have time to pack your lunch and you're hungry and so working out at lunch just won't work today?  Or the kids called and you've now got something after work to take care of that wasn't 

on your schedule. 

Plain and simple--it is hard to sustain regular exercise.  I can't tell you how many times I've watched someone join our gym and be on fire for exercise only to fizzle out in a few short months.

Life too often gets in the way.

But it can be done.  Look at it this way:  It has to become part of your life. 

You won't skip meals (you need to eat to live).  You won't skip sleep (that one will eventually fix itself).  You won't skip bathing (please).  You won't skip brushing your teeth.

See, there's a lot of things in your life that are simply part of your life, that can't be passed up.  I would like to suggest that daily exercise is in the same category.

If you want good health, you will exercise regularly.  And eat better.   Both have to become part of your life to be truly sustainable over a lifetime.

My wife and I have a new mantra:  eat to live, not live to eat.  Oh, we enjoy our food but we're totally committed to eating what is healthy for us.  Good meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts.

At the end, I had an interesting question from this group.  "If you had to choose between a regular soda and a soda with artificial sweetener, which would you choose?"

This was after a tirade about the evils of sugar.

With only a moment's hesitation, I said that I would drink the regular soda but I really didn't drink sodas of any kind. 

Afterwards, I had a chance to reflect on that answer.  I think that my answer was based on this:  I know what's in sugar and I know what it will do.  I don't know what's in the artificial sweetener.  We simply don't know what affect it has on our body.

I've also said this many times in recent months--what we now know is that dietary fat is not the culprit we always thought it was.  Science has proven that.  The bad stuff is that refined flour and refined sugar.

Significantly reduce those things from your diet and you've taken another giant step toward good health.

Saying Thanks

I was talking just this week with one of the best men Blount County has produced.  I'll not identify him here (I prefer to stay on the good side of federal law) but let's just say that his surgical skills were legendary.

He called me over and said "Joe, I've got a column idea for you.  Have you ever thought about writing a column about how people ought to express their appreciation, their gratitude more often?"

I decided then and there that it was definitely worthy of a column.

Some of you may recall the story of how my high school football coach  was such a great influence on me.  In a nutshell, I was an underachieving high school sophomore when I overheard him tell another teacher at my school "if he works at it, he can be a good one."

My work ethic after that became if not legendary, at least of  epic proportions when compared to the freshman Joe Black.  In other words, I decided to get to work.  I haven't stopped since.

And it all goes back to that high school football coach. 

Have I taken the opportunity to tell him how much I appreciated him?  Oh yeah.  Many times.  Every chance I get, really.

When I was inducted into the Blount County Sports Hall of Fame, I invited him to come.  Much to my surprise, he came. 

I hope you don't take it as any disrespect for the Hall of Fame, it is a tremendous honor and I am proud to be a member, but the greater honor was the presence of my high school football coach.  Such was the esteem that I held for him. 

But you know what...that sort of thing happens all the time. Coaches, teachers, and others shape the lives of young people every day.  

It probably happens more often for coaches, since they get our attention so thoroughly.   It is part of the job and even the reason a lot of coaches get into the business anyway. 

I mean, don't we all want to make a difference? 

Another person that had a lot of influence on my was a high school English teacher at my school.  It's not unfair to say that until I got in his class, English was not my best subject.  I've also said here before that there are English teachers galore rolling over in their graves that I've written a newspaper column for 29 years.

But he changed all that.  He stirred those creative fires.  He broadened my horizons.  His impact on my life was much more subtle than the football coach.  It took me years to truly appreciate what he had done for me.

I had never had much opportunity to tell him how much I appreciated his influence on me until we sat near each other at a Clayton Center concert last year.  I didn't pass on that opportunity. 

So how about you?  Is there a teacher or coach or other person that was a positive influence on your life?  Have you taken the opportunity to tell them about it?  To tell them how much you appreciate them?

Don't miss any opportunity that you might have.  Those opportunities diminish as the years go by.

And to that much-loved doctor:  Let me say how much I appreciate the professionalism and dedication that you displayed for so many years in this community.  You set standards that everyone in health care should aspire to.  You have certainly been a role model for me.