Tribute to 50 years and a look forward

Abstract

Welcome to the 50th Annual Meeting and anniversary celebration of the Southwestern Surgical Congress. This is a historic meeting! Earlier this morning, highlights of the contributions of the Congress have been very eloquently presented. I think we can all agree that the scientific contributions of the Southwestern Surgical Congress during our previous 49 meetings have been significant. It seems proper and fitting as part of our 50th anniversary celebration to review some of the historical aspects of our Congress. Three previous presidents, Dr. Howard D. Cogswell in 1961, Dr. John A. Growdon in 1967, and Dr. Albert J. Kukral in 1982, presented historical aspects of the Southwestern Surgical Congress as their Presidential Address. In 1985, Dr. Claude H. Organ edited a review of the history of the Southwestern Surgical Congress from 1948 to 1985. I just received The American Journal of Surgery supplement to the March issue honoring our 50th anniversary. Our thanks to the editors, Dr. Feliciano, and Dr. Organ for a fine job. Dr. Organ has updated the history through the present. I may repeat some of his effort, but many of you may have not read it, and perhaps I can offer some additional interesting information. History is often defined in part by the individuals involved at the time. For example, in considering the history of World War II, the names Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall, Patton, and others come to mind. So it was with the Southwestern Surgical Congress. Much of our history involves the impact and contributions of many individuals. I intend to illustrate the history of the Southwestern Surgical Congress by noting the participation of several such individuals. Over 50 years ago, three surgeons had a particularly prominent role in the formation and organization of the Southwestern Surgical Congress. Dr. Walter G. Stuck was an orthopedic surgeon in San Antonio. He was born in 1905 and reared in Jonesboro, Arkansas. After graduating from Emory University, he completed his medical education at Washington University in St. Louis and served his internship at the University of Michigan Hospital. He served as a Fellow at the Mayo Clinic and received his Master of Science in orthopedic surgery. When he settled in San Antonio to practice, he became a leader and a talented investigator. He collaborated on pioneering work on the internal fixation of fractures and the introduction of nonactive metals, such as vitallium, into the field of orthopedics. His book, The Internal Fixation of Fractures, is considered a classic in its field. Before World War II, he had arranged for the papers from the Texas Surgical Society to be published in The Southern Surgeon, which was owned by the Southeastern Surgical Congress. During this time, he had developed many friendships with surgeons in that region. In 1947, Dr. Stuck attended the annual meeting of the Southeastern Surgical Congress in Hollywood Beach, Florida, where Dr. Frank K. Boland, Jr., of Atlanta first suggested the possibility of a sister organization in the Southwestern part of the United States. The following year, in April 1948, Dr. Stuck was a speaker at the Southeastern Surgical Congress in Miami and he visited at length with Dr. B. T. Beasley and Dr. R. L. Sanders. They emphasized the need for a regional surgical society in the southwestern part of the United States, and together they began formulating plans for a regional surgical society. Dr. Ben T. Beasley was born in 1884 in rural Georgia and was a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (Emory) in Atlanta. He practiced surgery in Atlanta with a special interest in gynecology. Dr. Beasley was a surgeon Charles H. McCollum, MD