Frank H.Bassett III, MD, left

by Don Evans

Prior to his death in March, internationally recognized orthopedic surgeon Frank H. Bassett III, MD, learned of the establishment of the Frank Bassett Chair in Orthopedics at Duke.

Bassett’s friends and colleagues gathered Dec. 3, 2006 in the Nasher Museum of Art to acknowledge his contributions to their lives and to medicine, and to announce they had succeeded in raising funds to establish the chair.

Bassett, a retired professor of
orthopedic surgery at the Duke School of Medicine, served as head team physician
for Duke Athletics for 30 years. Bassett died in his sleep on March 6.

“No one embodies the essence of a team physician—the training, skills and heart—like Frank Bassett,” said Claude T. Moorman III, T’83, MD, HS’87-’93, director of Duke Sports Medicine and current head team physician, at the Dec. 3 event with Bassett in attendance.

He called Bassett “the ultimate example of a team doctor.”

Guest speaker Samuel I. Brown, MD, HS’79-’85, an orthopedic surgeon with the Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Chesapeake, Va., who studied under Bassett, drew laughter when he described how Bassett would prepare to operate on some patients: he’d take a blue pen, write “Go Duke” on the patient’s skin and then cut right through it with a scalpel.

But Bassett’s influence reached far beyond those patients he touched with his own scalpel. According to Brown, Bassett taught 350 orthopedic residents and fellows during his time at Duke.

Panayotis N. Soucacos, MD, HS’74, one of several students who traveled from Greece to learn under Bassett, told the audience that Bassett was noted for his honesty, vision, hard work, and friendship.

Soucacos, a professor and chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery in the School of Medicine at the University of Ioannina in Ioannina, Greece, presented Bassett with a framed, 16th-century engraving of a map of Greece. On the back of the frame were the names of all the Greek fellows who participated in the Duke program.

“You have magic, and you have spread that magic,” said Duke basketball
coach Mike Krzyzewski. “You were a team player. You performed harder than anyone. Thank you from all the coaches and players that have had you on their team.”

“I love Duke very much, and I love the people here very much,” Bassett told the audience on Dec. 3. “I really appreciate the things that have been said and the wonderful gifts. Thanks to you, Coach K, and to the Greek gods. These gifts will be cherished forever.”