J Douglas Smith MD

“I rarely wear underwear, and when I do it’s usually something unusual.” Hey, if you’re going to steal material, it might as well be from the great Bill Murray. (Stripes -1981) I sometimes wish I had more of that free-spirit element in my make-up, and I suppose that I do have at least a little flair for the exciting inside me. At any rate, I have learned to be content with a more rigid tighty-whitey existence, and I have come to know that everyone, including me, lives a life that expresses stark differences and even polar opposites, often at the same time.

Surrounded by immigrants from the South, I grew up lower middle-class in a unionized factory environment in the Midwestern United States. I made it out of that culture of honor to go to college and medical school. I wrote a candid reflection on all the trials and tribulations that went along with traveling from that GM/UAW hillbilly haven to medical school, practicing medicine for thirty years, and being blessed to be able to transition into coaching high school basketball.

That’s where I am presently. Instead of a stethoscope, I now have a whistle around my neck most of the time. In keeping with a theme expressed in my book, “Sorty Makin’ a Doctor,” I am finding that even in basketball life is not all good or all bad. Fortunately, the scale currently balances way to the good side. I foresee myself staying in this game for a long time, but one never knows for sure what the future holds. I’ll let you know.