By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Pat Palumbo, a prominent orthopedic surgeon who was team physician for the Washington Redskins and the Washington Capitals, died Oct. 25 of colon cancer at Inova Fairfax Hospital. He was 77.
Dr. Palumbo, a McLean resident who practiced in Northern Virginia for 40 years, tended to the busted knees, pulled muscles, bruised heels and various other injuries sustained by Redskins players from 1971 to 1976 and Capital players from 1976 to 1981. A 1979 Washington Post article about disabling injuries among the hockey players commented that "knee surgery alone had kept orthopedic surgeon Pat Palumbo sharpening his scalpel without respite."
A specialist in sports medicine, general surgery and knee and shoulder surgery, Dr. Palumbo practiced at Inova Fairfax Hospital for 40 years and had privileges at Arlington and Reston hospitals. He invented one of the first patellar stabilizing knee braces, used today by thousands of athletes worldwide.
In his practice, he saw a range of people with bad knees. "A college player, a professional hockey player, one Little League player, one housewife, one woman -- a recreational worker -- who hurt her knee high jumping," he said in a 1975 Post article.
As team physician for the Redskins, Dr. Palumbo treated his patients on the field in view of tens of thousands of stadium spectators and millions more on television. From the sidelines, he kept his eyes focused on the action, ready to rush onto the field if a player appeared to be injured.
"The job itself -- the practice of medicine on the football field -- is not difficult," he said. "In fact, I find it enjoyable. It's the peripheral problems that are difficult." He noted, for example, times when he felt a player should be taken out of the game but the player disagreed.
Pasquale Michael Palumbo Jr. was born in Newark, the son of parents who emigrated from Southern Italy as teenagers. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1952 and from the University of Bologna School of Medicine in Italy in 1957.
"My dad always described school as a vacation and an 'escape from the coal trucks,' " said his daughter, Marie Lyons of Vienna. "He loved to tell the story of his mother, nine months pregnant, taking him to Georgetown University and, in a heavily accented English, persuading the president of the college to take a chance on her son . . . because she knew how smart he was."
He trained in orthopedics at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center from 1960 to 1963 and then taught at Georgetown as an assistant clinical professor.
Dr. Palumbo served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports from 1982 to 1986. He was a member of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, American College of Surgeons and Fairfax County Medical Society.
A witty man who enjoyed cooking, he took pride in his family and his heritage. His children and grandchildren traveled with him to Italy, where he had a home in Florence. He retired in 2003 after the diagnosis of cancer.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife, Joan Palumbo, from whom he was separated, of Ashburn; four other children, Dr. Patrick Palumbo of Warrenton, Carol Ann Price and Patricia Palumbo-Williams, both of Vienna, and Thomas Palumbo of Charlottesville; seven brothers, Salvatore Palumbo of Oakton, Vincent Palumbo of Annapolis, Richard Palumbo of Port Tobacco, and Michael Palumbo, Nicholas Palumbo, Leonard Palumbo and Robert Palumbo, all of Clark, N.J.; a sister, Marie Lovelace of Seminole, Fla.; his companion, Margeret Ahbe of Vienna; and 12 grandchildren.