Quote:
Originally Posted by bigjack
It's general knowledge that Kurtenbach was the best fighter of the 1960's. His stand back style and long reach was impressive and he was very accurate and could throw great uppercuts. He was a boxer and Fergie was a brawler. They differed in style and also temperment as Kurtenbach never posted a 100 minute season in the NHL and averaged slightly under a minute a game for his career!
Kurtenbach's career was nearly ended in 1968 with a very serious back/spinal injury and only the great work of the late Rangers physican Dr Yanagisawa saved his career as well as Jean Ratelle's, Rod Gilbert's, Harry Howell's, Phil Jackson of the Knicks, and Eric Nesterenko of the Black Hawks. Dr Yanagisawa performed very radical spinal fusion surgeries that most predicted would leave the player unable to walk. Obviously that was wrong although Gilbert actually died on the operating table before being brought back to life in 1964. Back surgery is common today but not in the 1960's!
|
This is touching close to home BigJack , I died on the operating table during back/spinal fusion surgery years ago , my heart stopped , the reason it was such a traumatic operation was the length of time it took back then , I was on the operating table for six hours , the back still bothers me to this day .
Adam Graves had the same procedure on his back ..
By the way seen Adam at the OHL all-star game on Wednesday night in Windsor , he looks great ....