Richard King was called the butcher on the gridiron because of the way he chopped down opponents.
A broken leg ended a dream to play college ball, but it sparked an interest in medicine.
"I think he saw the power that doctors wield," said his daughter, Susan King Blair of Marietta. "He saw the power of healing."
Dr. King enjoyed a decades-long career as an orthopedic surgeon. But he considered being the first chairman and founder of the orthopedic surgery residency training program for Georgia Baptist Medical Center and Scottish Rite Hospital a crowning achievement.
Dr. Phillip Benton, a retired orthopedic surgeon in Jonesboro, studied under Dr. King. Back then, he said, PowerPoint demonstrations didn't exist. Dr. King still commanded attention.
"He made you think to learn," Dr. Benton said. "He didn't make you go home and memorize a bunch of slides. What he gave you was confidence that you could learn if you put forth the effort and the integrity. He was teaching all the time."
On April 12, Dr. Richard E. King of Atlanta died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at his home. He was 89. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. Cremation Society of the South in Marietta is in charge of arrangements.
Dr. King earned a bachelor's degree in science from the University of Chicago. He worked as a line cook for a local railroad company to help pay for college. He earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois. He was the resident orthopedic surgeon at Charity Hospital in New Orleans for three years before moving to Atlanta.
In 1951, he served as resident orthopedic surgeon at Decatur's Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children. He and the late Woodrow W. Lovell opened the Atlanta Orthopedic Clinic in the mid-1950s.
In 1969, he headed up the orthopedic residency training program for Georgia Baptist Medical Center -- now the Atlanta Medical Center -- and Scottish Rite Hospital, now called Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. The photographer, stamp collector and Army veteran held the post until he retired in 1995.
"It was a community-based program as opposed to a university-based program," Dr. Benton said. "The emphasis was on the practical application of principles in treating patients. He was inspirational."
Dr. Charles Hancock, an orthopedic surgeon in Thomasville, spent five years as a resident in Dr. King's program.
"He was a very creative, didactic perfectionist who demanded hard work out of his residents and his trainees," Dr. Hancock said. "He was a stickler about taking care of the patient no matter what their station in life or socioeconomic status."
Through the years, Dr. King served or presided over numerous organizations that include the Atlanta Orthopedic Society, the Georgia Orthopedic Society and the American Orthopedic Association. He traveled the world to lecture and teach. He wrote profusely and co-edited a book, "Fractures in Children."
"It's the end of a brilliant career," his daughter said.
Additional survivors include a son, Richard Michael Kingof Marietta; and two grandchildren.
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