Max the Knife

It was a balmy early September evening in 1998. The event was the annual fund-raiser for the Missouri Delta Medical Center and I was the guest of honor; to receive a meritorious service award and recognition for services performed as a surgeon for more than four decades as well as my work in various community projects and promotions.This was the second annual fund-raising event sponsored by the Missouri Delta Medical Center Foundation. The first one the year before had paid tribute to Judge Marshall Craig a distinguished circuit court jurist a legal icon in our region and an all-American basketball player at the University of Missouri during his college days.It was my privilege to introduce the out-of-town special guests in attendance that had come to honor Judge Craig. The president of the University of Missouri Dr. George Russell originally from Bertrand Missouri a small town just east of Sikeston and the renowned coach of the University of Missouri Tigers basketball team for more than twenty-five years Coach Norman Stewart had traveled down from Columbia Missouri to help honor Judge Craig.