Another Interesting Dick Klitch Story
Dick and I meet for breakfast fairly often . Monday, August 23, it was at Spiro’s on McKinley just above Fifth Ave. From there, I go on down to Columbus State Community College to tutor math. Dick and I grew up in Mound Park in Portsmouth Ohio and have maintained our friendship throughout our adult lives.
Dick related another of his bits of wisdom in this story. I call Dick the “Dean” of tennis teaching pros in Columbus Ohio and he is widely appreciated in Columbus, Huntington WV and Portsmouth OH for his “meat and potatoes“ teaching skills. Jeanie and I witnessed his excellent teaching up close and personally as we watched him give a lesson to our fourteen year old granddaughter, Tobey Kegley, in early August.
This story was about one of his tennis teaching young pros he had working with him. He thought the young fellow may have had some promise so he assigned him to present a series of instructional clinics for some of Columbus’ most influential ladies who lived in Bexley, the well to do and mainly Jewish suburb in Columbus.
After the clinics proceeded, Dick had heard some rumblings and became a little uneasy about the progress. A couple of the ladies came to Dick and told him that he must do something to change the course of the instructions. “All the young pro wants to do is talk and that is how he conducts the clinics. We also were interested in hitting tennis balls in improving our games.”
Dick called the pro in and asked him how it was going. The man thought it was going ok. Dick then told him of hearing complaints and told him what the complaints were. Sensing no remorse from the recipient, Dick issued him a moratorium: “You have one more clinic to do and if it doesn’t go better, it will be your last for me.” The young fellow left and was not at all happy with the warning. However, he apparently did some soul searching and improved his teaching performance.
Dick also related that he had probably saved the gentleman’s life in a round about way. Dick had each of his teaching pros undergo a physical. The doctor conducting the physical had the patients fill out a seven page history. An input that his glove size kept changing rapidly tipped the doctor to have him further examined for a suspected disease. The results indicated the man had acromegaly (see below) and Dick referred it as a disease in which the extremities become far stronger, in proportion, than the other parts of the body. Reportedly, Andre the Giant, the 7 foot four inch wrestler, had the disease referenced to as gigantism. Besides physical discomforts, it can possibly lead to early death. A surgeon recommended a delicate surgery whereby an operating instrument was inserted up and under the facial skin to a place under the upper forehead to repair the pituitary gland in the brain.
Dick remembered that he had noticed the extreme strength of the fellow’s handshake when he first met him. He was only about five foot nine, but the size of his hands and his grip was extraordinary beyond expectations, particularly for a man of his stature. Dick is six foot four.
The operation was successful and the gentleman is still among us as he ages now. The fellow was later hired as a Midwest university tennis coach, thanks to Dick’s recommendation to the Athletics Director.
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Acromegaly
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Acromegaly
Classification and external resources
Acromegaly (pronounced /ˌækrɵˈmɛɡəli/; from Greek άκρος akros "extreme" or "extremities" and μεγάλος megalos "large") is a syndrome that results when the pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone (hGH) after epiphyseal plate closure at puberty. A number of disorders may increase the pituitary's GH output, although most commonly it involves a GH producing tumor called pituitary adenoma, derived from a distinct type of cell (somatotrophs).
Acromegaly most commonly affects adults in middle age,[1] and can result in severe disfigurement, serious complicating conditions, and premature death if unchecked. Because of its insidious pathogenesis and slow progression, the disease is hard to diagnose in the early stages and is frequently missed for many years, until changes in external features, especially of the face, become noticeable.
Acromegaly is often also associated with gigantism.
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