Surgeon was UT's team doctor, member of athletic halls of fame

1/15/2005

Dr. Ned B. Hein, 86, an orthopedic surgeon and physician for athletic teams at the University of Toledo, died Monday in the Lake Park nursing home. He was at Lake Park since a stroke about a year ago, said his son, Dr. Ned Hein, Jr., who is a dentist.

The elder Dr. Hein, formerly of Sylvania, was athletic much of his life. He lettered in baseball and track at Dartmouth College and later was a golfer, bowler, and runner. He took part in Senior Olympics field events - javelin throw and shot put - into his 80s.

He retired from his medical practice in the late 1980s. He was UT team physician from the early 1960s until his retirement.

"He was a special person and, man, did he know his knees," Frank X. Lauterbur, former UT head football coach, said. "Nothing was coddled. The guys knew Dr. Hein. He was going to tell it like it was. There wasn't a time he wasn't ready to see somebody or take care of somebody."

Dr. Hein attended every football and men's basketball game. He also volunteered his services to several Toledo high schools.

"He really found it very gratifying to be able to take something that was broken, torn, or whatever and be able to replace it or restore it to as near as perfect function as possible," his son said.

Dr. Hein was inducted into the Toledo City Athletic League Hall of Fame in 1986 and into the Varsity T Hall of Fame at UT in 1992. Inducted posthumously into Varsity T that year was his father, Dr. Barney Hein, also an orthopedic surgeon and UT team physician.

Dr. Hein's office was in the former Secor Hotel, Jefferson Avenue and Superior Street. He had a common-sense approach and believed "the patients tell you what's wrong if you listen well enough," his son said.

Dr. Hein was a graduate of Scott High School, Dartmouth, and the Ohio State University medical school. He was an Army captain at Chanute Field in Rantoul, Ill., after World War II.

He was the physician for several companies, including Doehler-Jarvis.

"He was not a verbose man. He could listen to 30 minutes of conversation and sum the thing up in a sentence and hit the nail right on the head," his son said. "He was a no-nonsense kind of guy, but he was always very fair and always very just."

Dr. Hein and his wife, Virginia, married in January, 1945. She died Sept. 9, 1986.

Surviving are his son, Dr. Ned, Jr.; daughters, Linda Hein and Stephanie Child; sisters, Marilyn Skinner, Lorene Cameron, and Jean Wise, and brother, Barney J.

There will be no visitation or services. Arrangements are by the Walker Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to a charity of the donor's choice.