Dan Adair, M.D., a much-loved Illinois surgeon who was devoted to sports medicine, has passed away. Dr. Adair, Medical Director of Orthopedic Services at Memorial Medical Center, Co-Director of the Orthopedic Group at Springfield Clinic, and Co-Medical Director at SportsCare of Illinois, gave his time to family, patients, and to creating sports medicine programs that would help protect athletes. Dr. Adair passed away on September 7, 2015 at the age of 61.
Dr. Adair is survived by his wife, Nancy; his two children Zach (Tacy), and Courtney (Nathan Karlsgodt); his two grandchildren, Piper and Beckett; his mother, Kay; his sister, Lorrie (Erik Moorhead); and numerous other nephews, nieces, relatives and friends.
A public visitation was held on September 10, 2015 at Butler Funeral Home in Springfield, Illinois.
For over 30 years, Dr. Adair was dedicated to his patients, family, and the community. Dr. Adair’s obituary noted that he was “renown not only for his acumen in the operating room, but also his willingness to engage personally with his patients.”
“Over the last few years, Dr. Adair also dedicated a significant amount of his energies towards improving the quality of care offered to orthopedic patients everywhere. Dr. Adair was a strong advocate, both regionally and nationally, for a statistic driven approach towards adopting uniform methodologies for removing inefficiencies and improving overall procedure success rates. His advocacy in this area will surely be carried on by others.”
Dr. Adair earned his medical degree at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois.
“It was here that Dr. Adair would meet his beloved wife, Nancy (Dawson) Adair. They were married shortly thereafter on June 17, 1978 in Springfield. Dr. Adair and Mrs. Adair then moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where they began a family, and Dr. Adair began his professional career as an intern and resident at the Bowman-Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University.”
Dr. Brett Wolters, an orthopedic surgeon at Springfield Clinic, delivered the eulogy for Dr. Adair. He said, “If Dan were here right now what would he tell me? ‘You better get your big boy pants on, Brett!!’”
“When I think of words to describe Dr. Dan Adair, these words come to mind: leadership, honesty, integrity, hardworking, and jovial. But most importantly…a private, loving, caring family man.
I always thought of him as a doctor, but I also thought of him as a leader, a visionary, a mentor and a dear friend. I, like many of you, were fortunate to have met him in medical school. He was the one that convinced me to do orthopedics, he was the one that convinced me to do sports medicine. I thrived on doing cases with him, even if it was a simple total knee. It was his ability and ease at teaching me as well as making me feel capable. We talked about medicine, politics, sports, beer, vacations, and always about our families. He was never in a rush and, in fact, we referred to the Memorial Orthopedic Floor 4B as Hotel Adair. It was because of my experiences with Dan that I joined the Springfield Clinic.
He built an outstanding orthopedic group, three sports medicine programs, and fostered a new era in orthopedics at the Springfield Clinic and Memorial. He trained over 90 residents over the past 30 years of his practice and countless medical and nursing students. Through his leadership he took our Orthopedic Group from 3 orthopedic surgeons to 15, 3 podiatrists and 3 primary care sports medicine providers, 10 mid-levels, and 3 surgical assists. At the time of his passing, he was the Co-Chairman of the Orthopedic Group at Springfield Clinic, while serving on numerous AAOS committees. He more recently devoted his time to improving the continuum of orthopedic care during for orthopedic procedures as the Medical Director of Orthopedic Services at Memorial Medical Center and optimized the health of maturing patients and athletes as Co-Medical Director of Memorial Medical Center SportsCare.
Why was he able to do these things when others could not? It was because he listened to people, whether it be his patients, colleagues or family. He put people at ease about their concerns. He was driven to help people and improve his patients as well as advance our practice of medicine. He would often make references to General Motors, Eisenhower, and the mouse running on the wheel. Sometimes there were obstacles, but he persevered.
As co-chairs of the Orthopedic Group, for 4 years, we shared this job, laughs, jokes, discussions, bouncing ideas off of one another, and a few beers along the way.”
Pete Stoll, Sports Medicine Coordinator at Springfield Clinic Sports Medicine, was friends and colleagues with Dr. Adair for more than 30 years. He said,
“It was the 1985 football season, and I was Dan’s athletic trainer, providing field coverage at local Friday night prep games. Dan came into the office one Monday morning and said he’d gotten a concerned call from one of his partners in the Family Practice Department who wanted to know who that was on the field Friday night. The family doctor told Dan that Sports Medicine was just a ‘gimmick’ to divert patients from his office to the orthopedist’s. Dan simply told him, ‘If you tell me you’ll be at every high school football game, I’ll pull my trainer off the field.’ That was the end of the discussion.
Thirty years later, Springfield has several local sports medicine programs, which Dan Adair helped create, and numerous athletic trainers covering nearly every varsity practice and game at high schools and colleges throughout the region. There’s no question in my mind that Dan Adair was the Father of Sports Medicine in the area. He transformed a ‘gimmick’ to one of the most successful and respected medical programs in central Illinois.”
Asked how Dr. Adair would probably like to remembered, Stoll noted,
“Dan would probably like to be remembered as a great surgeon, mentor and friend. He was intently focused on measuring performance and continually improving outcomes. He used his skills where they were most needed—first in the Sports Medicine arena, then later to help keep an aging boomer population active.
Dan didn’t stop at the clinical aspects of his role as an orthopedic surgeon. He was a tremendous mentor to so many area orthopedic surgeons. He was a tremendous athlete in his own right—not just talking the talk, but walking the walk as a tennis player, cyclist, runner and triathlete. Dan was a loving husband, and proud father and grandfather. He was a great friend and colleague. His death leaves a tremendous void in so many people’s lives.”
Dr. Adair practiced medicine like he lived—with great passion for excellence, ” said Randy Bryant, Springfield Clinic’s CEO, on their website. “He has been an integral part of Springfield Clinic and the medical community for so many years that his absence leaves a palpable void.”
The family has asked that any memorial donations be made in the name of Dr. Adair, to the Nature Conservancy. More information can be found at nature.org.
