Tackling new role as doctor for poor
Ex49ers linebacker McColl realizing passion
Milt McColl has retired twice — from the NFL and later the business world. But the 6foot6 exlinebacker is not going to spend a lot of time on golf courses.
In fact, he’s ready for this third act: as a family doctor taking care of poor people three decades after finishing medical school.
“Fortunately, the businesses I was in did reasonably well, so it gave me the freedom to do what I wanted to do,” he said.
His recent work at a free medical clinic in San Francisco “made me realize how much I enjoyed that part of my life,” McColl said. “As we get older, we’re all going to find multiple careers. You need new energy in your life. I turn 60 this fall. It’s time to do something different. I think I can be a doctor for 20 more years. I just have a passion for it.”
McColl played seven years as a backup outside linebacker and specialteams player for the 49ers and one for the Raiders, not bad for an undrafted free agent out of Stanford. He played in two of the 49ers’ Super Bowl wins.
In the first half of Super Bowl XVI, the team’s first championship game, he recovered a fumble by Cincinnati’s Archie Griffin at the 4yard line on a kickoff. The play set up a field goal that gave San Francisco a 200 lead. The 49ers picked up a 2621 win, the first of their five Super
Bowl victories.
The recovery and that victory in Pontiac, Mich., were the highlights of his career, McColl said. “It was way more fun that we won that game,” he said.
He and Rick Gervais — also a rookie from Stanford that season and the man who caused the fumble — and several other players from that 49ers team get together once or twice a year. “There were a lot of great moments,” McColl said. “We lived the glory years of the 49ers.”
McColl followed his famous father, Bill, not only to Stanford and the NFL but into a medical career. The senior McColl was a twotime AllAmerican on the Farm who finished fourth in the 1951 Heisman Trophy voting.
He played tight end for eight years for the Chicago Bears. He was so good that, when he arrived, Chicago head coach George Halas switched practices from the afternoon to the morning to accommodate McColl’s med school classes.
Milt received far different treatment from 49ers head coach Bill Walsh.
After being ignored in the 1981 draft, McColl didn’t think he’d get to play in the NFL. So he applied to Stanford Medical School. He landed a tryout with the 49ers, and in the same week in training camp, he found out that he was accepted and, to his surprise, had made the team, too.
Pretty soon, he and Walsh had a very brief and pointed conversation.
“I think you’re focusing on other things” than football, Walsh said. “If you can’t get your act together, we’re going to have to find somebody else.”
McColl phoned his dad for advice. Bill McColl told him, “You’ve got to show you’re committed. Be the first one to practice and the last to leave. Watch more film. Do more workouts. Do everything you can to convince them you’re passionate about what you’re doing.”
His son did as he was told. “I guess it worked,” Milt said. Walsh backed off.
McColl couldn’t believe his good luck that season. “Next thing you know, we’re winning a Super Bowl,” he said. “It was a Cinderella year, of course,” with Joe Montana and Dwight Clark.
After his NFL career, McColl finished med school, did his internship and got his license. He was going to practice orthopedics but got involved with people who were starting an orthopedic equipment company.
“I was going to do it for one year and go back and do my residency,” he said. “That one year turned into 25plus years.”
That included seven years running a division for Boston Scientific, a large medical technology company. He later moved into the venturecapital business for a few years and retired about five years ago.
He had kept his doctor’s license and worked once a month at Clinic by the Bay, a free clinic in San Francisco for the indigent and people who have jobs but can’t afford insurance.
“I loved being a doctor again,” he said. “I realized I didn’t know very much. There was a lot to learn. Somehow I got this crazy idea to go back and do a residency.”
He had to convince his wife, Cindy, and their four sons that he was following his passion.
One of those sons, Patrick, a 6foot6 first baseman for Ivy League champion Harvard, was drafted by the A’s in the 10th round this year after a senior season in which he hit a teamhigh .387, set a program record with 70 hits and hit a walkoff grand slam against rival Yale.
Milt worked with the Stanford Family Medicine Program and graduated June 28 after a threeyear residency. He’ll work halftime at Valley Medical Center in San Jose.
“I’m loving it,” the good doctor said.