SEA ISLAND – Life has thrown Tommy Lawhorne, the A+ linebacker, a curve ball, but the valedictorian of his class, Academic all-America surgeon, and goodwill ambassador extraordinaire has taken a stiff–upper-lip approach to managing his illness—just as his friends would have predicted for the handsome native of Sylvester.
Those who become informed about his circumstance first need to understand that it is not football related. He does not have Alzheimer’s, and he can lead a productive and fulfilling life following the dictates of an inquiring mind.
He has been diagnosed with cognitive impairment and is focusing on a healthy diet, engaging in daily exercise, and playing brain games on the computer. He appreciates the importance of staying socially active, which is not a challenge in that he has friends across the state. “I sleep well, and although I am not as quick mentally as I used to be, I am confident I will be oaky,” he said recently, following lunch with friends.
“Many of us have what Tommy has,” says his friend and fellow physician Mixon Robinson, longtime UGA team orthopedist. “It just varies with the individual.”
Lawhorne’s charming wife, Susan, who has always been his confidante and devoted companion, is the ultimate familial caregiver and continues to be his intellectual partner as well as dietitian and driver. They continue to travel and seek an inquisitive and probing lifestyle, which has always characterized their abundant lives.
How they met and became a lifelong couple is an interesting story. When UGA teammate Mark Holmes told his girlfriend that he had a friend who went to the library every night without fail, she smiled and said, “I have a friend who does that, too.” That turned out to be Susan. “We should get them introduced,” Mark said. They did. You know the rest of the story.
Studying together made them want to spend their lives together. It has been a staple of their marriage that they are constantly reading magazines and books.
Following retirement from his medical practice, the Lawhornes moved to Sea Island, which connected them geographically with their son, Tom III, also a doctor, and his family, who live a few streets away. Their daughter, Gervaise Gerstner, a highly regarded dermatologist in Manhattan, visits as often as possible. The Lawhornes, like most their age, are preoccupied with the activities of grandchildren.
Tommy gets the ultimate praise from the football players of his time, all who give him the highest compliment as being a good teammate. He always had a bent for humor, keen on wisecracking with them and springing practical jokes on them.
His roommate was Ronnie Jenkins, “Wild Bull of the Flatlands.” They were the odd couple—Tommy the engaging intellectual and Ronnie the aw-shucks country boy who entertained people with his toothless grin and downhome vernacular.
When the Athens Touchdown Club honored Jenkins last fall with one of its flashback tributes, Tommy made the trip to Athens to join in the celebration of Ronnie’s great game against Florida in 1966, the game which prevented Steve Spurrier from winning the SEC championship as a player.
Over the years when a fellow player was suffering, Tommy reached out to teammates to them know their friend was in distress. He counseled with family and friends. He attended funerals and wakes.
His friendship with Paul Handmacher was one of great poignancy. A South Georgia Southern Baptist and a Northside Atlanta Jewish kid were brought together by playing college football.
At the height of their professional years, Handmacher was given to calling his former teammate and driving 81 miles from Montgomery, Ala., to Columbus for lunch. Those were warm and emotionally fulfilling sessions when they recalled the high times of a successful college football program—and the gratifying benefits of a warm and enduring friendship.
They didn’t discuss religion, politics, the environment, the Middle East, or the national debt. They expressed their appreciation for having won an SEC championship in 1966, reminiscing about the plays and circumstances that brought the title about. There was talk about family and teammates, their love for alma mater and their pride in the University of Georgia’s growing reputation as an institution of higher learning.
When Tommy and Susan settled in at the Georgia coast, he discovered that state residents could enroll in classes at state supported institutions and audit courses. That was like Br’er Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch.
He continues that routine with the greatest of personal appreciation. Like a chocolate sundae with a cherry on top, growing up in Sylvester in the fifties—he just can’t get enough.
Proud of his small-town raising, he has often harked back to those days of his youth—he read constantly and did the things many Worth County boys did growing up. He went to Boy Scout camps, he hunted quail, he had a paper route. He played the piano. He even picked cotton. The first major book he read was the Bible.
When he was selected as a delegate to Boys Nation in 1963, he met President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Washington. He wrote the President a letter. Kenndy wrote him back.
My guess is that none of his classmates at Johns Hopkins had those experiences and, in all probability, never even read about such. This well roundedness has been an ally throughout his life—he has an undying love for his state and his alma mater.
He speaks endearingly of the teachers along the way, including his chemistry teacher in Sylvester. “He was so good,” Tommy says. “He made chemistry a breeze in Athens.” He had the same regard for his UGA professors when he got to Johns Hopkins. “I was well prepared,” he says.
Tommy Lawhorne is an intellectual who has always had the common touch. He has never had an issue or a challenge he could not manage, which should bode well for him with his latest challenge. History is on his side.