Longtime North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) member, William Thomas Hardaker, MD, died on Dec. 4, 2015 at the age of 73. An orthopaedist practicing in Durham, Dr. Hardaker was a 31-year member of NCMS, serving on the Sports Medicine Committee since 1998, and a 30-year member of the NC Orthopaedic Association.
He received a BA degree in 1963from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a four-year starter/letterman on the football team, serving as its captain his senior year. He was an aviator in the United States Marine Corps, flying over 285 combat mi
ssions in Vietnam and Laos.
He attended Duke University School of Medicine from 1969 to 1973 and completed his orthopaedic residency training at Duke in 1979. Dr. Hardaker became a member of the Duke orthopaedic faculty where his diverse clinical/teaching interests included pediatric orthopaedics/scoliosis surgery, spine trauma and sports medicine. . In this capacity as the Duke Orthopaedic Resident Program Director, he recruited and trained more than 250 orthopaedic residents and his unwavering dedication to the program earned him the endearing nickname “The Rock.”
Dr. Hardaker was active in the community, serving as team physician for a wide variety of college sports, including Duke football, lacrosse and basketball teams and serving as an attending orthopaedic surgeon for the American Dance Festival. Dr. Hardaker was an active participant in Pediatric Outreach Clinics throughout North Carolina, including in Lumberton (Robeson County), Carteret, Sampson and Columbus counties. For his service, he was twice named Robeson County Physician of the Year.
We extend our sympathies to his family.
The doctor repaired my broken left calcaneous in the eighties. My friend, an orthopod in Hawaii, was amazed that postoperative I had no limp or other problems. Forever indebted. Also admire that like my father he was a marine fighter pilot