Wendell Weston Sumner -- Student Athlete and Physician

 

Wendell W. "Doc" Sumner has been immortalized as a basketball great of the 1930's and later a Fort Worth physician.  . As a high school senior in Athens, Texas, Sumner helped capture Texas' first national basketball championship in 1929 while playing on the team that is widely regarded as the best in Texas high school basketball history. 

That same year, he enrolled at Texas Christian University and played on the freshman football and basketball teams, both of which went undefeated.  He moved to the varsity football and basketball teams, helping TCU win its first Southwest Conference basketball title in 1931.  In 1932, as team captain, Sumner was named to the Helms Foundation All-America basketball team.  He also became the first TCU player to receive All-Southwest Conference honors three years in a row. 

But despite his athletic potential, there was never any doubt that Wendell would follow his father’s footsteps into a medical career.  After graduating from TCU in 1933, Sumner attended the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.  After his graduation he served four years as a flight surgeon during World War II before returning to Fort Worth in 1946 and setting up a practice as a general physician.

He was honored in 1983 by the Retired Frontier Alliance Pilots, a group of retired Frontier Airlines pilots, for his work in certifying fliers for the airline.  Before he retired, Sumner devoted most of his work to giving physical examinations to pilots.

Sumner was inducted into the Texas Boys Basketball Hall of Fame in 1974 and into the TCU Letterman's Association Hall of Fame in 1980.

Sumner, who was born on April 11, 1910 in Greene County, Missouri, died of cancer on Monday, July 2, 1984 at his home in Fort Worth, Texas.  He was 74 years old.  He was married to the former Dorothy Jacob of Fort Worth and they were the parents of two daughters and one son.  Wendell and Dorothy are buried in the Greenwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Wendell Sumner at his daughter Libby's wedding

 

LINEAGE:

(Wendell Weston Sumner was the son of Weston Columbus and Arpha Elizabeth Reynolds Sumner, grandson of Aaron Cornelius and Martha Caroline Bridges Sumner and great-grandson of Orren D. and Mary Elizabeth Hixon Bridges.  Orren was the first child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)