Champ Lyons: an incomplete life.

The life of Champ Lyons, MD, is presented, with emphasis on his tenure as Chairman of the Department of Surgery of the Medical College of Alabama (University of Alabama in Birmingham School of Medicine) from 1950 until 1965. Before becoming chairman Dr. Lyons, as an esteemed microbiologist, participated in the early use of penicillin in wounded servicemen during World War II. Later in his career, he made many contributions to the emerging disciplines of vascular and cardiac surgery. After a brief illness in 1965, Dr. Lyons expired due to a brain tumor. His relatively brief career and his unanticipated sudden demise have lessened the fame of Dr. Lyons to which he is justly entitled. It is the purpose of this presentation to reawaken the surgical community to the importance of this giant of American surgery.