As you know, in high school those who were on the teams had to skip classes so they weren't exactly the brightest candles on the cake
You're over-generalizing athletes. Some of them *are* that smart.
There was Detroit Lions starting wide receiver who got his MD while he was still playing. Granted, it took him longer than it would a full-time med student. I also remember a starter at Michigan (one of the major "football factory" programs) that left the team a year earlier than expected (by the fans, who don't follow players' academic careers unless it impacts an individual's eligibility) because he was entering the Harvard Law School.
There are people out there who are both extremely smart and extremely athletic.
Also remember that we are talking about a period when the NFL season was shorter (I *think* that it was 12 games during the Korean War era) and when "off season mini-camps" and year round work-out schedules were completely unheard of. So football would *only* impact his schedule in fall semesters.
Now, if you want to argue that he was a bit young to have made it all the way through the neurosurgery sub-specialty with his reduced fall semester schedules, that's one thing (though, it's always possible that he looked several years younger than he was; some people are like that). However, arguing that nobody could possibly have both of those aptitudes just doesn't fly.
In terms of the logistics of possibilities, it is possible that he balanced the light fall class schedules with heavy schedules in the winters and some summer classes.
It's also entirely possible that he only played pro football for a few years and then retired when it came time to do his residency and his surgical specializations. Remember that we are talking about an era when many pro athletes still had other jobs in the off season. Stars didn't have to do that, but even they weren't getting set-for-life money like we are used to being the norm now. He almost certainly stood to make more money as a surgeon than as a football player, so that's not an unreasonable option.
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