Memorial Hospital’s New Coach

ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Comments

Printer friendly

iPod friendly version

Share and Enjoy

Text Size: A A A A

WRITER: Andy Johns     PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark Gilliland

With the game tied in the final inning, the batter loops a sinking line drive to left-center field. As the runner on second bolts for third, the baseball skips past coach Hobson’s diving leftfielder before being scooped up by the centerfielder who is backing up the play. With the runner rounding third and racing home, the centerfielder fires the horsehide to Hobson’s shortstop, positioned perfectly as a relay man on the grass near the infield. The shortstop’s throw slips past the catcher but is grabbed by the pitcher, who is backing up his teammate behind home plate, near the backstop.

The runner scores, dashing his team’s hopes, but coach Hobson proudly dubs the effort a great play, even 18 months later. “The fun part was that they went where they were supposed to go,” says Hobson, the CEO for Memorial Hospital, who constantly harps on fundamentals while working with his sons’ youth baseball teams. “Don’t misunderstand, I cared about winning. I’m fairly competitive.”

Away from the ball park, Hobson focuses on placing doctors, nurses and hospital staff in position to succeed. “I bet my styles and my systems don’t change very much,” he adds. Hobson, his wife Kim and their two baseball and tennis-playing sons Coleman and David moved to Chattanooga from Albany, Ga. in November when Hobson accepted Memorial’s top job. He says he has quickly become involved with youth sports.

Most weekends during the summer, the family travels around the region for tournaments, with each son usually playing four or five games a weekend for the Chattanooga Chiefs. Sometimes the tournaments for the two boys are in the same cities; sometimes they’re hundreds of miles apart, as was the case in May when Kim and David, who turns 10 this month, went to Knoxville for a weekend tournament while Hobson took Coleman,12, to Scottsboro, Ala. to play.

“To me the games are just a conduit for learning about life,” says the former slaphitting high school centerfielder and second baseman. “You’re going to win some and lose some, and some will get rained out.”

Professionally, Hobson seems to have come out with more wins than losses.

A Memphis native and graduate of Centre College in Kentucky, Hobson says he got into health care shortly after graduating from what was then Memphis State with a master’s degree in economics—becoming involved with strategic planning and forecasting for Methodist Hospitals of Memphis. “I quickly fell in love with healthcare,” he says, calling the industry the “quintessential team sport.”

He has continued that love affair as vice president of professional services at Bristol Regional Medical Center in Bristol, Tenn., then as chief operating officer for Phoebe Putney Health Systems in Albany, and now as CEO of Memorial.

“When Kim asks me what my day’s going to be like, I always say ‘If I could answer that question it probably wouldn’t be as much fun to go to work,’” he says.

With Memorial in particular, the hospital’s mission and sense of history provide extra motivation for Hobson, who attends St. Jude Catholic church where his sons go to school.

The hospital, which now has more than 700 physicians, was originally opened with $3 million in donations from the community in 1952. It was initially operated by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth before the group and the hospital joined the Catholic Health Initiative in 1997. Hobson says he is fortunate to take over a position at such a well-known and well respected community institution. “You don’t live in this region of the country very long before your life intersects with Memorial,” he said.

Outside of Hobson’s 12-hour work days, he enjoys elliptical training and hopes the family will find time to do some hiking, camping and whitewater rafting this summer. Hobson describes himself as a big reader. He just finished “Nudge,” a book about the science of choice and persuading people to be healthier. He plans to read a biography on Ted Turner next. That is, if he can do that while keeping up with Coleman and David. “Being the age they are, not much moss grows on them,” he says. “They’re going to be busy. It’s just with what and with whom.” It’s up to dad to make sure they’re in the right position. ◆