There’s been a little less bite in Mad Dog Vachon these days, as he is cooped up in a Windsor hospital recuperating from knee replacement surgery.

Vachon explained the procedure. “Actually, what they do, they go between the bones, they scrape out the loose pieces, and they put a little plate in there. Ever since then, it’s been impossible for me to walk for some reason.”

Mad Dog Vachon

Still, he’s still The Mad Dog, and sees the positives in everything.

In this case, he gets to spend a lot of time with his three kids that live in Windsor, and their families. Much of that time is spent playing cards.

“With my daughter, we just played Kings in the Corner a few minutes ago,” Vachon said on the weekend. “Mike was here, my son, we played cribbage. Every day, I have somebody to play cribbage with to pass the time.”

With only one leg, following an accident in October 1987 when he was hit by a car while out exercising, Vachon’s surgery on his one “good” leg makes recovery a lot harder.

“Every day, I go to therapy twice a day. Sooner or later, they’re going to let me go. They want to get rid of me, heh heh,” he said.

One small bonus has been the Olympics on TV. Having competed himself for Canada in the 1948 Games in London, Vachon is a fan of the international event. “It’s a thing to see,” he said.

He hopes to be back home in Omaha, Neb., with his wife Cathy, within a few weeks.

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