Servite names sports medicine facility after longtime football team doctor

Dr. Ben Rubin took over as the team physician at Servite High School in 1979, and for the next 39 years he’s been as linked to Servite athletics as the famed “hut drill” performed by the Friars football teamafter every game.

And now, the Friars have shown their gratitude in an unprecedented way.

Servite’s new sports medicine building has been named the Dr. Ben Rubin Sports Medicine Center at Servite, representing the first time in the Catholic high school’s history a building has been named after a layman.

“I think that I was put here to be of service,” said Rubin, an orthopedic surgeon who can count on his hands the number of Fridays he’s not been on the sidelines of Friar football games. “It’s not like I’m sacrificing time. I love what I do.”

Which is why Rubin has served as team doctor at Servite for free.

Rubin’s achievements are noteworthy.

He is a founding member of the Orthopedic Specialty Institute and was a clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at the UC Irvine School of Medicine.

Rubin served as the national team physician for U.S. Diving from 1982 to 2003, treating team members during three Olympics.

He’s treated pro and college athletes, but even with all the prestige and notoriety that comes with such accomplishments, serving the Servite family has been the most uplifting and dearest to his heart, he said.

“He loves Servite and Servite loves him back,” said Dr. Michael Shepard, who joined Rubin as a team doctor at Servite in 2007. “It’s not like he’s had kids here. It’s not like he’s made a lot of money here. Hereally just empowered the athletic department here, and empowered them for 40 years.”

Shepard, who now holds the title as the official Servite team doctor, remembers seeking direction from Rubin when he joined his colleague in the school’s Sports Medicine Department.

“I said, ‘Hey do you have anything you really want me to do as I take over Servite’ and he said, ‘I only have one rule, and that is that you treat every single Servite student athlete as if they are your own son.’

“He didn’t care if they were rich, poor, insured, uninsured, a surgical patient or non-surgical patient,” Shepard said. “(He said to) just try to always do the best thing for them.”

That standing order: “Treat every Servite athlete as if he was your own son” is Rubin’s mantra.

The phrase is inscribed under the words Sports Medicine on the wall of a newly unveiled training room and is the first thing anyone who entering the facility will see.

Rubin was born in the Bronx, in New York City, and was educated at a variety of universities on the East Coast. After internships at hospitals, treating college and pro athletes, Rubin headed west and completed asports medicine fellowship at the prestigious Kerlan Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles in 1977.

He moved to Orange County and landed at Servite, an all-boys schoool.

Over the years, Rubin has mentored medical students, orthopedic surgeons, chiropractors and trainers who’ve joined him on the sidelines at games.

Rubin is officially retiring from his practice on Dec. 31, mainly to spend time with his wife of 36 years, Judy, and family, including two grandchildren.

But he will still be treating athletes at Servite for years to come, Shepard said.

Said Ruben: “It is an honor and privilege to be involved at Servite. Our values are the same. I feel I can relate well to students and families. Servite is a culture that is hard to explain, but easy to understand.

“For me it’s a thrill to be part of the Servite family,” he said. “I think I’m part of the fabric and they are certainly part of my fabric. It’s been like taking care of my boys.”