MOBILE, Ala. - While Newbury, England, native Andrew Bayliss is clearly not from Boston, the piece of laboratory-grown cartilage that resides in his knee is. And while the road to the 2002 NAIA National Championship started on Aug. 12 for the rest of his teammates, for the University of Mobile senior goalkeeper, pre-season started March 8. It was on that date that the second phase of the cutting-edge procedure known as autologous chondrocyte implantation took place.

“We basically sent a sample from his knee, about the size of two ‘Tic Tacs’, to be regenerated in a lab in Boston,” Dr. Steven Cope of Orthopaedic Group P.C. in Mobile, Ala., said. “In Boston, they harvest cells and grow them over a period of 4-6 weeks. They generated 12 million chondrocytes, the name of the cartilage cell, and we then re-implanted them back into the knee.”

Bayliss, who went on to have his best year as a keeper garnering 1^st Team All-American honors, sustained the condition osteochondritis dissecans on Jan. 27, 2002, while diving for a ball in goal. Ironically, Mobile goalkeeping coach Remi Roy had told Bayliss that the session was over, but the tenacious junior decided to stay in to take a couple more shots. It was the next shot that saw him moments later lying on the ground with his knee locked in a 45 degree angle.

“I was really disappointed, because I was on the field with him when he got injured,” Coach Roy reflected. “I told him to get out of the goal because we were done, and he took one more shot. I thought he did his knee in, and I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to come back for the next year.”

University of Mobile men’s head soccer coach Peter Fuller, shared Coach Roy’s sentiments. So unsure of Bayliss’ return were the two coaches that they recruited Tommi Sarkinnen, a goalkeeper from Helsinki, Finland, and a player with experience in his country’s premier league and army team.

“I went from not very concerned,” Coach Fuller admitted, “to talking to Dr. Cope, the surgeon, and becoming very, very concerned that he might not be able to make it back and play again. Concerned enough that I spent a lot of money to bring in a guy who we thought would be our No. 1 goalkeeper, so that we could attain what we’ve attained.”

Unable to straighten out Bayliss’ knee, therefore unable to perform an MRI because of the inability to position the leg properly, Dr. Cope immediately decided to have the knee scoped.

“From there they straightened out my leg and I was on crutches for two to three weeks,” Andrew Bayliss remembered. “A month and a half later, I had my next surgery.”

It was a surgery that Bayliss was told had a 90 percent success rate and would take 16 to 18 months to recover from. But Coach Fuller, according to the 2002 All-American goalkeeper, told the doctors that that would not be “good enough.” Telling Coach Fuller that some players have come back in eight months with aggressive rehab, the three-time NAIA National Coach of The Year responded that he “could work with that.”

The procedure calls for not just the re-implantation of the newly regenerated cartilage cells but also for a flap to be taken from the shin which acts as a seal.

“I had a patch taken from another part of the leg,” Dr. Cope explained. “It’s actually the periosteum taken from the tibia, or shin bone, and acting as a flap we sew it on to the front. We then squirt those cells in there. What we hope for is that the cells will first grow, then proliferate and then finally mature.”

According to Dr. Cope, the procedure has been well studied, especially in Sweden where the Mobile surgeon went to learn how to perform the operation.

“Dr. Lawrence Peterson started this,” Dr. Cope elaborated, “and he’s been doing it now for 10 to 15 years. It has become accepted worldwide.”

The rehabbing protocol which calls for a year’s time gave Dr. Cope as well as Bayliss’ coaches cause for serious concern as to the certainty of return to soccer. As for Bayliss’ other love and sport, golf, Dr. Cope felt certain the knee would be ready for action.

“Obviously, the concern was that he had his senior year of sports coming up,” Dr. Cope said. “I didn’t know, by doing this, that he would get back to playing soccer. We felt sure he could play spring golf. He really exceeded my expectations and hopes.”

Exceeding expectations and hopes is nothing new for the two-time NAIA All-American golfer. In fact, strangely enough, Bayliss was recruited to come to Mobile as their No. 1 golfer without any consideration to soccer. But, for the 6-2, blond-haired, blue-eyed England-bred athlete, that all changed one day during an off-season soccer practice session.

“Actually it is strange how it happened,” Bayliss reflected. “A former player, who is from the same area in England that I’m from, invited me to come train with them during the off season after I had told him I had played a bit. So I grabbed my boots and gloves which had been sitting in the closet for a year. I went down to the field, made a couple saves and impressed Coach Fuller enough that he offered me some scholarship money to come play in the upcoming 1999 season.”

After the surgery, Bayliss finished out the semester and then flew home in May. Doing strengthening exercises to address potential atrophy in the thigh, Bayliss continued on his accelerated rehab program. However there was still a cloud of uncertainty looming.

“My knee was still swollen pretty badly when I first got home, and I thought that something with the surgery had gone wrong,” Bayliss said. “I thought perhaps a piece of cartilage came loose and it didn’t look right at all. The swelling was big enough that I went to a doctor in England and they took blood samples and ran some tests. They told me everything was fine and that the swelling was due to my body’s reaction to being on the knee again.”

The biggest step according to the two-sport star was being able to play golf again which he was able to do in early June. “My best rehab was golf,” he said. In addition to golf, Bayliss undertook an aggressive program that involved swimming five times a week, biking three to five times a week, lifting weights and using the stem machine once a day.

“I was trying to stay positive, and I knew that all I could do was work as hard as possible,” Bayliss said. “Once I started kicking the ball, I was still a bit leery of it. I think within a week though I was confident that I could come back.”

Come back he did to finish out a stellar senior season in which he recorded over 80 saves, eight shutouts and helped the UM Rams capture a national championship. Garnering All-Tournament honors at the conclusion of the 2002 NAIA National Tournament, Bayliss saved his best stuff for the four-game, five-day event.

“His performance at nationals was tremendous,” Coach Fuller said. “We don’t win the Bethel game [first-round game in which the Rams won 1-0 in OT and in which Bayliss recorded 5 saves] if not for Andy’s performance.”

“In the first game Bayliss was the reason why we stayed in the tournament,” Coach Roy said. “He made five or six saves that should have been goals. Not could have been, but should have been goals.”

Regarding Andrew’s future Coach Fuller commented, “He can definitely play pro at some level.”

“I’d love to go pro as a soccer player,” Bayliss said. “That’s what every English boy dreams of.”