Dr. Malcolm Snider
North Salem High School has a long history of great student-athletes. Malcolm Snider is at the top of this elite list. He was an outstanding interscholastic, collegiate, and professional athlete who used his experience and the lessons learned in athletics as well as the outstanding education he obtained using athletics as a vehicle to become one of the outstanding orthopedic surgeons in the northwest.
Malcolm Snider moved to Salem as a young boy and graduated from North Salem High School in 1965. Dr. Snider attended North Salem in a time when high school consisted only of sophomore, junior, and senior years. An outstanding student at North Salem, he was a member of the National Honor Society for both his junior and senior years. As an athlete he was 1st team all-conference and 1st team all-state as both an offensive and defensive tackle for both his junior and senior years. He competed in wrestling with close friend and fellow Beacon honoree Dick Bellock, winning a conference title, and advancing to the state wrestling tournament during his senior year. In the spring he lettered in track and field all three high school years, putting the shot for a third place finish at the state meet his senior year. After graduation he was chosen to participate in the highly prestigious Shriner's high school all-star football game.
Following his outstanding high school career he attended Stanford University to compete in football. During his freshman year he played both offense and defense. By his sophomore year he had settled in as a starting offensive tackle where he remained for both his junior and senior years. Snider was not just an offensive lineman "on the farm" - he was a great offensive lineman. At the end of his junior year he was selected 2nd Team All-Pac 8 and by the end of his senior year (1968) he was 1st Team All-Pac 8 and named All-American. As his collegiate career came to an end he was named by Sporting News magazine as a 1st Team All-American selection then selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl.
During his time at Stanford Snider excelled not only in football but in the classroom. At the end of his four years he had carried a grade point average and academic performance that would eventually allow him to qualify for medical school.
Snider was drafted in the third round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons in 1969. He decided to take advantage of the opportunity and delay medical school. He quickly became a starter and played both guard and tackle throughout his NFL career. As a member of the kickoff return team for the Falcons he accomplished a feat of which most offensive linemen can only dream. At the end of a preseason game, as part of the kickoff return team, he fielded an onside kick and returned it to the end zone for a score. Because it was not a regular season game it did not become part of the official NFL record. But as fate would have it later, in what was now the regular season, he was again lined up for a kickoff return. The “hands team” was on the sideline when the surprise onside kick came to Snider. He fielded the ball and took it 48 yards for a touchdown. To quote Yogi Berra, it was “déjà vu all over again”.
Dr. Snider played for two NFL teams - the Atlanta Falcons and the Green Bay Packers. He began to consider playing professional football in Canada as that would have allowed him to both play professional football and attend medical school full-time. When Atlanta's head coach - NFL Hall of Famer Norm Van Broklin - got word of this potential plan, Snider was traded to the Packers in 1972. It was after this, his third year in the NFL, that he applied for and was accepted to medical school. While playing for the Packers he began this journey, attending medical school part-time during the football season and full-time during the off-season. As his playing career ended he finished medical school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, completing his orthopedic residency in Madison in 1978. As fortune would have it, the Sports Medicine program at Madison was outstanding, a boon for Salem-Keizer as the now Dr. Malcolm Snider decided to return home.
Upon his return to Salem, Dr. Snider was asked to join in practice with two outstanding Salem-area physicians – Dr.s John Burr and Thad Stanford. During this time, combining a great love of sport and medicine, Dr. Snider made the decision to give back to sports and athletics as he became the team doctor for his alma mater - North Salem High School – and Willamette University. After serving long days in his medical practice, Snider would offer his services at both schools in order to care for athletes. He was a constant presence on the sidelines for both the Vikings and the Bearcats. Eventually Dr. Snider was one of the founding group of physicians joining together in what is now Hope Orthopedics.
Dr. Snider resides in Salem with Kathie Melhuse. Kathie's son graduated from South Salem High School. Malcolm's son Matt attended the University of Oregon.