Milton Bird McColl (born August 28, 1959) is an American physician and former football

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. He played college

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) from 1981 to 1988, during which he played for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

from 1981 to 1987 and

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). The Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural ...

in 1988. With the 49ers, McColl appeared in

Super Bowl XVI Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

and

Super Bowl XIX Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. He is the son of former Stanford and

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

end

Bill McColl William Frazer McColl Jr. (April 2, 1930 – December 28, 2023) was an American athlete, surgeon, and politician. He is best remembered as a college football star before becoming a professional with the Chicago Bears of the National Football Le ...

Early life

Born in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, adjacent to Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 26th-most populous municipality in Illinois, with a population of 54,318 as of the 2020 census. Oak Park was first se ...

, McColl graduated from South Hills High School in

West Covina, California West Covina is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located east of downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, it is part of Greater Los Angeles Area, Greater Los Angeles. The population for the city was 109,501 ...

in 1977.

College career

Following in the footsteps of his father and brother, McColl attended

and played at

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

from 1977 to 1980. On the 1978 team that won the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, McColl led the team in sacks with seven. As a senior in 1980, McColl led Stanford in sacks (four) and tackles for loss (eight).

Pro football career

Signing with the

as an undrafted free agent in 1981, McColl played for the 49ers from 1981 to 1987 as an

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

. As a rookie with the 49ers, McColl came off the bench for all 16 regular season games and three playoff games for the 1981 team that won

and returned an interception for 22 yards. With five seconds before halftime in Super Bowl XVI, McColl recovered a fumbled kick return by

Archie Griffin Archie Mason Griffin (born August 21, 1954) is an American former football running back who played with the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, wh ...

. The fumble recovery set up a field goal in the 49ers' 26–21 win over the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

. McColl made his first career start in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, when he played in nine games with two starts. In

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, McColl won the second Super Bowl title of his career. Playing as a reserve for all 16 regular season and three playoff games, including

, McColl had a career high 4.0 sacks. In

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, playing in 16 games with four starts, McColl scored the only touchdown of his career, off a 28-yard fumble return. Eventually, McColl became the regular starting left outside linebacker, with 15 starts in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

and 12 starts in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. McColl made his second career interception in 1987. McColl ended his football career in 1988 with the

, playing in 15 games as a reserve. In an eight-season NFL career, McColl played in 112 games with 31 starts, two interceptions, 8.5 sacks, and a fumble returned for a touchdown.

Medical career

McColl graduated from

Stanford University School of Medicine The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fra ...

with an M.D. in 1988, after attending classes when the NFL was not in season. After completing his medical internship in 1989, McColl took a job as director of marketing and business development at orthopedic startup Origin Medsystems while waiting for a residency spot; he enjoyed that job enough to forgo a medical residency in order to pursue a career in medical devices. McColl was an executive at

Boston Scientific Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC), headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts and incorporated in Delaware, is an American biotechnology and biomedical engineering firm and multinational manufacturer of medical devices used in interventional ...

for six years, first as clinical, regulatory, and quality vice president from 2001 to 2004, then as

neurovascular A neurovascular bundle is a structure that binds nerves and veins (and in some cases arteries and lymphatics) with connective tissue so that they travel in tandem through the body. Structure There are two types of neurovascular bundles: superfici ...

division president from 2004 to 2007. McColl became a partner at New Leaf Venture Partners in 2007. From 2011 to 2015, McColl was CEO of Gauss Surgical, a business supported by

StartX StartX is a non-profit startup accelerator and founder community associated with Stanford University. It was founded by Cameron Teitelman and Dan Ha in 2011. It began as a spin-off of Stanford Student Enterprises, the non-profit financial a ...

that raised nearly $12.5 million to develop a device that made real-time measurements of blood loss. After leaving Gauss, McColl returned to Stanford School of Medicine in 2015 to begin with the

Stanford Health Care Stanford University Medical Center is a teaching hospital which includes Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford Children's Health. It serves as a private hospital for the Stanford University School of Medicine. I ...

–

O'Connor Hospital O'Connor Hospital is a hospital in San Jose, California, part of the Santa Clara County Health System. Located in the West San Carlos neighborhood of San Jose, O'Connor Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in Santa Clara County, founded in 18 ...

Family Medical Residency program. In 2019, McColl completed his residency at

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, commonly known as Valley Medical Center or simply Valley Medical, is a prominent 731-bed public tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, teaching hospital, teaching, and research hospital in Santa Clara County, Cal ...

in San Jose in family medicine and family planning.

Personal life

His father

, who played for Stanford and the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

, became an orthopedic surgeon. His brother Duncan McColl also played, as did nephew Daniel McColl. McColl and his wife Cindy Emanuels live in

Los Altos Hills, California Los Altos Hills (; ''Los Altos'', Spanish for "The Heights") is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 8,489 at the 2020 census. The town is known for its affluence and expensive residential ...

. They have four sons. Their youngest son, Patrick, was drafted by the

Oakland A's Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

in the tenth round of the

2019 MLB Draft The 2019 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 3 to 5, 2019. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2018 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McColl, Milt 1959 births Living people American football linebackers Stanford Cardinal football players San Francisco 49ers players Los Angeles Raiders players Players of American football from Oak Park, Illinois Stanford University School of Medicine alumni Physicians from California Sportspeople from West Covina, California Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area American technology chief executives Sportspeople from Los Altos Hills, California Players of American football from Santa Clara County, California