ROBERT KERLAN, SPORTS PHYSICIAN.

Byline: Associated Press

Dr. Robert Kerlan, a prominent orthopedic surgeon who treated athletes ranging from basketball great Wilt Chamberlain and jockey Bill Shoemaker, died early Sunday. He was 74.

Kerlan, team physician to the St. Louis Rams and a former physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers, died at St. John's Hospital here after a long illness, according to a release from the Rams.

Flags flew at half-staff at Dodger Stadium, and a moment of silence was observed before the start of the Dodgers' Sunday afternoon game against Pittsburgh.

``Bob Kerlan was a pioneer in the field of sports medicine and a very dear friend,'' said Georgia Frontiere, chairman and owner of the Rams, with whom Kerlan was associated for almost a quarter century. ``The entire Rams family and all of those in sports who knew Bob will miss him.''

Kerlan, a native of Aiken, Minn., was the co-founder with Dr. Frank Jobe of a thriving sports medicine practice that drew professional and amateur athletes from around the country.

A graduate of the University of Southern California, he began volunteering as a team physician with schools and colleges in the Los Angeles area in the early 1950s.