I was 27 at the time. I noticed that there were lots of guys walking with one bent knee and found out the day before surgery that the protocol then was to brace the post-op knee at 45 degrees. Well, having the knee locked in that position for a few weeks was causing the tendon replacement to shorten. So when I went home after they took the staples out of my leg I got into a tub full of water that was as hot as I could stand it and started leaning on my knee until I got to full extension. I did that every single night for about an hour. I left the brace off until I went back to the doctor.
By the time I had the second one reconstructed it was '92 and the post-op protocol was to brace the knee at full extension so I had to work in the OTHER direction to get to full flexion.
Up until about two years ago I could squat so low my butt rested on my ankles and I could rest on my knees that way as well. No longer though, and just recently my left knee (the first one operated on) seems to have something loose in it that gets caught in the joint on occasion. It makes me unable to extend fully and walking is excruciating. I can almost always either give my leg a loose shake or stomp my foot a couple of times and make it go away.
The last surgery I had was in 2004 to remove one of the screws used to hold the patellar bone plug in place in my femur. For some reason it was protruding into the joint and every time I put my foot down I was actually pushing the screw into my tibia. Have you ever seen the screw they use? Well the screw they used in '88 was about the diameter of a pencil at the shaft, with HUGE flukes. When I woke up in recovery, I asked the nurse if I could have it since it had been part of me since '88. She thought I was crazy, but before I got wheeled out to my car she handed it to me in a little glass bottle. I was going to have it made into a necklace, but my wife nixed that idea.
Lately, both knees are starting to feel a little arthritic due to meniscus and cartilege damage that I knew was going to happen. I just turned 51 and if I sit in one place for more than about an hour, I look like I'm 80 for my first few steps when I get up.
Left knee: Stepped in a hole rounding 3rd base in a softball game. The grass was mowed and there was no evidence of a depression as the grass was flat on the surface.
Right knee: Same situation, but in my own back yard chasing my dogs on a Saturday morning. Stepped in a depression while running full speed. I was home alone. It took me what seemed like forever to drag myself to the back porch and into the house. That time I actually separated the ligament from it's anchor point, which I think the doctor called the tibial plateau.
Be Well!
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My patellar tendon and patella have never been worth a damn since the surgery. 
Hurts to kneel on it over ten years later, still.
Other than that It's held up well enough, but I'm not sure how much longer it's got. At 52, I won't fix it again. 
