DALLAS, April 2 (UPI) -- Retired sports broadcaster Pat Summerall is in Florida to undergo a liver transplant.
The 73-year-old Summerall is expected to receive a new liver at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville this weekend, The Dallas Morning News reported Friday. He was flown Thursday from Dallas where he had been hospitalized this week for tests.
Summerall, who lives in South Lake, Texas, was informed Thursday that a donor match had been found in Florida. He qualified through blood tests that rank potential recipients anonymously. His latest tests bumped him up the list, the newspaper reported.
The longtime broadcaster is a recovering alcoholic. His wife, Cheri, told the newspaper her husband is in his 12th year of sobriety but alcoholism is a progressive disease and the damage to his liver reached the point where a transplant was the only option for him to survive.
Summerall, who played for the New York Giants for 10 years, spent 33 years broadcasting professional football, tennis and golf for CBS Sports and eight more with Fox Sports. He teamed with John Madden to become the NFL's top broadcasting team.
