Schultz: Hawks Bob Rathbun cant wait to get back to work after health scare

ATLANTA — The last thing Bob Rathbun remembers is sitting in a chair and thinking, “Just let me get through this.” His stomach had been doing flips for two hours. He already had made one unscheduled visit to the restroom, and he felt that something bad was coming around the corner again.

But he had worked before despite not feeling great, and he had a live shot to do for the Hawks’ pregame show and felt he couldn’t just bail, so he took his seat next to Dominique Wilkins, gripped a microphone, looked into a television camera and forced a smile.

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“I was thinking: ‘I know I’m going to be sick again. But let me just get through this, then I’ll go vomit, and I’ll do the game, and then I’ll go home and go to bed,’” he said. “So I got in the chair and made some innocuous comment about AJ Griffin, and the next thing I remember was an EMT guy was standing in front of me.”

Rathbun is fine. He wants everybody to know that. He’s fine. He’s great. He can’t wait to get back into his chair next week — and this time not pass out so suddenly that Wilkins, his longtime partner on Hawks television broadcasts, has to stop mid-analysis and lunge over to catch him to prevent him from crashing to the floor. Because when Rathbun opened his eyes several seconds later, he saw the EMT and Wilkins looking at him.

Wilkins: “Bob? Are you OK, buddy?”

Rathbun: “Yeah, I’m OK.”

Wilkins: “You passed out.”

Rathbun: “I did?”

Days later, Wilkins recalled: “I was like, ‘Let’s get this man in a chair, get him out of here, get him to the hospital. Something is wrong.’”

Rathbun is fine. Still a bit stunned, still a little weak but fine. He’s back home, resting, under the watchful eyes of his wife, Marybeth. “She’s been great — a benevolent dictator,” he said, lovingly.

He spent five nights in a hospital. He underwent more than a dozen tests (he lost count). Heart, head, stomach, everything in between. X-rays, MRIs, CT scans. Doctors ruled out a heart attack, a stroke and seizures, even if everybody who saw him collapse live on TV or from State Farm Arena before the game last week feared something awful.

Tests revealed nothing of significance, save for some internal scar tissue from a horrific car accident more than 40 years earlier when Rathbun was in his 20s — he fell asleep while driving home late one night after broadcasting a game and crashed into a boulder by an underpass.

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“He had his spleen and gallbladder removed, and he almost lost his feet,” Marybeth said.

It’s possible the residual scar tissue from the accident four decades earlier contributed to a blockage in Rathbun’s abdomen and, in combination with other issues, led him to fall ill. But doctors can’t be certain. Regardless, the vomiting and dehydration, a drop in his magnesium levels and his blood pressure contributed to a perfectly horrible storm in his body and led to the collapse. He was given fluids and eventually recovered. It was determined what happened was so extraordinary that doctors have opted to pass on arthroscopic surgery to remove the scar tissue, but they’ll monitor him.

Rathbun has missed four games since Dec. 5, the night that started it all. He will be home resting when the Hawks play in Orlando on Wednesday and Charlotte on Friday. There are tentative plans for him to return next week. It can’t be soon enough for him because watching games from the couch isn’t his thing. He saw the final frantic minutes of an overtime win over Chicago play out on TV and joked, “I was guarding against relapse.”

Bob went viral, and not in a good way.

He hasn’t Googled himself or typed his name into YouTube. He has no desire to relive that moment.

“I’ll never watch it,” he said.

He’s just thankful neither Marybeth nor their two children saw him collapse. Marybeth seldom watches the pregame show, and she was home working on her computer with the TV on in the other room and the sound down. She wasn’t aware of anything until a Hawks official phoned her with the news. She immediately went online and saw the clip. She and their son, Court, immediately jumped into the car and headed into town while Bob was being rushed to the emergency room. Bob phoned her a few minutes later from the ambulance and said he was feeling better after being given an IV, although his symptoms would soon boomerang because of the blockage.

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On Rathbun’s third day in the hospital, he was taken downstairs for cardiac tests. Marybeth and Court waited in his room when the news came on the TV. They watched, stunned, as the network showed the recording of Bob collapsing in a promo. It was shown twice more during the story. There was her husband, saying something about Griffin. There was Wilkins, following Rathbun’s lead.

“And you said it right. Poise. For a kid this young, 19 years old, to come out on  the floor each and every night, and he feels like he belongs, so I look for this kid to have a really good first half of the season …”

The station’s decision to air the video upset Marybeth. She made some phone calls and eventually received an apology.

“She raised holy hell,” Rathbun said. “Do not tick off momma bear.”

Bally Sports quickly cut away after seeing Rathbun was in distress. Wilkins was thankful for that, but he’s still a little shaken up.

“I looked over, and it looked like he was losing oxygen,” Wilkins said. “He was looking straight up at the ceiling, and he couldn’t get air, and it scared the hell out of me. The only thing I saw that was close to that was when my mom was on life support. To tell you the truth, I don’t know how I did the game that night.”

Rathbun has been overwhelmed by the public outpouring of love. He, family members and Hawks officials have received a flood of voicemails, texts and emails. NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Charles Barkley, Bobby Cremins, a “who’s who of the NBA,” he said. He plans to begin his first broadcast by giving thanks.

He has no thoughts of slowing down or retiring.

“Retire? Why? I’m OK!” he said. “Heavens no. I cannot wait to get back. This ain’t work. This is the NBA. This is so much fun. Charter aircraft. I get off the charter and walk 20 steps to get on a bus. It takes me right to the hotel, and then a nice bellman brings my bags to me. Hell, this ain’t (tough) travel. You stay at five-star hotels. All I have to do is figure out who are the 10 guys on the court. I ain’t giving this up.”

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He has come away from this reassured he is in good health, given all the tests he was subjected to.

He also has some sage advice for young broadcasters: “Word to the wise: Don’t pass out on a broadcast.”

This also has changed Marybeth’s viewing habits. “I will not miss a pregame from now on,” she said.

(Top photo of Bob Rathbun, right, and Dominique Wilkins courtesy of Bally Sports)

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