Longtime Cleveland sports radio host Tony Rizzo returned to ESPN Cleveland on Monday with a frightening explanation for his recent absence.
Rizzo revealed on the air that he suffered what he described as a “major heart attack” roughly two weeks ago.
“I’m lucky to be alive,” Rizzo said during his return. “Had I waited about 45 minutes, I would have died.”
According to Rizzo, the episode began shortly after he returned home from taking bagels to his mother in Middleburg Heights.
“I got back to my home at 11:30 and my chest seized up, and I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “I had a heart attack, a major heart attack.”
Rizzo said he immediately realized something was seriously wrong.
“I was really scared,” he admitted. “I had never felt like that before in my life.”
The longtime Cleveland radio fixture credited instinct, and perhaps something greater, for pushing him to seek medical help quickly.
“The good Lord let me know,” Rizzo said. “Get your ass to the hospital. Something is very wrong.”
Rizzo has been with ESPN Cleveland since 2012 and remains one of the most recognizable voices in the city’s sports scene, regularly discussing the Cavaliers, Browns and Guardians while interviewing major national names such as ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst.
Love him or hate him, Rizzo has long been part of Cleveland’s sports conversation. And after hearing what he went through, plenty of listeners were simply happy to hear him back on the air.
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