Sportscasting icon Bryant Gumbel, 77, was rushed from his Manhattan apartment to a New York City hospital Monday night following a medical emergency. According to TMZ, Gumbel was seen being wheeled out on a gurney around 9 p.m. and remained under treatment into Tuesday. The exact cause? Still under wraps. A close family member assured the press he’s “okay” but declined to provide further details.
Gumbel’s legacy stretches far beyond the headlines. The four-time Emmy winner joined CBS in 1997 and later spearheaded Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO, an acclaimed show that wrapped its 29-season run in 2023. Gumbel said at the time (via The Independent):
The show tried to do some things in sports journalism that no one else was doing. I think it was one of the few avenues that could honestly explore issues without having to worry about ratings or sponsorships or relationships.
Before that, his career lit up screens coast to coast, from KNBC in Los Angeles to NBC Sports in 1975, where he hosted NFL, NCAA, and MLB coverage. Now, with this latest health scare joining a long list of past health battles, including cancer, surgeries, and even a 68-stitch facial injury, Gumbel’s story is seemingly once again taking a serious turn.
Bryant Gumbel Shared His Fight With Lung Cancer in 2009
Long before recent Monday night’s medical scare, Bryant Gumbel had already been through the wringer. Back in December 2009, on live television no less, he made a jaw-dropping revelation: he had undergone surgery to remove a malignant lung tumor just two months prior. Gumbel confessed (via ABC News):
It’s nothing to run from, it’s just that I’ve not made it public. Two months ago I had cancer surgery.
Gumbel’s story stood as a warning bell. A former three-pack-a-day smoker for a decade, he reportedly had quit over 30 years before his diagnosis.
I kept it private… It’s nothing to hide from. They opened up my chest, they took a malignant tumor and they took part of my lung and they took some other goodies. And the pathology on most of the stuff had been benign, but enough aggressive cells had escaped the tumor that it warranted some treatment and I went through that and it’s done now.
While he didn’t specify the cancer type, experts believe that because the tumor was operable, his prognosis was relatively favorable. “It sounds like he had a cancer that was removed,” said Dr. Jay Brooks, oncology chair at Ochsner Medical Center.
The most important thing in lung cancer is surgery, because surgery can be curative in patients with lung cancer.
Surgery for early stage lung cancer is really the best stage of action. The majority of men who are diagnosed with early stage lung cancer who undergo surgery can be cured of their cancer.
Despite the frightening diagnosis and surgery, Gumbel chose discretion over drama.
Bryant Gumbel Once Needed 68 Stitches After Brutal Face Injury: Here’s What Happened
If lung cancer wasn’t enough, Bryant Gumbel has had to literally put his face back together. During his farewell taping for Real Sports, Gumbel casually mentioned a fact: he once sustained a facial injury so severe that it required 68 stitches (via The Hill). Yes, 68. Through surgeries, personal loss, divorce, and a cancer diagnosis, he remained ironclad. “I never wanted to be the guy who overstayed his welcome,” Gumbel said of wrapping up the HBO series in December 2023.
The show, widely hailed as the “gold standard” of televised sports journalism, stood out for its unflinching take on issues that other outlets often tiptoed around. “The show tried to do some things in sports journalism that no one else was doing,” Gumbel remarked, adding:
I’ve worked for networks who were what they would call now the ‘broadcast partner’ of a sports entity. And you’d only be a fool to think you can follow any story wherever it wants if it collides with that relationship. Life doesn’t work that way.
Between surgeries, the loss of his brother Greg Gumbel, and now a sudden medical emergency, Bryant Gumbel has faced more than his share of serious health challenges. With little information available about what happened this week, many are left wondering: is this just another tough moment he’ll recover from or is it something more serious?
Sound off below! What do you think happened Monday night?
Although Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel aired its final episode in December 2023, the entire series remains available for streaming on Max.
