Gene Duffey, ex-Houston Post

Members of Texas SportsJournalists.com may remember Gene Duffey, a longtime member of the old Houston Post staff.

Gene was felled by cardiac arrest while attending a party last night. Luckily, a few of the partygoers were able to administer CPR until the EMTs arrived. It was touch-and-go at the time but he is now in ICU at a Houston hospital. Please keep him in your prayers.

 

Wow. Good work by the partygoers, and great news for Gene, whom I don't know.

Definitely fingers crossed and hoping for the best for him.

 

Without a doubt one of the kindest and friendliest men in the press box. Hang in there and keep typing Gene. Our prayers are with you, man.

 

Gene's got a lot of friends in the Deep South as well from his days on the Bama beat. Hope anyone with knowledge of his condition can provide updates. Thanks.

 

Update:

He's been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Hopefully somebody on here can give us a definition of that. He did not have a heart attack but went into cardiac arrest. I did not realize there was a difference but there is.

His brain was without oxygen for a period after he collapsed so I guess, clinically, he was dead for some time before he was stablized by the EMTs.

The doctors are in the process of cooling his body to help him recover. They won't know more for a few days.

From what I understand he has no close living relatives. His parents are deceased and he did not have any brothers or sisters.

 

Gene spent a few years in Huntsville, Ala., too.

A great guy and great writer.

Get well soon, my friend.

 

here's hoping for a full recovery for gene, really a good guy.

 

Here's what I found putting the term in a Google search:

 

Damn. Hate to hear it. Gene was a kind, mentoring fellow to me back when I was a mere student journalist.

Thing I'll always remember about him is that, even after he'd been on the Alabama beat for a few years and everyone in the athletic department knew his name, he'd still raise his hand slightly and say "Gene Duffey, Huntsville Times" before asking a question at a press conference.

 

Duff's one of the good guys. Last time I saw him was during hoops season and he was staying pretty busy free-lancing for papers and doing stat work for radio/TV game broadcasts. Hope he pulls through. Please keep us updated.

 

Will do. Probably won't hear any more for a day or two.

 

This is amazing. I just spoke to Gene late last week and he seemed fine (complaining about the decline of newspapers as usual).