PARKERSBURG - A longtime radio sportscaster and voice of the Parkersburg High School Big Reds is in a Morgantown hospital where he is recovering from surgery for a brain aneurysm.
Steve Daugherty was listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon at Ruby Memorial Hospital where he underwent brain surgery on Tuesday, a spokesman said. He was flown by medical helicopter to Morgantown after going to the emergency room on Monday with complaints of a headache and that he couldn't hear, said Mark McCullough, who until recently was an assistant football coach at Parkersburg High and was president of the boosters.
"He's not doing too good," McCullough said Wednesday just after visiting Daugherty in his hospital room.
According to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, an aneurysm is a bulge on an artery in the brain that erupts, which can be fatal or cause permanent brain damage or disability. The survival rate is 70 percent.
Daugherty, a graduate of Parkersburg High, was in a coma and on a ventilator, McCullough said.
Doctors are closely watching the fluid around his brain and have installed a tube to relieve the pressure, he said. Things look promising, but the doctors said the next several days will be critical for him, McCullough said.
"His vital signs are good," McCullough said.
Daugherty is a well-known fixture among sports circles. Along with local sportswriters Dave Poe and Nick Scala and the late businessman Bob Zide, the four in November 1996 made the initial plans for the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Daugherty does the radio play-by-play at Parkersburg High, first on WLTP AM then with the FM stations WDMX and WRVB. His last football broadcast was on Friday night on WRVB when Brooke High School beat the Big Reds, 43-42, in the season opener at Stadium Field.
McCullough said he will join the broadcast team in Daugherty's absence. John Chalfant will replace Daugherty's play-by-play and McCullough will do the color commentary.
The next game is Friday when the Big Reds take on Marietta High School, renewing a series that ended in 1994.
"The athletes who know Steve are concerned," PHS Athletic Director Richard Lance said.
"Steve has always been close with our athletic program, mostly football and basketball," he said. "It's just a shock he's had this tragic event in his life."
