Voice of Hawaii football Bobby Curran makes smart health call at Nevada

After 32 years of University of Hawaii football broadcasts, KKEA play-by-play announcer Bobby Curran made an improbable call on Saturday evening.

“OK, I’ll go,” Curran told paramedics.

With that, Curran was transported from Mackay Stadium, where he was set to announce the football game between Hawaii and Nevada in Reno, to Renown Hospital. Curran was suffering from low oxygen intake, which caused dizziness and labored breathing.

The condition also ended the longest announcing streak in the UH football program’s history. For exactly 400 broadcasts, Curran narrated Rainbow Warrior games with a complete OED vocabulary and Belichickian football knowledge wrapped in a Lawnguyland accent. He has announced in inclement weather, from booths with narrow views, and alongside spotters with varying experience. There was a time he overcame flu-like symptoms to announce a game.

“Once I commit to something, I feel I’m being counted on by other people,” said Curran, whose work ethic was ingrained as a 13-year-old caddie at the Middle Bay Country Club in Oceanview, N.Y. “It would take something catastrophic to be at the site and not work the game.”

Late Saturday afternoon, Curran and broadcast partner John Veneri arrived at the parking area across the street from Mackay Stadium. They made the ascent on the inclined path leading to the concourse level and took the elevator to the broadcast booth. It was there that Curran began feeling ill. A Nevada worker noticed Curran’s lips were shaded blue. The medical staff called for an ambulance.

Curran’s oxygen saturation, or SpO2, was measured at 81%. The normal level is at least 95%. The pulse oximeter can show a measurement of 90% for those with apnea, from which Curran suffers. Curran was told he needed to be taken to a hospital.

“I would have let them cut a pinkie off me if it would make me well enough to do that game,” Curran said. “After 32 years, why would I want to miss one now?”

Veneri then sought a higher power. He called Curran’s wife, Jo McGarry Curran, a food and beverage authority, commercial real estate agent and former hospice nurse.

“She is more prone to ‘tough it out,’” Curran said. This time, she cited the risk low-oxygen intake has on the brain, and implored him to go to the hospital. He relented.

At Renown, he underwent several tests. A PCR ruled out COVID-19. An initial reading of a stress test did not determine a heart condition. More likely, he was told, it was a perfect storm of his slight case of emphysema, Reno’s 4,505-foot elevation, and the brisk uphill walk to the booth. “It’s the triad,” Curran said.

At the hospital, Curran followed KKEA’s broadcast of the game on his cell phone. Veneri took over as the play-by-play announcer. An hour ahead of kickoff, a Nevada sideline reporter was hired to provide color analysis.

“I admire John’s show-must-go-on attitude about it,” Curran said. “He was going to do it no matter what. I’m kind of proud of him for that.”

Curran has received approval to receive a portable oxygen concentrator that will enable him to travel on an airplane. But with no machines available to buy or lease in Reno, one will arrive from Utah on Wednesday. After that, he is hopeful of being released from the hospital, then returning to Honolulu.

“I’m ready to start a new streak,” Curran said.