CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, the first former NFL player since George Halas to become a team owner, is in need of a heart transplant and has been placed on a donor waiting list.
Richardson, 72, has been hospitalized since last week after complaining he didn’t feel well. After a battery of tests, doctors determined he needed a transplant, a team spokesman said Wednesday.
Provided a donor heart can be found, Richardson will undergo the surgery at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. According to the American Heart Association, there are more than 2,000 heart transplants performed in the United States annually, with a five-year survival rate of 72 percent for males.
Richardson, a former Baltimore Colts receiver who caught the winning touchdown pass from Johnny Unitas in the 1959 NFL championship game, has a history of heart trouble and underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2002. Doctors last month installed a pacemaker to control his heart’s rhythm.
