For several days now, Ray Goss has been in a bad way.
“I’m very fortunate to be alive,” Duquesne basketball’s 89-year-old play-by-play man told TribLive on Monday in the aftermath of a rollover crash last week on Route 119 in northern Indiana County that sent him to a Jefferson County hospital in serious condition.
“It looks like I blacked out,” he said.
Shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday, Goss, an Indiana resident and college basketball’s longest-running play-by-play announcer, was headed 28 miles north for routine testing at Punxsutawney Area Hospital when the SUV he was driving crossed the center line and clipped the rear of a passing garbage truck before rolling onto its roof.
“I just bought that thing from Colonial Motors (in Indiana) about three weeks earlier, and it was in good shape,” Goss quipped. “It’s a 2017 Mazda CX5. It was a nice day. I wasn’t tired, but all of a sudden, I must’ve lost control of the car. The next thing I knew, I ended up upside down hanging from the seatbelt. The airbag probably saved my life.”
Goss, who was being treated for a urinary tract infection and also suffers from atrial fibrillation (AFib) — an abnormal heart rhythm characterized by rapid and irregular beating of the atrial chambers of the heart — said the scenario felt surreal.
“There was a bone sticking in my face, and I said to myself, ‘I broke my arm.’ ” he said. “It didn’t seem like I hit my head because I could think clearly. I didn’t know how badly I was hurt, but I knew it was bad.”
He was transported by Citizen’s Ambulance Service of Indiana County to Penn Highlands DuBois Hospital, where he underwent surgery Friday morning to repair three broken bones in his left arm.
All four of Goss’ daughters — three of whom live in the Indiana area — arrived at the hospital the day of the accident.
One of them, Lisa Rocco, of Green Tree, said their father emitted his usual upbeat approach.
“His attitude is amazing,” she said. “He was broken, and they put him back together.”
Forget all the bumps and bruises to his body and mind — since the mishap that also resulted in fractures to a leg, his sternum and five ribs, which, he said, has caused shortness of breath, Goss already was talking about his future agenda.
“I’m supposedly getting an award on April 15 at the (Duquesne) Power Center,” he said, referring to Chuck Cooper Foundation Centennial Gala, a fundraiser celebrating the life and legacy of the former Duquesne star and Boston Celtics player, as well as the work of the foundation.
Goss was in the early stages of his broadcasting career at Duquesne while Cooper was playing basketball for the Dukes before becoming the first African American to be drafted by an NBA team.
Ever an optimist, Goss, who just completed his 58th season as the radio voice of Duquesne basketball games, predicted a quick recovery.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it, but I think I can,” he said, forcing the words out.
It is a bold, if not heartfelt, prediction.
Goss, who has spent the past four days in the intensive care unit at Penn Highlands DuBois, was expected to be transferred Tuesday to Indiana Regional Medical Center, where he’ll likely begin physical therapy this week.
Someone should give Goss a nickname. Corny as it may sound, how about “Mr. Determination?” It certainly seems an appropriate moniker.
Coincidentally, he’s got Pitt’s Bill Hillgrove beat by one year for the nation’s longest continuous stretch of calling games at one school.
“It’s ironic the two longest-serving basketball play-by-play guys are in the same city,” Hillgrove said. “I’ve always respected Ray and the work he does, and I’m glad he made it out of that accident alive. Lots of prayers and thoughts are going his way.”
Hillgrove, 85, who in 2024 retired as the Steelers play-by-play man, has been with Pitt basketball for 57 continuous seasons. He also has called Pitt football games since 1974, a span of 52 years.
He, too, has been treated for an AFib condition, in 2025 undergoing a procedure to implant a pacemaker.
Perhaps “The Energizer Bunnies” would work well as a nickname for both men.
In any case, Goss, for one, has been operating in survival mode.
It’s been 15 years since he lost his wife, Dorothy “Dee” Goss, to an aortic aneurysm just hours after finishing the call of a Duquesne victory against Montana on WPGM-FM (104.7) thousands of miles from home.
Despite the heartbreaking news, Goss contemplated remaining with the team for its second-round game of the College Basketball Invitational at Oregon but ultimately returned home to join his seven children — he also has three sons living in Florida — in mourning the loss of their mother, who was his life’s partner.
It was the first Duquesne game he’d missed in 33 years and represented just the third time he’d failed to call a Dukes game.
With another college basketball season coming to a close, Goss will have a full offseason to work on recovering from his latest misfortune. He’s already looking forward to being back behind the mic.
“I’m in bad shape,” he said, “but I’ll be OK.”