How Former Pirates Coach Rich Donnelly Overcame Tragedy

Book Cover
Photo credit Zondervan/HarperCollins Publishing

PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020) KDKA - "She has nine months to live," are the words Former Pirates Coach Rich Donnelly was told back in 1993 after his daughter left surgery. 

There was a tumor in her brain that doctors were unable to remove. 

"There's no practice for that, there's no rehearsal. I didn't know what to do,” Rich told KDKA Radio in an interview on Tuesday morning.  

“I felt, as a human being, you can't feel any smaller than that."

Donnelly explains the inspirational story in his book The Chicken Runs at Midnight

However, this isn't the only tragedy highlighted in the book.

The other involves Rich receiving an emotional phone call last year at 4:00 o'clock in the morning.

"Dad, Mike was killed last night," Donnelly's son Tim said to him over the phone. Mike was one of Rich's sons. 

"I just remember balling my eyes out. I had no idea what happened. I didn't know if he was shot because he just said he was killed," Rich added.

Both tragedies have a special connection to midnight, and Rich explains it all during the interview.

He wants to share these traumatic instances so other individuals realize how important family is.

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