Longtime Lake Forest coach Myers recovering from heart attack

LAKE FOREST -- Longtime Lake Forest High School baseball and former football coach Tom Myers, 60, is recovering in Lake Forest Hospital after suffering a heart attack on Tuesday.

According to Myers, who sounded rested and well Wednesday evening, the attack took place at approximately 5 p.m. while he was coaching football at Lake Forest College.

"I was talking to one of the players," Myers said from his bed at a hospital in Lake Forest, "when I began to feel dizzy and generally not feeling well."

He said he then went to the team trainer for a blood-pressure check, and shortly thereafter his condition seemed to be getting worse. The ambulance was called, and it was soon determined that Myers had a heart attack -- later diagnosed to have been caused by a blockage of the left anterior descending artery.

"I had surgery by 7:30 and was out by 8:30 p.m.," Myers said of his angioplasty. Myers said he felt immediately better following surgery.

The coach, a physical-education instructor who is slim and exercises regularly, said the doctors told him that his conditioning was a key factor in the way his body handled the trauma.

"I never lost consciousness or anything," he said, noting that he has no history of heart disease or negative symptoms of any kind.

Myers expects to remain in the hospital at least through Saturday. He does not expect to return to his teaching job for about three weeks and will be doing 8-12 weeks of rehabilitation.

Myers has been head baseball coach at Lake Forest High for 30 years and was the school's head football coach for 14 years.