Bert Smith just now finished returning the text messages.
There were 500 of them. There were ones from coaches, ones from colleagues, ones from family, one even from an NFL official he’d never met.
We’re praying for you.
We’re rooting for you.
Get better.
They poured into Smith’s phone after he collapsed on national television during Gonzaga’s eventual win over USC in a men’s Elite Eight game on March 30. Smith, a veteran college basketball official of 28 years, lost consciousness five minutes into the game, falling backward in a scary moment captured on the TBS broadcast and banging his head against the hardwood court.