Warren's Glogovsky has heartwarming story

All the gaudy numbers that made a proud father feel snowcapped-mountain tall — 15 pounds of muscle added to his son's athletic frame, 5 mph tacked onto the lefty's fastball, a swift 6.8 seconds it took the switch hitter to race 60 yards — suddenly added up to nothing.

Rich Glogovsky's heart ached, because his son's heart suddenly wasn't right. Frighteningly, it had swelled.

“It was scary as a parent,” says Glogovsky, whose son Adam is expected to start in the outfield for Warren's baseball team today when the Blue Devils play Prospect at 11 a.m. in the Class 4A Barrington sectional final.

“It went from me being really disappointed as a sports dad — ‘My son's not playing. He worked so hard. This was his junior year that (college) scouts were going to look at him' — to, ‘Hey, thank God he's alive.'”

A number that stopped Rich Glogovsky dead in his businessman's shoes: 103.7.

That was Adam's body temperature one day in March, days before the start of the high school baseball season.

“I was throwing up, flu-like stuff,” Adam Glogovsky says. “It seemed to get better, and then I woke up one morning with chest pains.”

A red flag had been thrust.

A 12-to-6 curveball had just been tossed at the promising junior hitter.

Adam Glogovsky went to the hospital, where he had blood work done. Critical, Rich Glogovsky explains, was a troponin test, which revealed that Adam's heart was enlarged. The cause was a rare virus — viral cardiomyocarditis.

A couple of weeks earlier, Michigan high school basketball player Wes Leonard hit a game-winning shot, celebrated with teammates and fans, then collapsed on the court. He died that night of cardiac arrest brought on by dilated cardiomyopathy — an enlarged heart.

Adam Glogovsky was rushed via ambulance to Children's Memorial Hospital, where he spent three-plus days in the intensive care unit. Adam's heart rate, Rich Glogovsky says, dipped to 36-37 beats per minute during evenings.

Adam Glogovsky, being the typical kid that he is, never flinched at his potential life-threatening situation. He just steamed and snarled, because, after all, he had baseball to play. He didn't want to miss one day, one drill, one session of BP, one mound session.

He missed six weeks.

Doctor's orders.

All Adam Glogovsky could do was take a deep breath — and appreciate every breath.

“I wasn't even that scared,” the ballplayer says. “I ignored everything, because in the hospital I actually felt fine.”

Take it easy, Adam?

That's like telling a bull, before being mounted by a professional rider, to relax and enjoy the sweet smell of manure.

“I'd never spent the night in a hospital until then,” Superman — er, Adam Glogovsky — says.

Bed rest would be his remedy. Adam's heart no doubt raced a little as he and his dad watched, on Adam's computer, Warren's boys basketball team play downstate.

“The doctors at Children's were great,” Rich Glogovsky says. “They said, ‘Don't worry. It's going to be OK. He just has to get through this stuff.' But a virus that most people don't know about? They had five other kids there with the exact same thing.”

One month ago, Adam Glogovsky made his baseball season debut. He stroked a couple of hits.

He then cooled off at the plate, but he has heated up at the right time. His play in the Libertyville regional last week included his first varsity home run, against Zion-Benton, and a 3-for-4 effort, against Libertyville, in the championship game. He smacked 2 of those hits in the latter game in one inning.

“Coming into the year he was going to be our leadoff hitter and (play) every day in the outfield,” Warren star Ryan Kennedy says. “He's a really good athlete. ... Since he's come back, man, we've been hitting the ball.”

“We knew it would take him 2-3 weeks,” coach Clint Smothers — whose Blue Devils are 22-12 — says of Glogovsky. “Now he's in the groove.”

And healthy.

“Good,” Glogovsky answers when asked how he feels now, with a month of baseball under his belt. “Better than I have this whole season.”

“He's about 90 percent,” Rich Glogovsky says of his son. “The kid is an incredible athlete. He's better than I ever was.”

Rich Glogovsky, who played three sports for Libertyville (Class of 1980) and teed up golf balls for Purdue, has a message for all proud dads and moms, regardless if their kid is an athlete: Don't be fooled by a flu. Not when one's body temperature spikes exceedingly high, as Adam's did.

Rich Glogovsky remembers the day at Children's when the doctor told Adam that he wouldn't be able to play baseball for a while.

Dad remembers Son being ready to discard the whole season.

That wasn't going to happen, though, and Adam probably knew it too. He wasn't going to quit.

He's got too much heart.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com