{"id":587177,"date":"2026-04-16T05:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587177\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T05:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:47:10","slug":"longtime-white-sox-anthem-singer-collapses-on-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587177\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime White Sox anthem singer collapses on field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A longtime national anthem singer for the White Sox was taken to the hospital on Wednesday night after collapsing on the field during a performance.<\/p>\n<p>Gerald Chaney experienced a medical emergency ahead of the White Sox game against the Rays while he was singing \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He collapsed while performing as part of the Jackie Robinson Day celebration after pausing twice during the song. He then fell to the ground after stopping a second time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/white-sox-national-anthem-singer-taken-to-hospital\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MLB.com reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39101345\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/people-attend-man-collapsed-singing-125725104.jpg\" alt=\"People attending to a man who collapsed during a baseball game.\" class=\"wp-image-39101345\"  \/>People attend to a man who collapsed while singing \u201cLife Every Voice and Sing\u201d before a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Chicago.  AP<\/p>\n<p>EMTs quickly rushed to aid Chaney, and he was tended to for several minutes before being put onto a gurney and taken off the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe White Sox longtime anthem performer, Gerald Chaney, experienced a medical emergency while singing during pregame tonight,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/whitesox\/status\/2044574250523066827\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the team said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cHe received treatment by EMTs at the ballpark and was alert prior to being transported to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe entire White Sox family is sending love to Gerald and his family for a full and speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The incident delayed the game for 12 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Chaney has been an experienced anthem singer since the early 1990s, when he performed for the NBA\u2019s Pacers before coming to Chicago to sing at Bulls games and finish college, according to a story by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/2011\/04\/06\/one-hit-wonder-but-what-a-hit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Chicago Tribune published in 2011<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He has also performed at games for the Bears, Cubs, Mets and Knicks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39101344\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/general-view-rate-field-video-125719329.jpg\" alt=\"General view of Rate Field and the video scoreboard displaying #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.\" class=\"wp-image-39101344\"  \/>A general view of Rate Field and the video scoreboard showing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson before the game between the Tamp Bay Rays and the Chicago White Sox on April 15, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Chaney is an English and Language Arts teacher in the Chicago Public Schools system, according to his LinkedIn.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He was quoted as saying in the Tribune story that he hopes to tell a story through his singing of the national anthem.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s all I am doing. I am not there to get the crowd all crazy. I\u2019m reminding people of the perseverance and the triumph over tragedy,\u201d Chaney said. \u201cWhat does Francis Scott Key say? He looks out of the ship and the flag is still there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A longtime national anthem singer for the White Sox was taken to the hospital on Wednesday night after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2318,363,1676,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-587177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-chicago-white-sox","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-singers","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}