Columnist suffers injury when basketball fans storm court
AMES, Iowa -- Des Moines Register columnist Randy Peterson suffered what the newspaper said was a broken leg when Iowa State fans stormed the court after a win over Iowa.
The fourth-ranked Cyclones rallied from 20 down to beat their in-state rivals 83-82 Thursday night on a winning shot with nine seconds left. Fans rushed the floor at Hilton Coliseum and Peterson was injured while heading to the postgame press conference.
Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard told the Register that he believes Peterson suffered a compound leg fracture.
Former Register reporter Rick Brown, whom the paper reported was with Peterson at a Des Moines hospital, said Peterson's tibia and fibia were fractured. The Register said Peterson will have surgery Friday.
Peterson took the incident in stride, tweeting "ouch" while being transported to a hospital 35 miles south of Ames.
He also stressed that he wasn't trampled by the crowd.
Just to be clear, I was not trampled by the crowd, I locked legs with someone,,,,, I think.
— Randy Peterson (@RandyPete) December 11, 2015
Peterson has covered sports in Iowa for the Register for roughly four decades.
"In fairness, we still do not know exactly what happened. However, at this point our thoughts our focused on Randy and his wife Patty, who is battling cancer," Pollard said in a statement. "Coach (Steve) Prohm and I have both personally spoken with Randy and have assured him that we can do whatever we can to help them both through what they are dealing with."