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Florida football legend Larry Blustein is in hospital with COVID. Here’s how you can help

Larry Blustein, a titan in the South Florida football community for his coverage of high school football and promotion of recruits across the state, is in the hospital with COVID-19 and intubated in the intensive care unit after testing positive for the coronavirus last month.

Blustein has been in the hospital for close to a week after first showing symptoms a few days after Christmas.

On Tuesday, Harold Cole, a close friend of Blustein’s of 40 years, set up a GoFundMe to raise money to assist with Blustein’s hospital bills and medical assistance once he returns home.

“With everyone’s prayers Larry will hopefully get through this and will be back on the sidelines and in the studio making a difference as he has done for thousands of high school athletes for the last 40 years,” Cole wrote in the description for the GoFundMe. “When Larry is finally able to come home he will need a lot of medical assistance and home care of which insurance will cover very little. His hospital bills are mounting up and now is the time for all of us to say thank you for all that he has done for so many.”

In just a few hours, the GoFundMe, called “Help our boy BLU,” raised more than $10,000.

“The amount of phone calls I’ve gotten from agencies and other organizations, and different private schools and people,” Cole told the Miami Herald. “How can we help? What can we do? ... People have been really great.”

Blustein, who has contributed to the Herald and now promotes recruits at LarryBlustein.com, has been covering football in Florida for more than 50 years. He also hosts South Florida High School Sports Radio on WQAM, and has been involved with the Orange Bowl and various all-star games around the state.

Blustein has a history of kidney disease and has been involved with the National Kidney Foundation, too.

“I don’t have to tell you: He’d give you the shirt off his back,” Cole said. “The amount of kids that he’s helped — it’s amazing.”