But he'll be cheering, not dribbling, as he recovers from his fourth heart surgery.

The Davis County Republican had emergency surgery last week to replace his ascending aorta and aortic valve. A tear in his carotid artery was also repaired.

"If I can't beat Shurtleff with half a heart and not be able to run down the court, then I need to quit basketball," Ray, 40, said, referring to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

He hopes to be back in his office next week at Sterling Savings Bank in Murray.

Four months after receiving an artificial aortic valve in 1983, Ray was swinging from a trapeze as he performed in the Peru Amateur Circus in Indiana.

He said the hardest moment before his latest surgery was talking to his four children about the risk of death.

"I could handle someone telling me," Ray said. "But when I looked in my kids' eyes, that's when it hit home."