MYRTLE BEACH — Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes will be held overnight at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and will undergo testing for high blood pressure and possible complications from the condition, according to Myrtle Beach City officials.

Rhodes, 69, has been serving this week in his role as executive director of the Beach Ball Classic at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, and has been absent for most of the action Thursday and Friday.

Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Gray and city spokesman Mark Kruea said Rhodes was admitted to Grand Strand Medical Center on Thursday afternoon for testing because of a believed spike in blood pressure. Further testing was done Friday morning and doctors decided to send him to MUSC for further testing.

“I think he has been taking medication for high blood pressure and it wasn’t medication that was working,” Gray said. “With the [recent] Crescom [basketball tournament] and Beach Ball and height of it, it probably just spiked a little bit.”

Rhodes tried to encourage those concerned, posting a photo on the Beach Ball Classic Facebook site of him smiling with a couple of friends and the caption, “Doing just fine.”

Rhodes’ wife, Terri, is accompanying him to MUSC.

Contact ALAN BLONDIN at 626-0284.