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OT: 25 Years ago on this date
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USMSTUD Offline
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OT: 25 Years ago on this date
Loyola Marymount's Hank Gathers collapsed and died during their West Coast Conference tournament game against Portland.
Still get choked up reading about it 25 years later.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/coll...court.html


http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketba...sary-death
03-04-2015 04:16 PM
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Native Georgian Offline
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RE: OT: 25 Years ago on this date
That was a crushing blow to LMU. His death at age 23 came as such a shock that the news of it broke through "sports media" and became a national news story. I remember that very clearly.

People forget, but Gathers had collapsed on-court during another game earlier that season. After that, LMU purchased a defibrillator (expensive equipment for a small Jesuit college) and the MBB team took it with them on all their road trips. The WCC tournament was hosted by LMU so everything was in place, but it just wasn't enough to keep him alive.
03-04-2015 10:54 PM
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HogDawg Offline
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RE: OT: 25 Years ago on this date
(03-04-2015 10:54 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  That was a crushing blow to LMU. His death at age 23 came as such a shock that the news of it broke through "sports media" and became a national news story. I remember that very clearly.

People forget, but Gathers had collapsed on-court during another game earlier that season. After that, LMU purchased a defibrillator (expensive equipment for a small Jesuit college) and the MBB team took it with them on all their road trips. The WCC tournament was hosted by LMU so everything was in place, but it just wasn't enough to keep him alive.

Quote:That season, Loyola averaged an astounding 122.4 points, still an NCAA record, in "The System" installed by coach Paul Westhead who, like Gathers and his costar, Bo Kimble, was a native Philadelphian.

A couple of weeks after Hank Gathers' death, I still remember teammate Bo Kimble shooting a free throw LEFT handed in the NCAA Tournament in honor of his fallen teammate. It was one of those seminal moments in college basketball history. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzr0SxaExKc
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2015 11:13 PM by HogDawg.)
03-05-2015 11:09 PM
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Matrix Offline
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RE: OT: 25 Years ago on this date
I will remember this for as long as I live, the sorrow was felt nationwide. I was so at ESPN for showing the footage of Mr. Gathers collapsing and dying on the court, but in all fairness to them, I do recall them warning viewers to turn away, could be mistaken about that, it was so long ago. He would have been an impact player, of that, I had no doubt, and it really got to me when his best fri, Bo Kimble, shot his FTs left handed to honor Hank, & I don't recall him missing. I was a huge UNLV fan back then, so my heart was heavy that season. So grateful to LMU for naming their home arena after Hank Gathers, too.
03-06-2015 05:46 PM
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