Hank Gathers, a 23-year-old college basketball star, collapsed and died during a game in front of thousands of fans in 1990. The Loyola Marymount Lions player had been diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat earlier in his senior year after a previous collapse.
A Career Cut Short
Gathers was a renowned player who, in 1989, became the second player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season. Standing six feet seven inches and weighing 220 pounds, he was described as an "unbelievable physical specimen" by Erik Spoelstra, then a player for the University of Portland and now an NBA coach.
Ahead of the semi-finals of the 1990 WCC tournament, Gathers had accounted for 28 of his team's 121 points. He told a reporter for Channel 2 in Los Angeles before the game: "I feel great. I'm in the best shape of my life. My mom's out here, and I'm looking forward to some good home cooking."
The Fatal Collapse
During the game, as he trotted back to take his position and turned to face Portland's inbound pass, he took two steps to the right and collapsed. He had no time to break his fall, and the impact of his 220-pound frame hitting the floor was loud. He struggled to regain a steady stance, remaining on his hands and knees before being surrounded by medical professionals. He then went back down to the floor and lost consciousness, and was carried out of the gym on a stretcher.
The game clock was stopped with over 13 minutes of the first half remaining, and the team's physician began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. At 6:55pm, Gathers was pronounced dead.
Silence and Aftermath
Spoelstra, who was playing for Portland in that game, shared his memory of the moment: "The absolute silence in the gym after he fell, it's something I'll never forget." The crowd piled out of the arena one by one, with an eerie silence lingering.
This was not the first time Gathers had collapsed. He had been diagnosed in his senior year with an abnormal heartbeat following his first collapse midgame. He missed two games and was put on medication by his doctors, but returned to the sport within a few weeks and gradually decreased his dosage until he appeared recovered. The collapse that killed him was the second to take place in that same season.
Moments after his fatal collapse, the WCC commissioner suspended the game indefinitely, but ESPN maintained and aired the graphic footage of his final moments on the court. Spoelstra also recalled to the Los Angeles Times: "We were practising in the gym one time before we played LMU, and you could look out one side and see the track. There was Hank, running as hard as he could, wearing a parachute. Talk about intimidating. We were all thinking, 'Boy, we've got to play that guy.'"
