LEWIS'S TRAGIC DEATH STILL HAUNTS CELTICS - The Washington Post "Reggie was a model citizen and an intelligent and wise man. -- Utah football coach Ron McBride, who last fall led the Utes to their best season in school history, has agreed to a new five-year contract. If you started yapping at either of those guys, they just smiled at you. That's because cocaine kicks into gear the sympathetic nervous system, which produces excess adrenalin. The more we can educate young adults about the risk of sudden cardiac death, he says the more we can prevent young athletes from dying unnecessarily.. Reggie Lewis, all-time great Boston Celtic (1987-93) pic.twitter.com/r2dHHkgvl8, Robert Parish Said Phil Jackson Got Straight to the Point With Him After Signing With the Bulls. Lewis was examined by 12 experts who concluded that he suffered from a life-threatening disease that would most likely end his career. Twenty years later, we still ponder what might have been. "To my knowledge, seeing Reggie on a regular basis, I would be shocked," to learn that he had used cocaine, said Celtics coach Chris Ford. This article was compiled by Sun staff writer Frank D. Roylance, with reporting by staff writers Diana Sugg and Mike Preston and Ken Rosenthal and contributing writer Ian Browne. Kennedy McKinney (26-0-1) of Memphis, Tenn., knocked out Jose Rincones (19-2-2) of Venezuela in the fifth round at Johannesburg, South Africa, and retained the International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight title. That was about it," Bird told ESPN. He had my number that particular night. "But he was a worker. Parish played his final game as a member of the Celtics in 1994. "They are worse than ludicrous. I was trying to be aggressive with him. In spite of Jordan's poor shooting in that epic March 31 battle, the Bulls still led by three in the waning seconds. Young athletes and their parents should feel secure in pursuing physical fitness to the best of their childrens abilities and without the unknown risk of sudden cardiac death.. Because Lewis was so understated off the floor, opponents mistakenly figured he lacked the killer instinct. You could always tell that.". The Wall Street Journal reported in 1995 that doctors at New England Baptist recommended Lewis be tested for cocaine. Remembering Reggie Lewis, 20 years after his tragic death - ESPN On a warm July afternoon in 1993, Reggie Lewis went with a friend to Brandeis University to shoot baskets. He died when several different problems caused . For other uses, see, Reggie Lewis portrait from the Celtics yearbook, America East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, List of basketball players who died during their careers, "Fallen Celtic: Remembering Reggie Lewis", "The Reggie Lewis Aftermath Boston Mourns, Puzzles And Opines Over Celtics Star's Death", "Celtics sign PJ Dozier to a two-way contract", "With Len Bias-Reggie Lewis Duo, Boston Celtics Could Have Owned 1990s", "Every retired number for the Celtics and who wore it", "To those who knew Reggie Lewis best, fond memories are always front and center", "Officer Defends Arrest of Harvard Professor", "Young athletes urged to get screened for heart trouble", "Report: Doctors Suspected That Cocaine Killed Celtics' Lewis", "Cocaine claim could spur insurance probe", "Deadly Silence: How the Inner Circles, Of Medicine and Sports, Failed a Stricken Star", "Doctors: Drugs Did Not Kill Reggie Lewis", "At Face Value, Board Makes Celtics Pay For Their Success", "Bosh, Heat part ways over year after last game", Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reggie_Lewis&oldid=1144474244, National Basketball Association All-Stars, National Basketball Association players with retired numbers, Northeastern Huskies men's basketball players, 20th-century African-American sportspeople, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 13 March 2023, at 23:36. But as we know now, even top-flight athletes can have hidden heart disease.. . The lawyer denied the allegation. / AP. To the naked eye, nothing betrays the macabre spot where Reggie Lewis, their team captain and gentle star, collapsed while shooting baskets on July 27, soon to be dead. They knew Reggie Lewis was no slouch. 1998 The Associated Press. In recent times, Reggie Lewis's death was surfed by many individuals. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. -- Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets and Claude Lemieux of the New Jersey Devils were suspended and fined by the NHL for separate incidents last weekend. They agreed that Mr. Lewis had a life-threatening condition called focal cardiomyopathy, caused by scarring of the heart muscle. "There was a lot of pressure on him, but it didn't seem to faze him at all.". Lewis' widow, Donna Harris-Lewis, denied today that he refused to take a drug test and said he didn't use drugs. "[19][20] Also, Lewis's heart tissue tested positive for adenovirus during his autopsy. Lewis was selected to play in his first and only NBA All-Star Game held in Orlando, Florida in 1992. "Just waiting my turn.". From 1988-93, he was 1 of 6 players to post 7.5K PTS, 1.5K REBS, 1K ASTS & 500 STLS. "If there were suspicions, it was from discussions outside of the autopsy.". . He had received conflicting diagnoses regarding his condition and was advised not to exercise strenuously. "Players tried to intimidate him, make it personal. In Game 3, with Bird unable to play because of back woes, he torched the Cavs for 36 points and seven assists. "Any allegation that economic or monetary concerns could have conceivably played a role in any care that Reggie Lewis got are absolutely ludicrous," he said. Reggie Lewis Cause of Death, How did Reggie Lewis Die? Reginald F. Lewis, 50, Is Dead; Financier Led Beatrice Takeover "This was something any third-year resident could have seen," said Dr. Charles Munn, the hospital's staff radiologist. But authorities stopped short of saying Lewis didn't use drugs. Though his cause of death was later determined to be cardiac arrhythmia, at the time of his death, there was speculation that he had been using performance-enhancing drugs. [7], On April 29, 1993, in Game 1 of the Celtics' playoff series against the Charlotte Hornets, Lewis suddenly collapsed on the court and remained on the ground for several seconds. It was the first and only trey he attempted all night. The 17-part series on the Celtics championship history will run through the summer and take us to the beginning of the 2022-23 NBA season, one Boston hopes ends will with Banner No. "Indeed, since Reggie's death, local and out-of-town reporters have combed our campus for evidence of drug use or association by Reggie. Our experts predict every series, 2023 NBA playoffs: Second-round series, Finals, MVP odds, 'He looks better than ever': Why the Orlando bubble was 'just the beginning' for Jamal Murray, Memphis wasn't 'fine in the West' -- getting there hinges on massive culture questions, 'Help the bear': LeBron James trolls Dillon Brooks, Memphis Grizzlies, Why the Lakers' real test begins now, after dispatching the No. [16], The Boston Celtics responded by expressing sadness about the "vicious attack on Reggie Lewis and his family" and threatening "to file a $100 million lawsuit against the reporter, The Wall Street Journal and its parent company, Dow Jones and Co. Inc."[17] Dr. Gilbert Mudge, a doctor who treated Lewis, was sued for malpractice in connection with Lewis' death; in written responses to questions from the attorneys for Donna Harris-Lewis, Mudge said that "16 days before Lewis collapsed from a heart attack in 1993, he acknowledged having used cocaine, but said he had stopped. The Celtics had created a marketing poster declaring the "Changing of the Guards," featuring Lewis and Shaw towering over the parquet, with championship banners in the background. Health officials in one region of Italy reported that screening had saved at least 22 lives. Kessler's office said today that he was not available for comment. The other five were all Hall of Fame inductees, so it's not a stretch to say that Lewis was on the path to greatness. A lot of people get exposed to it, and it's unusual for it to attack the heart muscle, but it can happen," said Dr. Michael Gold, director of cardiac electrophysiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. It has been 25 years to the day since Lewis collapsed while shooting baskets at Brandeis University and died from heart failure at a nearby hospital on July 27, 1993. Philips is providing the 20 ultrasound machines and 15 electrocardiographs for EKG screening, plus supplies, needed for the event. Defense, they understood, was a paramount part of that conversation. I firmly believe that this is certainly a part of this article.". Reggie and Shaw talked for hours about what they needed to do to introduce themselves into the discussion of great players in the league. But after listening to the tape he made in his 1995 testimony before the Northeastern Commission, Fuchs said he reported tat Lewis did not test positive. "He had success against Jordan in other games, too," Shaw said. After he finally got up, he looked perplexed and dazed as he headed to the Celtics bench. We'll deal with that in time.". Recent media reports have raised questions about whether drug use weakened his heart. "Reggie Lewis' death was not caused by cocaine ingestion, nor was the damage to the heart at all typical of that known to be caused by cocaine usage," Dr. Richard Evans said. The doctors said that if Lewis had used cocaine, it might have contributed to his heart attack, and that they would have treated him differently. When you have the skills to break someone down on defense and you can't, it makes you tentative offensively.". 35 jersey was retired by the Celtics, making him one of only two Celtics to have a retired number without winning a championship with the team, the other player being Ed Macauley. The Journal quoted a doctor who consulted on the autopsy as saying that a lawyer for Lewis' family threatened to sue if anything came out about drugs. . [3] He was a second cousin of PJ Dozier, who wore the jersey number 35 as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder in honor of Lewis. Doctors who examined the late Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis say they believed his heart quite likely was damaged by cocaine before the former Dunbar High basketball star collapsed and died of heart failure near Boston in 1993. Nobody ever gave Jordan any flak over his performance that night. The NBA said that Roy Tarpley, who was banished in 1991 because of drug problems, has applied for reinstatement, and, at the request of his agent, the Dallas Mavericks have talked with their 7-foot center, who plays in Greece. The Celtics selected Lewis with the 22nd overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft. "From a medical perspective, looking at a heart, you can't tell what was going on," Dr. Gold said. Both were fined $500, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. Lewis died at age 27 after he collapsed while shooting baskets. He just came to play. 'It's going to be epic': Stephen Curry and LeBron James face off -- again, Curry sets G7 record with 50 as Dubs move on, Hobbled Butler serves as 'decoy' late in Heat win, Grizz's Brooks doesn't regret verbal jab at LeBron, 'This one's on me': Brunson self-critical after loss, Jokic on Murray's playoffs: 'We are following him', Rivers: Embiid likely doubtful for G1 vs. Celtics, How do Stephen Curry and the Warriors keep doing this?! Utah was 3-0 against bowl teams last fall. Reggie had no choice but to learn to wait on greatness. Then-Northeastern team doctor, Dr. Job Fuchs, initially had told lawyers involved with the lawsuit that Lewis and LaFleur both tested positive in 1987. [22] The rules have since been changed so that a similar case would result in a deceased player's contract being paid by league insurance.[23]. He left the game having scored 17 points in 13 minutes of action in what turned out to be his final NBA game. Hookailo said that the university has already handed over hundreds of pages of documents, including Lewis' medical records, to lawyers on both sides of the case. Robert Harley, Harris-Lewis' lawyer, has denied the basketball star used drugs. Boston Celtics/Reggie Lewis Reports - 1993 - YouTube On March 31, 1991, at the Boston Garden, Lewis gave Jordan a night he hasnt forgotten. A viral infection severely damaged the heart of Reggie Lewis, the Boston Celtics' captain, leaving him vulnerable to the abnormal heart rhythm that killed him on July 27, according to his death . This speculation, combined with the fact that Lewis was . "Reggie was on his way to being something really special. "There will absolutely be no Q-and-A. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Journal added the following: Whether Mr. Lewis died from a heart damaged by cocaine -- as many doctors suspected then and now -- cannot be definitively shown. On July 27, 1993, during off-season practice at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, Lewis suffered sudden cardiac death on the basketball court at the age of 27 years old. His shocking death triggered unprecedented spasms of grief throughout Boston, where he left an indelible imprint on the inner-city kids he mentored, kids whose dreams were not unlike his own. Because of the differing views, Lewis had a team of L.A. specialists review the data. The cause of the former Dunbar High School star's first fainting spell and his eventual death was the subject of public medical debate from the beginning. If you know that somebodyused cocaine, you might think that caused it, but they might have heart damage for another reason," Dr. Gottlieb said. The Journal said these "dismissive policies regarding drugs may have affected human behavior and medical procedure in a fatal fashion.". He spent a lot of time improving his game. His relative youth, his dedication, and his clear potential made his death all the more poignant. Explore our state-of-the-art patient care facilities in the Sheikh Zayed Tower. He stumbled to his feet and was dazed and confused. "He kept you off balance all the time. He left having scored 17 points in 13 minutes. Virus Damaged Heart, Lewis' Autopsy Finds - Los Angeles Times Reggie Lewis Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 Risk reduction strategies to prevent cardiac arrest include avoiding rigorous sports; taking drugs called beta-blockers that temper the heartbeat, preventing it from beating too fast; or implanting defibrillators that can shock the heart back into normal electrical rhythm. "It's more than just very flimsy as a cause of death," he said. While a doctor diagnosed the athlete with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the spring (and deeming the disease career-ending), Lewis sought a second opinion from another area hospital, where another doctor gave the basketball star a less serious, non-fatal diagnosis. Jordan won six with the Bulls. He later went on to win three rings with the Los Angeles Lakers. One of his two brothers was born with a hole in his heart and underwent open-heart surgery at age 4. The extra adrenalin is like poison to the heart. "When Reggie first came into the league," Bird told me, "he really didn't know how to play the game. All Rights Reserved. Since Reggie Lewis collapsed and died on a practice court in 1993, there have been rumors that the Boston Celtics star's death was . The death of Reggie Lewis, Boston Celtic captain, was the result of a viral infection severely damaging his heart, leaving him vulnerable to . By Dan Shaughnessy Globe Staff,July 28, 2013, 12:00 a.m. 11. * The Celtics told Mr. Lewis' doctors -- incorrectly -- that National Basketball Association rules prevented them from forcing Mr. Lewis to submit to drug tests -- tests that, if positive, would have allowed him to seek life-saving medical help, but also might have forced an end to a career that was lucrative to Mr. Lewis and the team. Drugs ruled out as cause of Lewis' death - sfgate.com He was 27. Our goal this year is to screen an even larger number of athletes than last years event, says Theodore Abraham, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.S.E., a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and director of Johns Hopkins' Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic. "His length confused me," Jordan conceded. Per CBS, Lewis had collapsed one time before, during a playoff game earlier that year against the Charlotte Hornets. They faced a public relations nightmare. "When someone with his talent does that to you, you can live with it. A lawyer for Lewis' family denied the allegation, the article said. At issue was concern for his reputation and the financial interests of his family and the team, the newspaper said. In the last decade, Abraham has treated dozens of athletes with overly enlarged hearts. The newspaper said Lewis' death couldn't have come at a worse time for the publicly traded company that owns the NBA team, the Celtics Limited Partnership. New masking guidelines are in effect starting April 24. Celtics executive vice president Dave Gavitt consoles Dee Brown (left) and Rick Fox . The team stood to lose millions of dollars if Mr. Lewis were unable to play basketball because of drug abuse. The next time, he became concerned. "I was trying to be aggressive with him. (In an ironic twist, Rolando's son, Jeremy Lamb, would later play for Calhoun at UConn). All Rights Reserved. "Oh, I remember it well," Jordan laughed. From 1988-1993, Lewis managed to block Michael Jordan four times in a single game and served as only the sixth player at the time to score 7,500 points, 1,500 rebounds, 1,000 assists, and 500 steals. They will run a series of heart tests from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 16, on athletes who volunteer to be checked in Morgan State's University Student Center. Lewis is buried in an unmarked grave in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Was he going left or right? "For something like this to come out to just tarnish an image, it doesn't even have to be true. The Big Three dominated throughout the 1980s, but age and injuries took their toll, forcing the three out of Boston. He soon left to seek care at another hospital. A heart arrhythmia . Test results will be reported to each athlete on site, along with recommended follow-ups if problems are detected. [13][14][15] The Wall Street Journal reported that physicians "suspected that cocaine killed Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewisbut they were thwarted by actions by his family and a 'dismissive' policy toward drugs by the NBA." The NBA's drug policy, however, does not allow its veteran players to be tested for drugs without probable cause. At a Boston news conference yesterday, the team's majority stockholder, Paul Gaston, criticized the Journal for suggesting in the Page 1 article that the team sought, for financial reasons, to cover up suspicions that drug use lay behind Mr. Lewis' illness, thereby undermining his care. Mr. Lewis' widow, Donna Harris-Lewis, said at the same news conference that she is "disappointed that a national publication would print rumors, innuendoes. His mother, Inez "Peggy" Ritch, has had two heart attacks -- the first when she was 17 and the other in 1990, after she had been a cocaine addict for about seven years. ", "It's not true. * Medical evidence uncovered after Mr. Lewis' fainting spell in April 1993 quickly led a team of a dozen noted specialists to a diagnosis of heart scarring, and they strongly suspected it was caused by cocaine. In the final game of his life, in the 1993 playoffs against the Charlotte Hornets and his childhood friend Muggsy Bogues, Lewis was electric in the opening minutes. The Tragic Death of NBA All-Star Reggie Lewis Shaped - Sportscasting "It was clear the expectations for Reggie were very high at that time," Jordan said. In the initial shock, the death of basketball star Reggie Lewis last week seemed a grim parable of the seductive power of professional sports -- of an athlete so devoted to a game and its rewards that he would distort medical truth in order to keep playing. If Jordans Furniture wasnt so far away, I probably wouldve been there that day and may have been able to maybe get him over to the hospital.. "I have many, many examples of patients like that who had a relatively sudden onset of a viral inflammation of the heart and went on to have either sudden death or sudden heart trouble," said Dr. Baughman. "[18] On the other hand, the doctor who performed the autopsy on Lewis testified that the scarring on his heart was inconsistent with cocaine use, and other doctors reached the same conclusion though they "stopped short of saying he never used drugs. [21], After Lewis' death, the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center was opened in Roxbury, Boston. "Reggie was very aware of the problems drugs could bring. An electrocardiogram, or EKG, to assess the hearts electrical rhythms will also be given. Wade has lent his support and will join volunteers and heart disease experts from Johns Hopkins in Marylands only screening program to detect early signs of life-threatening heart abnormalities in student athletes. The Celtics plan to retire Mr. Lewis' uniform number during halftime of a game on March 22, a ceremony the club says will go on as scheduled. "He was showing us older guys respect," Jordan said, "but he also knew he belonged.". The diagnosis was that Lewis suffered from focal cardiomyopathy, a condition of the heart muscle that could cause heart failure. Mike Tyson, his boxing future the subject of great speculation, will read a statement, but not answer questions, at a news conference tomorrow in Cleveland. She said that the school promised privacy to people who spoke to the commission and that releasing the files would cripple the school's ability to conduct future confidential internal investigations. They even went out and bought life insurance policies together. The death of Reggie Lewis, Boston Celtic captain, was the result of a viral infection severely damaging his heart, leaving him vulnerable to the kind of abnormal heart rhythm that killed him last July, according to his death certificate. He loved it. Marta Figueras-Dotti ended 11 years of frustration on the LPGA Tour with a victory in the Hawaiian Ladies Open at Ewa Beach. No, nobody did, Jordan said. I was getting some furniture, and he said, Hey man, I got clearance to play. Since Reggie Lewis collapsed and died on a practice court in 1993, there have been rumors that the Boston Celtics star's death was fueled by cocaine use. Per ESPN, Lewis proved that he could pull off insane feats throughout his tenure. Reginald C. Lewis (November 21, 1965 - July 27, 1993) was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association 's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993. "There's simply no hard science, no evidence," linking the virus to the condition that killed Lewis. Their vulnerable condition precluded them from any highly strenuous activity, and the rising number of occurrences is what compelled him to organize the weekend screening. "We used to talk all the time about how we wanted to be the breakout tandem, the Celtics backcourt to be reckoned with for a long, long time.". He told the athlete privately that his career was over. Shortly after the doctors' assessments were related to Lewis and his wife, the player checked himself out of Baptist Hospital and was admitted to nearby Brigham and Women's, where he underwent additional tests. There was the 1984 NCAA tournament game against VCU, when he was close to unstoppable. It also left the Celtics without a star. By all accounts, Lewis was primed to make the leap to the team's go-to scorer for the rest of the 90s. 2 Grizzlies, Celtics-76ers first look: What could decide the battle of East heavyweights, Pregame chats, language arts and 'a lot of fines': Inside NBA player-ref dynamics, Recipient of Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award. Printouts from a test that illuminates how blood moves through the heart prominently showed three black patches - dead spots - on the left ventricle. He launched jumpers for about an hour. 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"He told us he is going to read a statement and walk off," said Cynthia Case, a spokeswoman for Gund Arena. It is in Lewis memory that Wade now wants to help other young athletes who may be at risk of sudden death and not know it. Many cases go undiagnosed, Abraham adds, because the young athletes healthy appearance and peak physical condition may mask their underlying sickness. But as he was running down the left side of the parquet, he inexplicably stumbled, then fell. Just ask Michael Jordan. Dr. Kenneth Baughman, professor of medicine and chairman of the division of cardiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said viruses commonly cause this type of heart damage in young people.
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