The most frustrating thing is that so many athletes are seemingly unaware about the consequences of putting too much strain on their abnormal cardiac muscle during vigorous exercise, adds Abraham. "They are worse than ludicrous. The possibility of another one existed when the torch was passed to Reggie Lewis.. Reggie had no choice but to learn to wait on greatness. 2 Jim Courier, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, in the semifinals of the U.S. Indoor tournament at Philadelphia. title by defeating Walter Ray Williams Jr., 276-238, in a tournament at Richmond Heights, Mo. He slashed to the hole, ripped away offensive rebounds and seized the game by its throat. Selanne was suspended for two games and Lemieux for three. The Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Health System. He also assured doctors, from his own experience with Mr. Lewis, that he was not a drug user. 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 . [citation needed], Lewis' contract remained on the Celtics' salary cap for two full seasons after his death because at the time the NBA did not have a provision to void contracts if an active player died; NBA Commissioner David Stern suggested that the remaining NBA teams should approve an exemption for Lewis' contract, but the teams refused to do so. In addition to The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Philips Healthcare, other co-sponsors of this event are Morgan State University, the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, the National Football Foundation, the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, Friends in Red, and the Chad Foundation. display: none; Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Defense was also a strength for Lewis. None of his teammates dared to rib him about a skinny kid from Baltimore blocking four of his shots. He made his way back onto the court later in the game but quickly came back to the bench after experiencing dizziness. A $15 million insurance policy on his contract would not pay off if his disability was linked to drugs. The Johns Hopkins team of more than 70 includes cardiologists, medical residents, nurses, ultrasound technicians, administrative assistants and community volunteers. He had previously collapsed during a game, and a team of New England Baptist Hospital doctors said he had a life-threatening heart ailment and warned that his career was in jeopardy. 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. He was just 27. That came from Gilbert H. Mudge, director of clinical cardiology at a Harvard teaching hospital, who said Lewis suffered from a benign neurological disorder. He stumbled to his feet and was dazed and confused. After breaking the Northeastern scoring record, he was drafted 22nd by the Boston Celtics but played only 8.3 minutes a game in his 1987-88, his rookie season. Authorities wouldn't say if there was evidence that Lewis ever used cocaine, and his widow declined Tuesday to allow them to release the autopsy report. McHale followed the year after. The Detroit Pistons rejected a trade for Sacramento center Duane Causwell, saying he failed to pass a physical examination because of an unspecified problem. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. "And Reggie was the same way. "I lived with him for his first two years with the Celtics, and we went everywhere together. "I don't give a damn what people say. Cynthia Case, a spokeswoman for Gund Arena, said the former heavyweight champion contacted the arena yesterday. "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. But it has agreed to a compromise that would provide the information with the proviso certain information be kept confidential. [8], The following day, Lewis checked into New England Baptist Hospital, where he underwent a series of tests by more than a dozen heart specialists, who the Celtics called their "dream team" of doctors. There are several thousand such sudden deaths per year in younger adults in the United States by some estimates. Reggie went 15-of-17 from the floor and was within seconds of a Sweet 16 berth before Rolando Lamb shattered Northeastern's dreams with a turnaround 17-foot leaner off an inbounds play as time expired. The Journal said these "dismissive policies regarding drugs may have affected human behavior and medical procedure in a fatal fashion.". Midway through his first season in the NBA, I asked him how he was holding up. "When Reggie first came into the league, he really didn't know how to play the game. As far as Reggie using drugs, he never used any drugs, no kind of way, never in his lifetime did anything like that happen. "I'm glad Reggie was my teammate, because he was one of them.". From Staff and Wire Reports. "But it just burns in the back of people's minds, when a black athlete dies, they don't believe that it is not either guns or drugs. http://www.hopkinsheart.org/clinical-services/centers-excellence/center-excellence-hcm.html, David March 410-955-1534 office; 410-598-7056 cellular; dmarch1@jhmi.edu. Jordan retreated to the visitor's locker room shaking his head. The extra adrenalin is like poison to the heart. Like everyone on the Celtics, Lewis teammate Rick Fox took the news hard. 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. . Autopsy results found Lewis had a large, extensively scarred heart, and the cause of that scar tissue is still not known. "It was so surprising, so sad. African-American players at special risk of death from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Sudden Death of Baltimore Basketball Player Reggie Lewis Spurs Coach to Screen Other Young Players For Heart Defects - 01/14/2010. New masking guidelines are in effect starting April 24. "The question of drug use is not new," said John A. Curry, president of Northeastern University, alma mater of Mr. Lewis and Ms. Harris-Lewis. Printouts from a test that illuminates how blood moves through the heart prominently showed three black patches - dead spots - on the left ventricle. Brian Shaw and Reggie Lewis planned to grow up in the NBA together. Two other doctors who examined the heart, however, said they found scarring that they described as consistent with cocaine damage, the Journal reported. His heart damage still could have been caused by a virus. "Reggie was on his way to being something really special. Mr. Lewis denied using drugs, but refused to allow his blood or urine to be tested. [21], After Lewis' death, the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center was opened in Roxbury, Boston. It was the first and only trey he attempted all night. But as he was running down the left side of the parquet, he inexplicably stumbled, then fell. "He was a model citizen. That is how I will remember him," Ms. Harris-Lewis said. "Furthermore, there is no conceivable way that the NBA's anti-drug program had anything to do with the issue of whether Reggie Lewis was tested or could have been tested upon his admission to the hospital," Granik said. He blocked four of Jordans shots, shocking His Airness in the process. That clause was never invoked in Mr. Lewis' case, despite the mounting medical evidence, the Journal said. Recent media reports have raised questions about whether drug use weakened his heart. 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. After he finally got up, he looked perplexed and dazed as he headed to the Celtics bench. 7 seed Lori McNeil, 6-3, 6-1. That's because cocaine kicks into gear the sympathetic nervous system, which produces excess adrenalin. That's one reason why he never used drugs. After he collapsed last April in a playoff game against the Charlotte Hornets, his condition became a highly publicized medical dispute among Boston doctors. Lewis sat, dazed, on the court. He was a tough matchup, and he had those long arms that really bothered me. Here's where we pause for a moment to understand the magnitude of what Jordan is saying. 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. "Reggie was a model citizen and an intelligent and wise man. Would he shake you with that explosive first step and attack the rim, or would he suddenly pull up after one devastating dribble and hoist his trademark praying mantis jumper? By the time he died, he was one of six players who, from 1988-93, posted at least 7,500 points, 1,500 rebounds, 1,000 assists and 500 steals. They shared an agent, bought their houses at the same time, picked out new BMWs just days apart. "But he was a worker. "Indeed, since Reggie's death, local and out-of-town reporters have combed our campus for evidence of drug use or association by Reggie. If you know that somebodyused cocaine, you might think that caused it, but they might have heart damage for another reason," Dr. Gottlieb said. Selanne slashed Dmitri Mironov of the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday. Contact us or find a patient care location. In Game 3, with Bird unable to play because of back woes, he torched the Cavs for 36 points and seven assists. * 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. Reggie got out of East Baltimore, he didn't want to go back.". .. That was about it," Bird told ESPN. [1] At the age of 27, Lewis died while still a member of the Celtics, and his number was posthumously retired by the team. Dr. Mudge told the Journal that he later had come to agree that Mr. Lewis' heart was damaged. Such scarring also might be caused by poison, medications, alcohol or infection. In 2004, the International Olympic Committee recommended that all athletes be EKG-tested every two years for potential heart abnormalities. They even went out and bought life insurance policies together. BOSTON - Reggie Lewis did not die as a result of cocaine use, according to a review of the Boston Celtics star's autopsy. . Doctor Knew Lewis Used Cocaine. Both were fined $500, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. If anything was being covered up, it was the fact he had a heart condition. "But he was a worker. Lewis was one of the exceptions. According to the Journal, the partnership found itself with a capital deficit of $28.1 million in the summer of 1993. * The Celtics at the time were deeply in debt and in the midst of negotiations to sell a television station. He never relinquished his own aggressiveness. "He was showing us older guys respect," Jordan said, "but he also knew he belonged.". Most of the time internet deceives the audience by passing news about a healthy person as if they are dead. 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. The death of Reggie Lewis, Boston Celtic captain, was the result of a viral infection severely damaging his heart, leaving him vulnerable to . The Celtics selected Lewis with the 22nd overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft. Trending News 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. Before his doctors got any further with the case, however, Mr. Lewis packed up, left Baptist Hospital and checked into Brigham and Women's Hospital -- a respected affiliate of Harvard University. BOSTON - Doctors suspected that cocaine killed Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis in 1993, but they were thwarted by actions by his family and a "dismissive" policy toward drugs by the NBA, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Third-seeded Michael Chang defeated No. The next time, he became concerned. He died when several different problems caused his enlarged heart to beat irregularly, said Evans, repeating the finding on the athlete's death certificate. A year after that epic battle with the Bulls, Reggie Lewis was chosen for his first All-Star Game. 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. Recent media reports have raised questions about whether drug use weakened his heart. 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. When it happened again, this time on a pull-up jumper, Jordan became irked. 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. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . He never relinquished his own aggressiveness. 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. As many as 300 young athletes from 18 teams, ranging from 14 to 18 years of age, will be examined for HCM. Jordan won six with the Bulls. He denied it. "I was in Chicago when I got the news," Jordan said. You could always tell that.". The Celtics responded by threatening to file a $100 million lawsuit against the reporter, the Wall Street Journal and its parent company, Dow Jones and Co. Inc. "The story was written with complete disregard for the truth," the team said in a statement. He loved it. The newspaper's report offered no proof of cocaine abuse. By all accounts, Lewis was primed to make the leap to the team's go-to scorer for the rest of the 90s. Discover what's to love about Charm City for yourself. They shouldn't bother. But the information presented regarding Reggie Lewis is true, and we found a . On March 31, 1991, the Bulls strutted into the Boston Garden with a 53-17 record (they would go on to win 61 games). . Haarhuis defeated Jaime Yzaga, 6-3, 6-3. . Lewis, an athletic swingman from nearby Northeastern University, was considered the next big Celtics star after Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish moved on. He was 50 and lived in Manhattan and Paris. Lewis averaged 20.8 points in each of his last two seasons with the Celtics, and finished with a career average of 17.6 points per contest. Twenty years later, we still ponder what might have been. Kessler told the New York Times, I found evidence of disease, lots of it. The pathologist identified the virus as adenovirus type 2, one of several types viruses that can cause myocarditis. -- 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. His death was attributed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a structural heart defect that is the most common cause of death in young athletes.[11][12]. 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. Boston turned out en masse to say goodbye to Celtic captain Reggie Lewis, whose death at age 27 has raised troubling questions. reggie lewis diedreggie lewis death videodonna harris-lewisreggie lewis death videoreggie lewis death on court Like Sportscasting on Facebook. Here's this talented guy who had never done anything wrong, who did so much for the city of Boston, and the next thing you know, he's gone.". We'd been pressing him about cocaine for days," Dr. Thomas Nessa, who was leading the medical team, told the Journal. You could always tell that.". The following day they were tested again, and finally passed. He said that, in cases of a damaged heart, the cause is often never discovered. The other 5 are NBA legends: Barkley, Drexler, Jordan, Karl Malone & Mullin pic.twitter.com/1RbXJGIuDp. "He had my number that particular night.". The death certificate is expected to help clarify Lewis case. "He was on his way," Bird noted. There was insurance coverage of more than $15 million that could be paid to the Lewis family and the Celtics only if there was no link to drugs. Lewis's tragic death I havent talked too much about it over the years, Fox said to Bill Simmons in aYouTubevideo posted in 2018. Lewis was told his condition was most likely career-ending. The center was funded partially by Lewis and has hosted major indoor track and field competitions, the Boston Indoor Games, home basketball games for Roxbury Community College, and Northeastern University track and field events. Martina Navratilova made the final of the Paris womens open with a 6-1, 6-3, victory over Leila Meshki. The NBA's drug policy, however, does not allow its veteran players to be tested for drugs without probable cause. 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. He was drafted 22nd overall by the Celtics in 1987 after a standout college career at Northeastern University. "When Reggie first came into the league," Bird told me, "he really didn't know how to play the game. Many cases go undiagnosed, Abraham adds, because the young athletes healthy appearance and peak physical condition may mask their underlying sickness. He took himself away from dealers, or people who used drugs. He told the athlete privately that his career was over. That was about it. With young people, experts say, scarring of the heart is more often associated with cocaine abuse. Indeed, Lewis had fainted during a game a few months before, prompting a much-publicized debate on his heart health and foreshadowing his death. "Michael would have 37 and Reggie would have 32, so all the talk was about MJ, but Reggie was right there.". Teammate Dee Brown called the Wall Street Journal article "a bunch of crap.". But two top heart experts in Baltimore disagreed. "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. It also left the Celtics without a star. When Reggie Lewis, the popular captain of basketball's most storied team, collapsed while shooting baskets and died of heart failure, the city of Boston treated him like a fallen hero. Lewis transferred to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where another team, this one led by Dr. Gilbert Mudge, diagnosed him with a less-harmful neurological condition. The checkup will include a basic questionnaire to review any past history of chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting spells, instances of sudden cardiac death in relatives, weight and blood pressure measurements, and tests for unusual heartbeats or murmurs. A drug scandal - especially coming after the death of Len Bias of a cocaine overdose in 1986, a day after being drafted by the Celtics - would be potentially damaging to the NBA and the Celtics. The 198384 Huskies advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, falling one point shy of the Sweet 16 when Rolando Lamb scored at the buzzer to lift VCU over the Huskies. 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. * 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. Reggie Lewis was a professional basketball player who died suddenly at the age of 27. ", Asked if anyone else had ever blocked four of his shots in one game, Jordan answered, "No one had ever done it before, and no one has done it since.". "I miss him," Shaw said. I firmly believe that this is certainly a part of this article.". In addition, Mr. Lewis was born with a heart murmur, which. "To me, this was an example of gutless journalism, yellow journalism -- based fully on a complete disregard for the truth. "It's more than just very flimsy as a cause of death," said Dr. Jangu Banatvala, a London researcher who the paper said is one of the world's experts on heart viruses. Lewis was clean "in every way possible," Brown said. On Nov. 19, nearly four months after Lewis died, a death certificate was filed in Waltham listing the cause of death as adenovirus 2, a common virus that causes the common cold, that led to inflammation of the heart, widespread scarring of tissue and, ultimately, a fatal cardiac arrest. Lewis, 27, was the Celtics captain and leading scorer when he collapsed during a playoff game against the Charlotte Hornets in Boston Garden on April 29, 1993. "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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed "It's more than just very flimsy as a cause of death," he said. The diagnosis was that Lewis suffered from focal cardiomyopathy, a condition of the heart muscle that could cause heart failure. But it said the official cause of Mr. Lewis' death -- heart damage because of a viral infection -- has been rejected by cardiologists who examined him after a fainting spell during a game months before his death or later after his death. 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. At issue was concern for his reputation and the financial interests of his family and the team, the newspaper said. Reggie did not do drugs, period. 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 was clear the expectations for Reggie were very high at that time," Jordan said. "He was on his way to being one of the best 2-guards in the league," said Brian Shaw, his friend and former teammate. On July 27, 1993, while shooting baskets at Brandeis University, Lewis collapsed and died. They knew Reggie Lewis was no slouch. Meet me at Brandeis. I said Ill be down there, man. Lewis returned briefly to the game but was eventually pulled due to dizziness and shortness of breath. Lewis started all 82 games and shot better than 50% from the floor that season. One of the world's leading experts on heart viruses, however, Dr. Jangu Banatvala, told the Journal that most people carry the common cold virus dormant in their bodies, making its presence in Mr. Lewis' body meaningless. Mudge's lawyer declined to comment to the Herald on the case. More than 110,000 high school students in Maryland are active in sports, and, according to Abraham, the stress of athletic competition poses ultra-dangerous risks to those who have inherited tendencies to develop overly enlarged and thickened hearts, hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, or similar abnormalities. A Boston Celtics dynasty came to a close. MJ dismissed Reggie's initial block as an anomaly. Jordan was about to win his fifth consecutive scoring title and his first NBA championship. As the trio got older, Lewis got better. MEDICAL EXAMINER REPEATS 1ST FINDING OF CAUSE OF DEATH, Dubs fans picking apart video of possible Poole-Draymond incident, Bay Area preschool teacher suspected of dumping body along road, Bay Area mom influencer found guilty of lying about kidnapping, 'Horrible': Oakland rapper dumps on Chase Center Warriors fans, More rain, 'unseasonably chilly' temperatures coming to Bay Area, Destructive landslide closes historic California institution, 49ers out in full force at Warriors-Kings Game 7, Sold-out Berkeley crowd gets rowdy at country star's concert, Shock, fear as 2 killings in 3 days rock quiet Davis. [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 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. In addition, there is a history of heart trouble in Mr. Lewis' family. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Concertgoer lets out a loud full body orgasm while L.A. Phil plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Elliott: Pissed off Kings must improve in key areas to break Oilers playoff stranglehold, Shohei Ohtanis seventh home run of the season helps Angels avoid sweep, Florida Panthers upset record-setting Boston Bruins in Game 7 OT thriller, Dodgers dont need the long ball to finish sweep of Cardinals, School is in session as Sparks begin training camp. "Just waiting my turn.". "For something like this to come out to just tarnish an image, it doesn't even have to be true. Explore our state-of-the-art patient care facilities in the Sheikh Zayed Tower. Colombias team was encouraged when doctors said a knee cartilage tear suffered by midfielder Carlos Valderrama, 32, wasnt as severe as feared and he should be ready for the World Cup. Derrick Lewis, no relation to Reggie Lewis but a former teammate at Dunbar and Northeastern, said the late player had nothing to do with drugs. He initially went unrecruited by most Division I programs -- except by dogged Northeastern coach Jim Calhoun, who saw something special in the slender, shy wing player. Boston Celtics small forward who tragically died of heart failure on the court at the age of 27. Reward offered as manhunt for Texas shooting suspect reaches "dead end", Louisiana's health care deserts put women, babies at risk, doctors say, How a tall Texan became an unlikely Australian rules football star, Second convoy of U.S. citizens fleeing Khartoum arrives at Port Sudan, ISIS chief killed by Turkey's intelligence agency, Erdogan says, General Mills issues Gold Medal flour recall over salmonella concerns, Investors sue Adidas over Kanye West Yeezy deal, Tornado flips cars, downs trees after touching down in South Florida, Shaquil Barrett's 2-year-old daughter dies in drowning accident.

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