It was 20 years ago today that I saw Hank Gathers die.I was a freshman at Loyola Marymount, midway through my second semester of college, and Hank Gathers, a fifth-year senior who had led the nation in scoring and rebounding the previous year, was again among the Division I leaders in both categories.
On that Sunday afternoon, he collapsed and died on the court during a West Coast Conference tournament game at Gersten Pavilion, LMU's on-campus arena, in front of a good portion of the student body, including me. Turns out he died from hypertrophic cardiomyopothy, a heart-muscle disorder.
I still have the remembrance card that was passed out at his memorial mass, along with the "Hank Hanky" that the students got for the NCAA Tournament.
And it's hard to believe that it was 20 years ago today.
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