Scary moment in San Diego State game... | Syracusefan.com

Scary moment in San Diego State game...

RF2044

RF2044

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...they had a senior player collapse during the game, and remain on the floor for more than 10 minutes.

Apparently, he remained conscious the entire time, and ended up being responsive while being carted off the floor. Scary, given some past incidents where players have collapsed during games [RIP, McNasty], but sounds like it was a positive outcome.
 
RF2044 said:
...they had a senior player collapse during the game, and remain on the floor for more than 10 minutes.

Apparently, he remained conscious the entire time, and ended up being responsive while being carted off the floor. Scary, given some past incidents where players have collapsed during games [RIP, McNasty], but sounds like it was a positive outcome.
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The first thought that went through my mind was my friend Hank Gathers. My heart dropped but I glad to see him responsive and waving to the crowd.
 
OGBJ20 said:
The first thought that went through my mind was my friend Hank Gathers. My heart dropped but I glad to see him responsive and waving to the crowd.
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That's right--Gathers was a Philly guy. Forgot about that.
 
RF2044 said:
The first thing I always think of is Conrad McRae.
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One thing that change was the response time to treating the young man and having the necessary equipment to tend to him in a timely fashion unlike Hank's situation.
 
obliterata said:
I always think of HG too when something like this happens. Then I think of Bo Kimble and free throws...
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Bah! You beat me by a couple of seconds apparently. Are you able to read my thoughts as I type them? ;) Still loving your avatar, I hope you keep it.
 
CaptainJ said:
Bah! You beat me by a couple of seconds apparently. Are you able to read my thoughts as I type them? ;) Still loving your avatar, I hope you keep it.
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I am neither Amazing nor Kreskin, so no.

I will definitely keep the avatar, can't let a bunch of quitters destroy the memories too.
 
CaptainJ said:
I still remember the touching tribute of Bo Kimble shooting his first free throws of each game left handed after that to honor Hank. They had a pretty nice run in the tournament as well.
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Me, Bo and Train were recently talking about Hank and our HS championship and college game against them. We wondered how a man so strong and healthy could just collapse and die like that? An indescribable feeling when I see the film of him falling and shaking like that.
 
bevosu said:
Gathers and Kimble...they were a fun team to watch
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Heck yeah. Those scores at times were on the fringe of unbelievability. I admire coaches like Paul Westhead who dared to step outside the accepted norms of the game and followed the example in Gladiator of giving the crowd something they had not seen. I recall they made a made for TV movie about Hank Gathers after that.
 
CaptainJ said:
Heck yeah. Those scores at times were on the fringe of unbelievability. I admire coaches like Paul Westhead who dared to step outside the accepted norms of the game and followed the example in Gladiator of giving the crowd something they had not seen. I recall they made a made for TV movie about Hank Gathers after that.
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When we played them in 89'-90' season we played like it was old fashion 5 on 5 summer pick up game. unfortunately we fell short 121-116. Never the least it was fun getting to go at more time. The basketball God's rejected a 3pt attempt from yours truly only to have it go in and out for the tie and consequently us fouling Hank who calmly went to the line and made two left handed while I was talking trash to him trying to distract him. He said "I got this slim"!
 
BTW, the SDSU player is St. John's transfer Dwayne Polee II.
 
OGBJ20 said:
The first thought that went through my mind was my friend Hank Gathers. My heart dropped but I glad to see him responsive and waving to the crowd.
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OGBJ20 said:
When we played them in 89'-90' season we played like it was old fashion 5 on 5 summer pick up game. unfortunately we fell short 121-116. Never the least it was fun getting to go at more time. The basketball God's rejected a 3pt attempt from yours truly only to have it go in and out for the tie and consequently us fouling Hank who calmly went to the line and made two left handed while I was talking trash to him trying to distract him. He said "I got this slim"!
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didn't know you knew him that well, and that's one hell of a story. thx for sharing. I can only imagine how that must have hit you

my freshman year in college in DC was in 86. we spent a bunch of time at UMd and I hung with Bias a couple of times. Shot dice with him once. When that one went down it crushed the spirit of that campus for a while.
 
OGBJ20 said:
When we played them in 89'-90' season we played like it was old fashion 5 on 5 summer pick up game. unfortunately we fell short 121-116. Never the least it was fun getting to go at more time. The basketball God's rejected a 3pt attempt from yours truly only to have it go in and out for the tie and consequently us fouling Hank who calmly went to the line and made two left handed while I was talking trash to him trying to distract him. He said "I got this slim"!
Expand...

Posts like this are one reason I pointed out in another thread that you were more than just BJ's dad. I'd now love to watch that game if I could find a copy of it somewhere! Even though I was young(and maybe because of it), that was probably my favorite era in college basketball, and Loyola Marymount's scores really captured my attention. It's hard for me to imagine playing against a team of that caliber(and almost beating them), but I can imagine the emotions you may have felt within a matter of seconds when that 3 went in and out.

About the discussion you had about how something like that could happen to Hank, it puzzles me too, and like Shark58 said, I appreciate you sharing that with us. Things like that can really help us get things in proper perspective.
 
OGBJ20 said:
When we played them in 89'-90' season we played like it was old fashion 5 on 5 summer pick up game. unfortunately we fell short 121-116. Never the least it was fun getting to go at more time. The basketball God's rejected a 3pt attempt from yours truly only to have it go in and out for the tie and consequently us fouling Hank who calmly went to the line and made two left handed while I was talking trash to him trying to distract him. He said "I got this slim"!
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Here is the video, if you can bring yourself to watch it...


Little known fact. The point guard for Portland, who was on the court when Hank collapsed. was Erik Spoelstra.
 
sutomcat said:
Here is the video, if you can bring yourself to watch it...


Little known fact. The point guard for Portland, who was on the court when Hank collapsed. was Erik Spoelstra.
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No need to watch it because it is an ever moving video in my memory banks. I could vividly see him dunking the ball as only he could and running back on defense turning and then collapsing but then only trying to get up because that was the fight and toughness in him. But then the people laying him back down and he starts shaking. His mother rushing to the court and Hank not moving at all at that time. I knew it was really bad then. I really believed that he was gone by the time they took him off the court. We had just beat the hell of Siena in the semis while hearing the news during the game and myself, Doug Overton, Train and Randy Woods collapsing and crying like babies in the locker room and team meeting. Fordham was going to award us the game for the chip in the MAAC. But we talked to Doug who was the closest to Hank and he said, "WE ARE PLAYING BECAUSE HANK WOULD WANT US TO PLAY BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HE LOVED TO DO AND DIED DOING AND HE WOULD BE MAD IF WE DIDN'T."
 
I can still remember waking up and watching Sportscenter when Hank Gathers death was the top story. No need for me to see the replay again either. That kind of thing stays with you and I obviously didn't even know him personally like OGBJ20
 
That Loyola team was a blast to watch. Curious what people think about hank had he played in the nba...could he have had a long career? I think he would have been solid.
 
81South said:
That Loyola team was a blast to watch. Curious what people think about hank had he played in the nba...could he have had a long career? I think he would have been solid.
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He was definitely going to be a lottery pick that year. As we discussed it on many occasions, I remember saying that Hank was not taking the meds as prescribed because it made him sluggish and not the explosive player that he was. You could see that the game against St. Joes a few days before we played them. He looked more lively against us in our game which was great to see. Add a little adrenaline with playing in his home town against his Homies , The Bank was ret to go! He only had the presser of getting to the pros so he could make a better life for his family. We all had those dreams and desires as our backgrounds were so similar.
 
CaptainJ said:
Posts like this are one reason I pointed out in another thread that you were more than just BJ's dad. I'd now love to watch that game if I could find a copy of it somewhere! Even though I was young(and maybe because of it), that was probably my favorite era in college basketball, and Loyola Marymount's scores really captured my attention. It's hard for me to imagine playing against a team of that caliber(and almost beating them), but I can imagine the emotions you may have felt within a matter of seconds when that 3 went in and out.

About the discussion you had about how something like that could happen to Hank, it puzzles me too, and like Shark58 said, I appreciate you sharing that with us. Things like that can really help us get things in proper perspective.
Expand...
I know the game is a ESPN classic game that is shown regularly. Trying to find it.
 
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