Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr
Len Bias is a name that comes to mind. Thurman Munson. Dale Earnhardt. Hank Gathers. Derrick Thomas. Lyman Bostock was big when I was a kid. Those were all playing and in their prime.
Out of all of them, Gathers was the biggest shock to me. Dude just dunked & then didn't make it back to half court. I'll never forget that one. People don't drop dead after dunking.
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Reggie Lewis was the one that comes to mind for me. My fave player at the time. Total class SO unlike many athletes, especially today's NBA players. Could throw down serious dunks but NEVER posed, showed anybody up, or trash-talked. Just went about his business... Great all-around player and, by all accounts, a great human being.
Saw his last game in April '93 - his first playoff game as the unquestioned leader of the C's (Bird had retired). Eager to show that he was ready for his new role (and to counter criticism that his opposite number on the Hornets - Kendall Gill - owned him), he torched the Charlotte for 17 points in just 13 minutes (his minutes being just a few in each half due to an irregular heartbeat, dizziness, and first half collapse that nobody understood in that moment). Three months later, he was gone, having collapsed on a practice court.
He missed the rest of the Hornets series (and Kevin McHale retired at the end of it) as a precaution. Then, a few weeks later he was - questionably, in hindsight - given a tentative green light to get back on the court. In late July he went to the gym to work on the only weakness in his game - his three-point shot. After shooting for about an hour in what was no more than a light workout for him, he collapsed and died... I'll never forget when my buddy called me up that evening and mentioned it as though I already knew (I didn't). I was in a daze for days. Very tragic.