I shed a tear that day. I still remember it now and just skipped class and shot hoops most of the day.
He doctor shopped and found one that told him that he could play. Later on at the Celts practice facility he collapsed and died. Reggie is the reason most teams passed on Eddie Curry and scrutinize players and their hearts now.
Here's a small write up. I still have all the clippings from the papers of the time and his death was on all the ball mags and sports illustrated. This is the reason the Celts are struggling even now along with the death of Len Bias. Both set us back at least a decade. Both were more than average players and Reggie was struck down reaching his prime. :-(
Reggie Lewis dies at 27
Three months after he collapsed in a 1993 playoff game against the Hornets, Lewis, one of the most beloved players in Boston Celtics history, crumbled to the court again, this time while just shooting around.
He never got up. Reggie Lewis, dead at 27.
Reggie Lewis
Reggie was a case of a very special athlete dying young.
After the 1993 season had ended, a team of prominent cardiologists had diagnosed a serious heart condition. But another cardiologist, Dr. Gilbert Mudge, offered an alternative diagnosis that would allow Lewis to play. The ensuing public dispute, which involved the Celtics, Lewis and his family, doctors, insurance companies, and, of course, fans, centered on a basic question: can this man play basketball without risking his life?
That question was still hanging in the air just a few weeks before Lewis died on July 27. "He is progressing along perfectly and he is right where he should be," Mudge said earlier in the month. "When he starts playing, we suspect he will be fine. From my point of view, he could not be better." But Lewis had not joined in any of the Celtics unofficial training sessions.
Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, trying to capture the grief of a city that had seen too much in recent years, wrote, "This wasn't just a case of a generic Athlete Dying Young. This was case of a Very Special Athlete Dying Young. Reggie Lewis was acclaimed and admired not solely because he was obviously very good at what he did, but because of the way he did it. In an age of frightful hype, Reggie was an unintrusive personality who made people like him because he was straightforward and without guile, both on and off the court."
All star and Celts captain gone.