Reggie Lewis (November 21, 1965 - July 27, 1993) was an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Lewis attended high school at Dunbar High School, where he played basketball alongside NBA players Muggsy Bogues, David Wingate, and Reggie Williams. The 1981-82 Dunbar Poets finished the season at 29-0 during Lewis' junior season and finished 31-0 during his senior season, and were ranked first in the nation by USA Today.[1] Lewis attended Northeastern University in Boston. His uniform number was retired and hangs in tribute in Matthews Arena (the Celtics' original home arena in 1946).
[edit] Boston Celtics
He averaged 20.8 points per game in each of his last two seasons with the Celtics, and finished with a career average of 17.6 points per contest.
His #35 jersey was retired by the Celtics as a memorial to him — one of only two Celtics to have a retired number but not a championship in the 62-year history of the franchise. The other was Ed Macauley, who did win a championship with the St. Louis Hawks in 1958.
He was selected to play in his first and only NBA All-Star Game held in Orlando, Florida, 1992. He played 15 minutes, scoring seven points and grabbing four rebounds.
[edit] Death and legacy
Lewis suffered sudden cardiac death on the basketball court at an off-season practice on July 27, 1993 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He was only 27 years old. Lewis had shown symptoms of heart problems in the preceding months (including collapsing during the opening game of their first-round playoff series with the Charlotte Hornets), and the cause of his death was subsequently attributed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a structural heart defect that is considered the most common cause of death in young athletes.[2][3] James Crowley, a Brandeis University police officer who happened upon the gym on a routine patrol, and another Brandeis University police officer attempted to revive Lewis by using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but they were unsuccessful.[4] Following Lewis' death, it was alleged that Lewis had used cocaine, and that drug use may have been a contributing factor in his death.[5][6][7] However, after his autopsy, doctors who examined his heart found the scarring inconsistent with cocaine use.[8]
After his death the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center was opened in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The center was funded partially by Lewis and routinely hosts major indoor track and field competitions, including the Boston Indoor Games, as well as home basketball games for Roxbury Community College and Northeastern University track and field. On December 28th, 1994 the Boston Celtics retired his jersey. He had worn the number 35 for his whole career. During the ceremony, former teammate Dee Brown made a speech while two other former teammates, Sherman Douglas and Xavier McDaniel, held up his framed jersey.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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