RIP Hank "The Bank" Gathers
Tue, 2008-03-04 16:06 — Berger
It was 18 years ago this evening that I was sitting in Gersten Pavilion on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles preparing to broadcast the LMU vs University of Portland men's basketball game. The game was part of the West Coast Conference tournament.
The events that took place that evening are still fresh in my mind as if they happened last week. It was a tragic evening and one that rocked the sports world. LMU star Hank Gathers collapsed on the court during the game and later died. The cause of death was a heart ailment called cardiomyopathy.
Ironically, Hank Gathers had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I had ever met. Because I broadcast the games (with radio partner Keith Forman), I spent time at practices, team meals and on the bus with Gathers and saw his engaging personality up close. Hank was an undersized center, but he routinely dominated his bigger opponent. He scored 48 points and pulled down 18 rebounds when he went head to head with a young freshman from LSU named Shaquille O'Neal for instance. During the 1989-90 season, Gathers became only the second player in NCAA history to lead the country in scoring and rebounding in the same season. He was a Philly guy with the heart of a lion and he made LMU's high-octane offense go.
I always thought Hank would have had a very successful NBA career as he was a highly motivated player with incredible athleticism. His upside was becoming a player in the mold of Charles Barkley.
Back in 2005, Keith Forman and I devoted an entire edition of Sports Business Radio to the life and death of Hank Gathers. We also aired audio of that fateful night for the first time since Gathers' death on March 4, 1990.
But today, I wanted to link to some clips of Hank Gathers that I posted on YouTube a while back. Take a moment to watch these clips and get to know Hank Gathers the basketball player and Hank Gathers the person.
Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers on the TODAY show with Bryant Gumble - WATCH HERE
Tribute to Hank Gathers on KCBS Los Angeles - WATCH HERE
Bo Kimble and Jeff Fryer on the Arsenio Hall show - WATCH CLIP #1 HERE and WATCH CLIP #2 HERE
Bo Kimble's last second heave beats St. Joseph's on WNBC, New York - WATCH HERE
RIP Hank Gathers. He was money in the bank on the court and as good as gold off of the court. I think about him often.
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Hank Gathers
Brian-
Like you and so many others March 4th is a date that is indelibly etched in my mind.
Yesterday I heard from a number of people whom I interviwed about Hank who were thinking of him as well.
The book that you and many others were kind enough to help me with is complete and we are seeking a publisher.
I am hopeful we will find one soon and be able to bring Hank's story to readers who remember him only as "the guy who died on the court." That television has imprinted upon our minds that image-frozen in time- to define Hank Gathers is unfortunate. That Hank should be recalled that way is as tragic as his passing. It ignores the complexity of his life, its nobility of purpose and his lasting legacy.
A few short days after Hank fell to thr hardwood floor at Gersten, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Paul Conrad(who was present at the game)composed his own tribute to Hank. Under the caption:Hank Gathers: 1967-1990 it appeared in the Los Angeles Times on March 7th.The pen and ink drawing depicts a basketball-like comet streaking across an inky black sky. Its tail of cosmic dust separates it, for just that instant, from all the other celestial bodies as it arcs toward the heavens. Beneath is this caption: "Born of the sun he traveled a short while toward the sun and left the vivid air signed with his honor."
For many like LA TImes reporter Alan Drooz, March 4th is marked as the day the"fun went out of sports."
It is the day a team lost a leader, a mother lost a son, a young boy lost a father and a nation lost a hero.
There are, I believe, few extraordinary people in the world. Fewer still are heroes. In ancient Greek hero was a term used to describe one who sacrificed his own life for the benefit of others.
"There was nothing ordinary about Hank Gathers. He was a walking thunderbolt," said his coach, Paul Westhead.
Hank Gathers was that rarest of human beings- he was both extraordinary and a hero.
Hank touched many lives in his short time on this planet and few who met him ever forgot him.
RIP Bankman.
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