Celtics, fans mourned Reggie Lewis' death in '93

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When Boston sportscaster and family friend Jimmy Myers reached Donna Lewis to give her the news, she stopped him. "Wait, Jimmy," she said. "I've got something to tell you first."

Donna's news was joyous: She had just learned she was 2 months pregnant with her second child.

Jimmy's was tragic: Her husband, Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis, had collapsed while shooting baskets at Brandeis University and was on his way to Waltham-Weston Hospital. "We're living this nightmare again," he told Donna. "We've got to get over there."

Four months earlier, Lewis had become dizzy and disoriented during a regular-season game. A month after that, he had collapsed in a playoff game. Although conflicting medical reports left it unclear whether he could play basketball after the second incident, he was determined to try. But he never really got the chance. Nearly two hours after he collapsed at 5:07p.m. on July27, 1993, the hospital announced Reggie Lewis was dead at 27.

Lewis entered the Brandeis arena with a friend at about 4p.m. to prepare for a fullcourt pickup game that night, his first since April. Several girls in the gym came over to talk with him, and he held his hand against theirs to compare sizes. The atmosphere was cheerful and light.

After about an hour on the court without even working up a sweat, Lewis crumpled near the 3-point line. Said a Brandeis security guard who arrived minutes later: "His eyes were open, but he was clearly unconscious." The guard tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while his partner pumped Lewis' chest. There was no response. The player wasn't breathing, and his pulse was virtually undetectable. Then came the ride to the hospital and subsequently the grim announcement.

The sad news sent Celtics Nation into shock. Lewis, a former star at Baltimore's Dunbar High School and Northeastern University, was the cornerstone of an impressive rebuilding effort by the aging team. The Celtics had suffered a literally mortal blow seven years earlier when Maryland superstar Len Bias died from cocaine use two days after the Celtics made him the second pick in the NBA Draft. But the former perennial champions were luckier the following spring when they selected Lewis. Over six seasons, he averaged 17.6 points and captivated fans with his sunny nature and good works off the court.

Now, shockingly, it was all over. With Lewis, the Celtics had enjoyed six straight winning seasons. Without him and the retired Kevin McHale in 1993-94, they slid from 48-34 to 32-50 and out of the playoffs.

An estimated 15,000 mourners -- black and white together in an often racially divided city -- filed past Lewis' open casket over the next few days. During a memorial service attended by 7,000 at Northeastern's Matthews Arena, Celtics CEO Dave Gavitt remarked in his eulogy, "Isn't it amazing that here in conservative, staid New England, this soft-spoken, gentle young man had to leave us before we felt it was OK to say that we love each other and care for each other?"

The entire Celtics family was stricken, of course. Assistant coach Jon Jennings told Sports Illustrated how he had taken Reggie and Donna to a Boston Pops Christmas concert the previous December, and the athlete had whispered, "Next year, I'll bring Reggie Jr."