What Could Have Been...Hank Gathers 02/11/1967 - 03/04/1990

[The Gemini Method]

Can't say I remember much during my 10th year of existence, but I remember my pops reading to me a story about the exciting basketball team from Loyola Marymount University here in California. On that team, were Bo Kimble and a player by the name of Hank Gathers. Perhaps many here were not old enough to remember, but I often wonder how he would've fared in the NBA. Along with the likes of Len Bias; Gathers never got to finish out his playing days. Can't believe it has been 20 years ago today. What do you think he would've done if he made it to the L?

http://espn.go.com/blog/sportscenter/post/_/id/34821/this-day-in-sports-a-budding-basketball-star-falls-too-soon

[JoeTait75]

Hank Gathers dropping dead in Gersten Pavilion is still the worst thing I've ever seen on television, and that includes 9/11. The fact of death was just so raw and out front. That team was incredible. In terms of pure entertainment value that's still the most fun team I've ever watched at the college level.

As for how Gathers would have done in the NBA... it's hard to even speculate. He was playing a position he wouldn't have played in the NBA and he was playing in a system that wasn't played in the NBA. I don't even know what position he would have played. Maybe PF but at 6'7" he might not have been big enough even for that. And he probably didn't have enough range on his shot or good enough handles to play SF.

It's a shame he didn't get the opportunity.

[The Gemini Method]

Hank Gathers dropping dead in Gersten Pavilion is still the worst thing I've ever seen on television, and that includes 9/11. The fact of death was just so raw and out front. That team was incredible. In terms of pure entertainment value that's still the most fun team I've ever watched at the college level.

As for how Gathers would have done in the NBA... it's hard to even speculate. He was playing a position he wouldn't have played in the NBA and he was playing in a system that wasn't played in the NBA. I don't even know what position he would have played. Maybe PF but at 6'7" he might not have been big enough even for that. And he probably didn't have enough range on his shot or good enough handles to play SF.

It's a shame he didn't get the opportunity.

Yeah, the offense in which he flourished in wasn't going to prepare him for the league in the 90s as the era he probably would've been best in was the run-n-gun style of the 80's. However, he never got the chance to do any of it.

I remember quite a few years back I was dating a girl who was attending LMU as I was @ USC and seeing that there wasn't much of a tribute to Gathers because of the lawsuit that was pending between the university and Gathers' family, but perhaps that has changed. Maybe a tree in his honor...

[HarlemHeat37]

It's a really sad story..a lot of these stories don't hit me because they happen to fiends like Len Bias, but stories like this one are extremely sad..he didn't do anything to deserve the death and waste of his potential..(unless I didn't read enough and he was a Len Bias-type case)..

[The Gemini Method]

It's a really sad story..a lot of these stories don't hit me because they happen to fiends like Len Bias, but stories like this one are extremely sad..he didn't do anything to deserve the death and waste of his potential..(unless I didn't read enough and he was a Len Bias-type case)..

While the circumstances around Len Bias' situation are, and will remain a mystery, I don't know if you can qualify Bias as a "fiend." Sure, he did coke and the autopsy didn't find any distinction that he was recreational user or an addict, so it is hard to really be of fair judgement of what did Len in. Still, it is a tragedy no matter the situation. Especially for the family of the one whom passes away.

There were rumors that Gathers took other types of things that were not illegal-type, but I don't know if that was ever proven. Tragic any which way you slice it.

[symple19]

I remember his passing well, and it was a fuckin' shame. Dude was a lot of fun to watch. One of the saddest stories in basketball ever, along with Len Bias

[The Gemini Method]

I remember his passing well, and it was a fuckin' shame. Dude was a lot of fun to watch. One of the saddest stories in basketball ever, along with Len Bias

Maybe not the same circumstance, but Drazen Petrovic was another player that was lost before the prime of his life.

[symple19]

Maybe not the same circumstance, but Drazen Petrovic was another player that was lost before the prime of his life.

Drazen was sad also, I really enjoyed watching him light it up. Dude had a sweet stroke.

[tlongII]

Gathers was terrific person and it was a tragedy that he dropped dead. However, he wouldn't have been anything but a journeyman in the NBA.

[Blake]

Hank Gathers dropping dead in Gersten Pavilion is still the worst thing I've ever seen on television, and that includes 9/11.

wow

[JoeTait75]

wow

I knew there would be a post like this. I'm not comparing the two by scale. But 9/11 was almost surreal, like a movie. Planes crashing into buildings and all that. It was more detached. You didn't see the individual human suffering- it was there, you knew it was there, but you didn't see it.

Hank Gathers collapsing was up-close and personal. It was a human being dying right up in your face. There was no filter, not even a sense of unreality. It was right... there.

That's just the way I see it. YMMV.

[The Gemini Method]

I knew there would be a post like this. I'm not comparing the two by scale. But 9/11 was almost surreal, like a movie. Planes crashing into buildings and all that. It was more detached. You didn't see the individual human suffering- it was there, you knew it was there, but you didn't see it.

Hank Gathers collapsing was up-close and personal. It was a human being dying right up in your face. There was no filter, not even a sense of unreality. It was right... there.

That's just the way I see it. YMMV.

Yeah, I got what you meant...I don't think you were comparing, but I got the same two feelings when I experienced both. 9/11 was surreal and I actually thought it was a movie/t.v. show that my pops was watching because you couldn't initially believe it. I saw the Gathers incident and it was unfiltered, it was real life. I was barely 10 and it was my real first visual of dying. Heady stuff for someone my age and I'm sure people of an older vintage.

[LakeShow]

He was going to have a great career in the NBA in my opinion. Very strong and athletic. I thought he had a chance to be a better, Adrian Dantley type of player than AD.

Sad :depressed

[lebomb]

He was going to have a great career in the NBA in my opinion. Very strong and athletic. I thought he had a chance to be a better, Adrian Dantley type of player than AD.

Sad :depressed

Yep led the nation as a junior is scoring 32.7pts a game and over 13 rebounds. Not bad for a 6'-7" dude. :depressed

[duncan228]

Remembering Gathers (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-afterthebuzzer030510&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)
By Marc J. Spears

Thursday was the 20th anniversary of the death of former Loyola Marymount great Hank Gathers. Gathers, who died after going into cardiac arrest during a game, was one of college basketball’s greatest players. The question that tragically can’t be answered was, how good of an NBA player would he have made?

While old media reports projected Gathers as a possible No. 1 overall pick, several NBA scouts said the 6-foot-7 forward wasn’t guaranteed to go in the lottery. Pete Babcock, between executive jobs with the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks at the time of Gathers’ death, says the former LMU star would have probably been a “late first-round pick.” Some scouts were concerned Gathers would have trouble matching up with NBA power forwards and that his stats were inflated by LMU’s high-octane offense.

“Hank wasn’t undersized, but his skill set was such that he was a player without a position,” Babcock said. “He had a strong body, was a terrific athlete and played hard. While he was terrific in [LMU coach] Paul Westhead’s system, he could have been pigeonholed in the NBA. Where do you play him?”

Former Seattle SuperSonics coach Bernie Bickerstaff doesn’t recall the Sonics scouting Gathers that hard. Seattle ended up selecting Oregon State guard Gary Payton with the second overall pick.

Gathers “was a very talented kid who could score, but he was also the focal point of that offense,” said Bickerstaff, now an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls.

Gathers led the nation in scoring and rebounding as a junior, averaging 32.7 points and 13.7 boards, and was a player of the year candidate as a senior. While Babcock didn’t see Gathers as a high draft selection, he did believe Gathers had the inner drive to prove otherwise.

“Had he lived, he might have been the best player in the draft,” said Babcock, now a scout for Cleveland. “He wouldn’t have been the No. 1 pick, but he had energy, toughness and could have exceeded everyone’s expectations. Unfortunately, we will never know.”

Former NBA and USC guard Robert Pack played against Gathers in summer pickup games in college. “He would have been a good pro,” Pack said. “I think he had the work ethic to become an All-Star. He would have played hard and every night he would have brought it.”

One thing’s clear: No one doubted Gathers’ NBA aspirations or his passion for the game. “He wanted to compete against the best in the league, but he also wanted to make his family situation better for his mother, brother and son,” said Greg Walker, a former LMU teammate of Gathers. “He had the mindset that he could play against anybody.”

[The Gemini Method]

Thank you, duncan228, you always seem to bring the method when your post and make threads. That's an interesting take and well, no one would really know. I think he would've been an all-star at some point. A little different in the fact that he would be coming from an unconventional offense, I'm sure he'd adapt to the NBA and do well for himself.

Man, you can only imagine what he, Bias, and Petrovic would've done if allowed to continue their lives and careers.