Boston Reels Over Death Of Reggie Lewis -- Celtic Cherished For His Role On And Off Basketball Court

BOSTON - When Roman DeSanctis was driving home from a family celebration, his car radio provided the shocking news on Reggie Lewis.

"I thought, `The worst fears of all of us had been realized,' " said DeSanctis, one of the top cardiologists in the United States. "This is so sad."

Lewis, 27-year-old captain and star of the Boston Celtics, collapsed while shooting baskets at Brandeis University yesterday and was pronounced dead 2 1/2 hours later. He died three months after collapsing in a playoff game against the Charlotte Hornets at Boston Garden.

Doctor pronounced him fit

DeSanctis consulted with the so-called "Dream Team" that was put together after Lewis collapsed that night, April 29. That team of 12 specialists concluded that Lewis suffered from a cardiomyopathy, a potentially lethal condition in which damage to an area of heart tissue can cause the heart to beat irregularly.

DeSanctis later worked on the case with Dr. Gilbert Mudge, director of clinical cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, who diagnosed the ailment as a more benign fainting condition, neurocardiogenic syncope.

Mudge did not return repeated telephone calls last night. But at about 3 p.m., or 90 minutes before Lewis collapsed while shooting at a leisurely pace at Brandeis, he talked to The Boston Globe about Lewis.

"Reggie is doing fine," the doctor said. "He is working out at his own pace. . . . He is doing the things he usually does at this time of year to get ready for basketball. . . . I expect him to begin playing basketball and doing all the things that players do to get ready for the season."

`He seemed really happy'

Lewis spent the minutes before his fatal cardiac arrest doing some of his favorite things: shooting hoops, joking with passersby, slapping high fives with young fans.

"He seemed really happy," said Amir Weiss, a Brandeis student who was shooting baskets on the court next to where Lewis was shooting.

Then, suddenly, Lewis began to lose his breath. Slumping to the floor of Shapiro Gymnasium, he appeared stunned for a minute or so, but then he started to gasp repeatedly, more weakly with each try, until he fell limp, according to Weiss and other witnesses.

"All of a sudden he just stopped breathing," said Weiss, 20. "He never made another sound."

An ambulance crew arrived, provided emergency treatment and took him to Weston Hospital in Waltham. Lewis was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at 7:30 p.m. EDT. His wife, Donna Harris Lewis - who is pregnant with the couple's second child - was at the hospital when her husband died. Lewis was the father of a 10-month-old son, Reginald.

"We lost a very treasured member of our family today," Celtic CEO Dave Gavitt said. "This is a time of incredible grief."

From Seattle, Celtic forward and former SuperSonic Xavier McDaniel said, "I just feel bad right now for Donna and his family. We have to pray to God that they'll be all right. Reggie was a great person, and as a player, he was coming into his own to be great. He's going to be missed."

"This is a terrible tragedy," Celtic President Red Auerbach said. "I don't know how things like this happen."

Lewis, the team's No. 1 draft choice in 1987, had gone from the career scoring leader at Northeastern to the Celtics' leading scorer, team captain and leader.

"Reggie was not only an outstanding basketball player, but also an outstanding human being," Gavitt said.

Sonic guard Dana Barros, a native of Boston who lives there during the offseason, has known Lewis since their days at Boston College and Northeastern University. The two worked out together each summer. They hadn't yet resumed their workouts this summer.

"Reggie's one of the nicest guys I ever met," Barros said. "He was an unusual kind of person, in that he was very quiet and shy guy, but had a lot of confidence in himself and in his game. You don't see many guys like that.

"When things like this happen, even what happened with Drazen Petrovich (ex-New Jersey guard who was killed in an auto accident), it's humbling," said Barros. "Anything can happen, at any time. You just never know. It kind of opens your eyes. But it really shouldn't. We are people, like everybody else."

Lewis worked tirelessly in the Boston community. When asked shortly after Bird was honored at Boston Garden this year how he hoped he would be remembered when he retired, Lewis said, "I hope mostly that people remember me as a good person first, and a good player second."

Seattle Times staff reporter Glen Nelson contributed to this report.

---------------------------------------------- Lewis' highlights

-- Joined Boston as a first-round draft choice out of Northeastern in 1987.

-- Named Celtic captain, replacing Larry Bird, at start of last season. An All-Star, he led Boston in scoring with 20.8 points per game.

-- NBA career averages over six seasons: 17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists. Northeastern's top career scorer with 2,708 points.