Reggie Lewis: 17 years ago...
by Wicklow on Jul 27, 2010 1:37 PM EDT
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PrintI just want to take a moment and recognize that today is the 17th anniversary of Reggie's passing. I know everyone on here loves Reggie and misses him immensely. Personally, he was my favorite Celtic growing up, and though Pierce has been my fave since '98, there is no way another Celtic will ever fill Reggie's shoes, on or off the court.
Here is one video that shows what Reggie was all about on the court: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni7t4swtdYw
No one in the history of the game did what Reggie did to Jordan in this game - 4 blocks! And, he nails the three at the end to tie the game. My fave block is the second one because Reggie jumped after Jordan was already in the air and still got the ball.
We all miss you, Reggie.
[Below are a few Celtics posts I've written on my site.]
http://www.edwardkasche.com/soitgoes/2010/06/one-win-shy/
http://www.edwardkasche.com/soitgoes/2010/05/celtic-pride/
http://www.edwardkasche.com/soitgoes/2010/04/celtics-v-cavs-a-change-is-gonna-come/
Be respectful and keep it clean. Thanks.
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Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing Wicklow. Reggie is truly missed!
Here is a column I wrote this morning in honor of his memory:
http://northstationsports.com/boston-celtics/reggie-lewis-the-day-we-lost-our-captain-2/
Great article!
I enjoyed your article. Meeting Reggie at that age must have been a phenomenal experience. I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Gibson twice in my life and he was the nicest athlete I ever met; spent time with me working on grips for my pitches, chatted with my father and me, etc. I know, I know, he single-handedly defeated the Sox in ’67, but he was a great man.
I dislike how you even had to mention cocaine in connection with Reggie. Like you wrote, the autopsies showed no such thing and any speculation is cruel and unsubstantiated, but it was saddening to read. I suffer from arrhythmia much like Reggie did, and I passed out once during a bball game in high school – nothing to do with drugs of any kind. For me, I get a bit defensive when someone compares Reggie to Bias. What happened to Bias was tragic for his family and the fans, but he did it to himself. He didn’t have to cocaine that night. Reggie’s tragedy was brought about by an unfortunate health condition. Reggie was a stand-up man, a great ball player, and a role model.
Thanks for writing a great article.
Thanks for the comments Wicklow.
I hope the article didn’t come across that I was trying to connect cocaine or speculate its use with Reggie. Unfortunately, for numerous reasons which were all unfair, people did speculate that, and I wanted to enter the statement that the medical records showed all of that speculation to be untrue.
I think with many fans the connection between Bias and Lewis deals with what we lost. I commented today that a Bias/Lewis tandem through the late 80’s and into the 90’s could have potentially matched the 3 championships that the original Big Three won in the ealry/mid 80’s.
On a personal level, being from Maryland, my connection was that I got to watch Lewis is HS and also Bias in college; just minutes from where I grew up!
Len Bias is my favorite player of all time, and although Reggie’s death is completely unrelated to Bias’ they both bring back very sad memories for me because both men left lasting impressions on me at a very young age.
Here is a column I wrote this year on the anniversary of Bias’ death. Perhaps reading this can help explain my connection to the two players a little better:
http://northstationsports.com/boston-celtics/rip-len-bias-the-greatest-ever/
Thanks again for reading and for the comments as well.
Cocaine
I didn’t read the article, but I do remember some people were upset at the time when the doctor’s asked Reggie if he took cocaine. That is a question always asked as the doctor’s were coming to a diagnosis related to a heart arrhythmia. The question did not infer that Reggie used cocaine, but this can be a cause of arrythmias and doctors will or should always ask this question.
I agree with you Wicklow in that I could never imagine that Reggie would be a person who would use drugs. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I think his mother was a cocaine user, maybe while pregnant with Reggie and this could also have been a factor.
I often have problems expressing myself so I hope my last statement is taken in the right way.
"I don't come to play, I come to WIN"--Larry Bird
"Criminally Negligent Officiating"--Tommy Heinsohn
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True fact about Reggie
When I was a junior in HS, I played on a team of all stars who traveled around the east coast playing BB games against other teams.
One week we got to go to Calhoun’s summer camp to play at night with the UConn players. We got killed, they were men, we were still trying to grow facial hair.
Well long story short, Reggie was there helping out at the camp and I had to guard him for about a half of a game and it was not pretty.
The first time I tried to guard him on the wing, Reggie up faked me and was bye me before I could react to the up fake. One slam latter I was running back trying to figure out what just happened. Next time he gets the ball, I backed off a few feet and he looks at me and says “You are gonna give me this?”
Yes, swish, I started running back again….
LOL, lots of fun guarding that guy.
I really miss this guy
Tell me if I’m crazy but if had Len bias and him playing together, we would of won some championship in the 90’s with the big original 3 still in place and Jordan wouldn’t have won his 6 championship. I was in las Vegas this pass weekend flossing my 35 Lewis and I got hit up alot wearing his jersey.
by CBleedsGreeN on Jul 27, 2010 6:10 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Hard to say what would have happened vis-a-vis Jordan...
But it is safe to say that the C’s would have been much better through the the 80’s and 90’s had Bias and Lewis not died. That stretch of mediocrity was mostly due to some pretty awful stuff; things no franchise should have to deal with, let alone TWICE…
by Stanford_Fan on Jul 27, 2010 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions
You're not crazy...
… it definitely would have happened. Red did all the right things to keep the C’s winning championships through the late 80’s and 90’s. You can’t plan on 2 deaths within 7 years of your two heir apparents.
Yeah, and it wasnt just Bias and Lewis....
Dont forget that we also lost Bill Walton to basically a career ending injury as well. This happened not too long after Bias died. Imagine Bias and Walton both playing a couple of seasons with the 86 title team. That would probably mean we never got an opportunity to draft Lewis but it would have been a magical season. That team, assuming no other injuries, might very well have been considered the best the league has ever seen. And don’t you dare tell me one of MJ’s Bulls teams could have beaten them.
The Walton thing is the kind of injury that EVERY team has to deal with, though.
Just about any team in the NBA can give you its story of “Oh, if this player hadn’t been injured…” That’s what makes Bias and Lewis different….NO ONE has players DIE. Bias and Lewis would have been cornerstones of the franchise for years…
by Stanford_Fan on Jul 27, 2010 7:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Even had Bias played in '87 (and Walton not got hurt) we would have still drafted Lewis...
Here’s why:
The 22nd pick in the ’87 draft was actually the 2nd to last pick of the 1st round. So even had Bias played and we had gone 80-2 and swept the playoffs, we would have had no worse than the 23rd pick in the draft.
So unless the Lakers had their hearts set on Lewis at #22, we could have still nabbed him with the 23rd overall pick.
Yeah, I checked that...
C’s would definitely have drafted Lewis in ’87…
by Stanford_Fan on Jul 27, 2010 8:57 PM EDT up reply actions
could have been one of the greats .
it did set this franchise back alot of years yes the walton injury and mchale and parish breaking down bad draft picks like micheal smith and acie earl done us in to reggie was a awsome scorer and he did giive jordan a ride when he faced him there is no doubt if we had bias and reggie together we would have won some titles in the 90,s.
lohaus #54
17 Years! It almost seems like yesterday that we were living through the nightmare of losing Reggie. He was the future. We may never have gotten Paul Pierce, but God, I remember how much I loved watching Reggie play. He, along with Bias, have stayed forever young in the minds of Celtic fans. The only difference is that we were able to see just how great Reggie was going to become. The night he died I could not believe it. I had seen him with his little boy at the Celtic camp they held at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. All we had to do was pay $5.00 and we could watch some of the players who the Celtics invited to their summer camp. Reggie was their watching everyone play. That will be forever etched in my mind.
Two days later, he was gone.
I remember so well watching Reggie
coming along as a player with Bird/Parish/McHale in the twilight of their careers. We all saw the heir-apparent.
I also remember walking by Reggie on the Northeastern Campus back in the early 80’s. It didn’t register for me who it was until after we had passed each other by.
It wasn't that we didn;t trade any of the big three but rather
that the Celts lost one of the promising stars of the league (about 5 brutal front office moves as well). While Reggie is often remembered for his good will efforts off the court, I believe his game is often cast aside. He was never an all-time great Celtic, but he was a player that could have been the bridge from the Big Three to a different era than what turned out.
Not an all-time great, but definitley a Great Celtic and one worth remembering.
rip reggie lewis. kids alway remember crack is wack
by thuggedoutinGreen on Jul 28, 2010 12:54 AM EDT reply actions
reggie was getting there
on defense, only jordan was a better defender at the 2. on offense, reggie’s game was very tough to stop. he had an excellent jumper, a quick first step, and could finish inside. the only reason he didn’t average more points is that he was still playing with the big 3/2 (bird didn’t play that much with him), which meant fewer shots, and he wasn’t really a ball hog. if it wasn’t for the heart condition, i think reggie would have gone down as one of the all-time great celtics.
I would have even think that Bird might have delayed retirement if Bias/Lewis was around...
Sure he’s got a bad back and all, but imagine the chain of events that will occur if Bias had not died…LB will play backup minutes to Bird, and the staff would know he would play significant minutes just like when Worthy was a rookie playing significant minutes fot the Fakers…1986-87 season we went all the way to the finals without Bias, now imagine the same team with Bias…back-to back baby, easily…Then in 87 Draft Lewis as mentioned above, there is 99% chance Reggie still goes to the C’s that yr, and we all know Red drafts BPA and not need, so Reggie would just be so good to pass up on, Reggie can play 2/3/4, Bias plays 3/4…Ofcourse Bird may start to break up but he really did not start to Break up til the around ’90..
So the events that may have happen after the drafting of Bias/Lewis is just too good to be true, Bird may not have retired immediately after 92 if he knows he can still play a significant bench role as he knows Bias/Lewis will carry the torch in the next decade,…the banners that a team of Bird,Bias, Lewis, Mchale and Parish would be collecting would be rediculous….that is why the basketball gods may have said enough already….Red was never the same again after those two died, and as for the Celtics, we all knew how we ended up in mediocrity after 93, to make matters worst, NO Cap relief…
No Paul Pierce alright, But as ive said, I would rather see us significant in the 90’s battling the Bulls MJ/Pippen in the ECF on a regular basis rather the mediocrity we went through.
"No I’m not KG. Not at all, but I’m Big Baby Glen Davis from LSU, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’m not the Big Ticket. I’m the Ticket Stub. Don’t count the Ticket Stub out. You might need the ticket to get in the game, but you leave with the ticket stub, because you’ll never forget this game."
I still remember Reggie collapsing in the Playoffs against Charlotte like it was yesterday,
had no idea back then that it would eventually be a precursor for his death.
Didn’t become a fan of Basketball and the Celtics until 1989, Reggie was one of my favorites at the time and I still remember him to this day. He could have been one of the greats, he had that in him.
Reggie
A great loss of a wonderful human being. I remember the incident and what I mainly remember is how concerned Tommy was. He saw Reggie collapse, but could see no reason for it. They showed several replays from the other end of the court and nothing showed where Reggie got hit or hurt.
I also have other feelings about the aftermath of the Reggie’s collapse, but would rather keep them to myself.
I also remember how much Reggie loved his young son.
Also remember a high school teammate of Reggie’s was on the floor for the other team, but can’t remember his name.
One more thing I think I remember is that Larry Bird walked into the arena just as Reggie collapsed and people were cheering for Larry. It seemed incongruous as we saw the aftermath of this incident.
"I don't come to play, I come to WIN"--Larry Bird
"Criminally Negligent Officiating"--Tommy Heinsohn
REGGIE LEWIS 35
REGGIE WAS THE MAN I STILL REMEMBER HIM GOING OFF AND TOMMY SAYING REGGIE ON FIRE R.I.P WE LOVE REGGIE.
Has Michael Jordan's shot ever been blocked four times?
Just a little something to remember Reggie by:
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