Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990                   TAG: 9003161890
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                 LENGTH: Medium

HANK GATHERS DIED OF HEART DISEASE

The results also showed no medication in Gathers' system, but more tests were being conducted to determine for sure if he had been taking the prescription drug Inderal as directed for his heart condition. The results of those tests were expected next week.

Gathers, 23, collapsed during a tournament game March 4 and was pronounced dead less than two hours later.

The full statement from the coroner's office said:

"Cause of death is idiopathic cardiomyopathy with residual interstitial myocarditis. In addition, toxological tests revealed that no drugs nor medications were found. However, specific tests are still being conducted for the prescription Inderal."

Bob Dambacher, a spokesman for the Los Angeles coroner's office, said the autopsy showed Gathers' heart muscle was diseased, inflamed and scarred. Exactly what caused this condition was still unknown, he said.

Gathers had been diagnosed in December as having an irregular heartbeat after collapsing during a game against UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 9.

In the days before he died, Gathers was said to have asked doctors to reduce the dosage because it made him sluggish. He reportedly complained that he was unable to perform at the level that made him college basketball's leading scorer and rebounder last season.

Dr. Shahbudin Rahimtoola, chief of cardiology at Southern Cal's school of medicine, said there's no reason Gathers' condition could not have been diagnosed while he was still alive.

Stephen Berens, a physician in nearby Santa Monica whose specialty is cardiology, said there is a good possibility Gathers' problems were caused by a viral infection of his heart that could have been caused by the flu.

Bruce Fagel, a lawyer for the Gathers family, said last week that he intends to file a lawsuit seeking monetary damages. He said medical records he had examined indicated that someone within the Loyola Marymount athletic department asked Gathers' doctors to reduce the Inderal dosage.

Loyola coach Paul Westhead had said Wednesday that he was still dealing with the personal loss of Gathers and wasn't ready to begin responding to possible lawsuits.

But Westhead did say, "It's ridiculous to think I called his doctors and said, `Let's cut his dosage from 200 to 100' or whatever. That's ludicrous. Do you think they'd listen to me?

"He'd been told by doctors he could return to form. . . . It was my understanding his problem, which was never to me specifically spelled out, can be controlled by medication."