ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BALTIMORE
SOURCE: Associated Press
Morgan Wootten, one of only five high school basketball coach to win 1,000 games, received a liver transplant Wednesday.
Pam Landis, a spokeswoman Johns Hopkins Hospital, said the operation began at about 9 a.m. and lasted about eight hours.
``Everything was fine the last time we checked,'' Landis said.
Wootten, coach at DeMatha High School in suburban Washington for 40 years, had been diagnosed several years ago with primary biliary cirrhosis, an autoimmune disease extremely rare in men.
He was brought to Johns Hopkins in critical condition on Sunday.
Doctors said he had only two weeks to live if he did not receive a new liver. Given his grave condition, Wootten was given top priority for receiving one, Landis said.
``I don't know if it is unusual it came this quickly,'' she said. ``When you are that ill and you are on the top of the list, you either receive an organ or you die very quickly.''
Wootten's three daughters, two sons, wife and several other relatives were at the hospital, Landis said.
Dr. Paul Thuluvath said Tuesday Wootten's chances of surviving were between 60 and 70 percent given how ill he was at the time of the surgery. In an otherwise healthy person the survival rate is about 90 percent, but Wootten suffered from complications such as internal bleeding.
Wootten was taken to Gettysburg Hospital in Pennsylvania on Sunday after collapsing at his basketball camp at Mount St.Mary's College in Emmitsburg. He was transferred to Johns Hopkins on Sunday night.
Wootten compiled 1,094 victories and lost only 163 games in his career at DeMatha. In 1993 he became only the fifth high school coach in the country to win 1,000 games.
Though he was periodically wooed by college athletic directors, Wootten was content to keep working with young people at the Hyattsville, Md., high school.
A dozen of Wootten's players went on to the NBA, including Danny Ferry, Adrian Dantley and Kenny Carr.
Wootten has also seen many of his assistants become head coaches at the college level. One former player, Sidney Lowe, coached the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP DeMatha High School basketball coach Morgan Woottenby CNB(left) was gravely ill before receiving a liver transplant. Doctors
say his chances of recovery are between 60 and 70 percent.