Editing Reggie Lewis (section)

==Death==
On July 27, 1993, during off-season practice at [[Brandeis University]] in [[Waltham, Massachusetts]], Lewis suffered [[sudden cardiac death]] on the basketball court at the [[27 Club|age of 27]]. Two Brandeis University police officers found Lewis and attempted to revive him using [[mouth-to-mouth resuscitation]], but they were unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite news |last=Robbins |first=Liz |date=July 23, 2009 |title=Officer Defends Arrest of Harvard Professor |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/us/24cambridge.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live |access-date=June 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603025147/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/us/24cambridge.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=June 3, 2010}}</ref> One of the officers was [[James Crowley (police officer)|James Crowley]].

Lewis is buried in an unmarked grave in [[Forest Hills Cemetery]] in [[Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts]].

His death was attributed to [[hypertrophic cardiomyopathy]], a structural heart defect that is the most common cause of death in young athletes.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Christine Gorman|title=Did Reggie Lewis Have to Die?|date=August 9, 1993|access-date=May 22, 2010|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979014,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501180357/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979014,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 1, 2008|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/2008-05-22-lewis-screening_N.htm |work=[[USA Today]]|title=Young athletes urged to get screened for heart trouble|first=Jim|last=Halley|date=May 22, 2008|access-date=May 22, 2010}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
Following Lewis' death, questions were raised about whether he had used cocaine, and whether cocaine use had contributed to his death.<ref>{{cite news|agency=[[Associated Press|AP]]|newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]]|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19950309/2109213/report-doctors-suspected-that-cocaine-killed-celtics-lewis|title=Report: Doctors Suspected That Cocaine Killed Celtics' Lewis|date=March 9, 1995|archive-date=September 26, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926175512/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950309&slug=2109213}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3514|author=Alicia C. Shepard|title=The Journal's Reggie Lewis Bombshell|work=[[American Journalism Review]]|archive-date=June 3, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603025147/http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3514}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=February 7, 1999|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1999/02/07/cocaine-claim-could-spur-insurance-probe-companies-may-contest-payments-to-lewis-widow/|title=Cocaine claim could spur insurance probe|publisher=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723081005/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-02-07/sports/9902070005_1_lewis-cocaine-mudge|archive-date=July 23, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Wall Street Journal'' reported that physicians "suspected that cocaine killed Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis...but they were thwarted by actions of his family and a 'dismissive' policy toward drugs by the NBA." The ''Journal'' added the following:

<blockquote>Whether Mr. Lewis died from a heart damaged by cocaine -- as many doctors suspected then and now -- cannot be definitively shown. What is evident: The official cause of death, a heart damaged by a common-cold virus, is a medically nonsensical finding by a coroner who was under intense pressure from the Lewis family to exclude any implication of drug use.<ref>{{cite web|date=March 9, 1995|url=http://www.ronsuskind.com/articles/000038.html|last=Suskind|first=Ron|title=Deadly Silence: How the Inner Circles, Of Medicine and Sports, Failed a Stricken Star|publisher=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=February 15, 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104122043/http://www.ronsuskind.com/articles/000038.html|archive-date=January 4, 2011}}</ref></blockquote>

The Boston Celtics responded by expressing sadness about the "vicious attack on Reggie Lewis and his family" and threatening "to file a $100 million lawsuit against the reporter, ''The Wall Street Journal'', and its parent company, Dow Jones and Co. Inc."<ref>{{cite news|title=Report: Doctors Suspected That Cocaine Killed Celtics' Lewis|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19950309/2109213/report-doctors-suspected-that-cocaine-killed-celtics-lewis|newspaper=The Seattle Times|agency=AP|date=March 9, 1995|access-date=November 26, 2012|archive-date=September 26, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926175512/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950309&slug=2109213}}</ref> Dr. Gilbert Mudge, a doctor who treated Lewis, was sued for malpractice in connection with Lewis' death; in written responses to questions from the attorneys for Donna Harris-Lewis, Mudge said that "16 days before Lewis collapsed from a heart attack in 1993, he acknowledged having used cocaine, but said he had stopped."<ref>{{cite news|title=Report: Doctors Suspected That Cocaine Killed Celtics' Lewis|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctor-knew-lewis-used-cocaine/|work=CBS News|date=February 5, 1999|access-date=February 15, 2018}}</ref> On the other hand, the doctor who performed the autopsy on Lewis testified that the [[scarring]] on his heart was inconsistent with cocaine use, and other doctors reached the same conclusion though they "stopped short of saying he never used drugs."<ref>{{cite news|title=No signs of drug use|date=May 17, 1999|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/1999/05/17/lewis_doctors/|agency=[[CNN]]|archive-date=June 3, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603025147/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/1999/05/17/lewis_doctors/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=March 29, 1995|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-29-sp-48268-story.html|title=Doctors: Drugs Did Not Kill Reggie Lewis|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603025147/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-03-29/sports/sp-48268_1_reggie-lewis|archive-date=June 3, 2010}}</ref> Also, Lewis's heart tissue tested positive for adenovirus (a common virus that can cause a range of cold- or flu-like infections)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23022-adenovirus | title=Adenovirus: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment }}</ref> during his autopsy.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Suskind |first1=Ron |title=Deadly Silence: How the Inner Circles, Of Medicine and Sports, Failed a Stricken Star |url=http://www.ronsuskind.com/articles/000038.html |website=ronsuskind.com |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104122043/http://www.ronsuskind.com/articles/000038.html |archive-date=January 4, 2011 |date=March 9, 1995}}</ref>
[[File:Reggie Lewis Center.jpg|thumb|The [[Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center]] in Boston]]
After Lewis' death, the [[Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center]] was opened in [[Roxbury, Boston]]. The center was funded partially by Lewis and has hosted major indoor track and field competitions, the [[Boston Indoor Games]], home basketball games for Roxbury Community College, and [[Northeastern University]] track and field events.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

On March 22, 1995, the [[Boston Celtics]] retired Lewis' jersey. Lewis had worn the number 35 for his entire career. During the ceremony, former teammate [[Dee Brown (basketball, born 1968)|Dee Brown]] made a speech while two other former teammates, [[Sherman Douglas]] and [[Xavier McDaniel]], held up Lewis' framed jersey.<ref>{{cite news|title=Celtics Honor Reggie Lewis: #35 Goes Up to The Rafters at Boston Garden|date=July 17, 2020|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG5ZQoigqXg}}</ref>

Lewis' contract remained on the Celtics' salary cap for two full seasons after his death because at the time the NBA did not have a provision to void contracts if an active player died; NBA Commissioner [[David Stern]] suggested that the remaining NBA teams should approve an exemption for Lewis' contract, but the teams refused to do so.<ref>{{cite news |date=November 14, 1992 |title=At Face Value, Board Makes Celtics Pay For Their Success |agency=Hartford Courant |url=https://www.courant.com/1993/11/14/at-face-value-board-makes-celtics-pay-for-their-success/}}</ref> The rules have since been changed so that a similar case would result in the player's contract being paid by league insurance, as seen with [[Chris Bosh]] in 2018.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bosh, Heat part ways over year after last game|url=http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19830424/chris-bosh-miami-heat-formally-part-ways|work=ESPN.com}}</ref>