Ex NBA star Orlando Woolridge died late Thursday in Mansfield, La at the age of 52 after a long battle with heart disease. The 6-foot-9 Woolridge was the sixth overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in 1981 after starring at Notre Dame in college and Mansfield High School in Louisiana. Woolridge played for the Chicago Bulls, New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons,Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers . After the NBA carrer he played professionally in Italy for Benetton Treviso and Buckler Bologna where he retired. He also coached the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and the Arizona Rhinos of the ABA
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RIP (Dead basketball players thread)
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Thierry Rupert (born in 1977) left us after spending several months in a coma (cardiovascular problems).
He was a member of the 2003 French NT that finished 4th in the Eurobasket.
Rupert’s family solidarity page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Page-d...15719735110630
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Jim McGregor, former American coach, died at the age of 91.
McGregor was a well known overseas basketball ambassador in pioneer times, as he coached among others the national teams of Italy, Greece, Sweden, Turkey, Colombia, Peru, Central African Republic and Morocco.
After resigning as basketball coach and athletic director at Whitworth in 1953, McGregor went to Europe, where he coached Italian NT 1954-56 with a record of 15 wins in 25 games. He coached at New Mexico State in the 1965-66 season, but became famous in Europe and especially in Italy with his touring All-Star teams in countless off-season summer tournaments from mid of 1960s through the 1970s. He later coached several Italian club teams.
McGregor coaching career ranged on a time span of 35 years, 27 spent abroad.
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RIP Malaysia's Jacky Ng Kiat Kee, died suddenly of a heart failure a few days before FIBA Asia. He died on the court.
NSI to pay more attention to athletes' health from now on (The Star)
By KNG ZHENG GUAN (The Star)
PETALING JAYA: National Sports Institute (NSI) chief executive officer Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz believes that national cager Jacky Ng Kiat Kee’s death on Sunday was purely “sudden” and there is no negligence by any parties.
The 25-year-old Jacky collapsed at 5pm whilst sitting on the bench during the national team’s invitational match in Jinjiang, China, and was pronounced dead two hours later after doctors failed to revive him. It is learnt that he died of a heart failure.
“The basketball team have a good medical record and they always did their check-up on time.
“That is why I believe that there is no negligence involved,” said Dr Ramlan.
“The usual practice is that the team will get the medical done before the SEA Games. This time there were no check-up before they left for China last Friday because they were supposed to come back and do it.
“It’s just unfortunate and sad because sometimes athletes themselves are unaware that they have a cardiovascular problem. Even if they undergo proper examinations, there is still a chance that it may go undetected.
“What happened with Jacky is probably down to three possibilities – his heart is trammelling but not pumping fast enough, the heart muscle is not strong enough or that he may have irregular heart beat.
“There may be other possibilities too but I will have to wait for the full report first.
“I guess there is a lesson to be learnt here. After this incident, the NSI will have to give more attention to all the athletes, including those who are not going for major events like the SEA Games.
“We have to ensure that our athletes are well covered.
“It is also important that we put out a message to all our young athletes and encourage them to go through a medical examination. Once they’re out there doing intensive training, many things can go wrong,” added Dr Ramlan.
For the record, this is not the first case of a young athlete suffering from a cardiac arrest. In October 2011, national back-up bowler Khoo Beng Khai suffered a heart attack and died within the National Sports Council (NSC) compound.aim low, score high
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Former Oklahoma A&M Basketball legend Bob Kurland died at the age of 88.
One of the first 7-foot players, Kurland chose not to play pro and joined AAU's Phillips 66ers, where he played from 1946 through 1952.
Earning the amateur status, Kurland twice won the Olympic Games with USA team in 1948 (London) and 1952 (Helsinki).
Thanks to his size, Kurland was also one of the very first players ever to regularly dunk in the games.
Bob-Kurland-made-the-first-ever-basketball-slam-dunk.jpg
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Originally posted by bhoy_Athens View PostTragic Irony...Alexander Belov - scored the last basket in Final of 1972 (Munich) - died THE SAME DAY with Sergey Belov!!!
#RIPSergeyBelov
Both Belov (no relation among them) were atypical if compared to other Russian players of their time.
I remember them playing. Alexander was very athletic and despite being barely over 2m (6-7 or 6-8) he had an incredible leaping ability thanks to his long legs and could fight with much taller players in the paint. Sergey was a true floor general, with exceptional game vision, fine passing, soft touch and deadly shooting, a great champion.
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Legendary NCAA player and pro great Tom Gola died at the age of 81.
A three-time All-American at LaSalle from 1952-55, Gola, a 6-6 (1.98) all-round player who could play every position set a DivI record with over 2,000 both in scoring and rebounding.
He led LaSalle to the NIT and NCAA championships in 1954 being elected MVP in both competitions and was named college player of the year in 1955.
As a rookie in NBA, he helped Philadelphia Warriors win the title in 1956. In ten pro seasons he was five time NBA All-star.
Last edited by carlo; 02-11-2014, 09:58 PM.
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Len Bias was a first team All-American college basketball forward at the University of Maryland. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later on 19 June , 1986 from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose.
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Originally posted by IgorDillon View PostLen Bias was a first team All-American college basketball forward at the University of Maryland. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later on 19 June , 1986 from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose.
Interesting read from ca. 2008 here.
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Lou Hudson, former Atlanta Hawks great, died at the age of 69.
Hudson was a six-time NBA All-Star and 1966-67 All-Rookie team.
He was the #4 overall pick of the 1966 NBA Draft and as a University of Minnesota student won the gold medal for USA at the 1965 Budapest Universiade, ending as the team's top scorer.
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Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones, the last surviving member of University of Kentucky legendary "Fabulous Five", died at the age of 88.
Jones, who also played baseball and football at UK, was teammate of Ralph Beard, Cliff Barker, Alex Groza and Kenny Rollins on Wildcats' NCAA Championship teams in 1947-48 and 1948-49 seasons (1949 less Rollins).
With his UK teammates he joined AAU Phillips 66ers to win the basketball gold medal for USA at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.
A three-time All-American (under coach Adolph Rupp), Jones also played professionally in the NBA for three seasons.
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University of Utah all-time great Bill McGill died at the age of 74.
A 6-foot-9 center, McGill (nicknamed "The Hill" for his size) broke racial and statistical barriers as a college star in early 1960s. He was the first African-American to play basketball at Utah and, as a senior, he averaged 38.8ppg in 1961-62 season, the fourth highest ever in college ranks. McGill's best reputed offensive weapon was his jump hook shot.
Bill McGill was NBA's 1st overall pick by Chicago Zephyrs in 1962, but never reached true stardom among the pros. He also played a couple of seasons in the former ABA.
bill-mcgill.jpg
Note: though not recent, as they date back to July, these sad news are in memory of two early years basketball's greats.
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Former Providence College All-American Marvin Barnes dead at 62.
A great player with several ups and downs in his life, Barnes was a prototype of the dynamic big man (for 1970's standards) and was the NBA 2nd overall pick in 1974 but chose the rival league ABA, where he became Rookie of the Year in his first season as a pro. He later joined NBA as well.
Barnes also played briefly in Italy, after a pro career shortened by his lifestyle troubles.
In 1973 Marvin Barnes won the gold with a young USA team at the Moscow World University Games, avenging previous year's defeat of USA at Munich Olympics.
marvin barnes 2.jpg
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