A coroner's autopsy reportedly shows that a heart problem caused Hank Gathers' death, and that the Loyola Marymount basketball player was not using illegal drugs.
KNBC-TV, citing sources close to the Los Angeles County Coroner's office, reported Wednesday that the cause of death will be listed as a defective heart."The (coroner's) report will further state there was no substance abuse of any kind," the NBC-owned station reported.
The Los Angeles Times, also attributing knowledgeable sources at the coroner's office, reported today that autopsy results "do not indicate the presence of any illegal substances."
The coroner's office said earlier that an announcement would be made Thursday if all toxicological and tissue tests have been completed and evaluated.
Gathers, who was 23, had been diagnosed in December as having an irregular heartbeat.
He collapsed while playing in a West Coast Conference tournament game at Loyola Marymount on March 4 and was pronounced dead less than two hours later at a nearby hospital.
Gathers also collapsed in December during a game against UC Santa Barbara, but left the court under his own power and, after extensive medical tests, was allowed to resume playing.
After the first incident, Gathers was given a medication, Inderal, to control an irregular heartbeat. He reportedly asked to have the dosage of the medication reduced because he felt sluggish while playing and was unable to perform at the level which made him major college basketball's leading scorer and rebounder during the 1988-89 season.
Bruce Fagel, a lawyer for the Gathers family, said last week that he intends to file a lawsuit seeking monetary damages.
He claimed that medical records he has examined indicated that an unidentified person in the Loyola Marymount athletic department intervened with the player's doctors to have his heart medicine reduced.
The Lions, ranked 21st in the nation, are preparing for a first-round NCAA tournament game at the Long Beach Arena Friday night against 24th-ranked New Mexico State.