Celtics’ Sam Cassell Recalls Lifelong Bond With Reggie Lewis: ‘I Fell to My Knees’

Sam Cassell doesn’t have to think long to recall where he was 30 years ago today.

The memory is so seared into his being, he gets emotional as he explains. The familiar conviction in his voice is replaced for a moment by a pause here and a broken syllable there.

But time has not dimmed the sequence of events as he learned of Reggie Lewis’ death.

“I’ll never forget that day ever,” said Cassell. “I was with the Rockets at my first summer league as a rookie, and we were at the Rocky Mountain Revue. This was before social media and all that, and Rudy Tomjanovich (Houston coach) told me to come to his room at the Embassy Suites. He said, ‘I just want to tell you Reggie Lewis passed away.’

“And before he could say anything else, I just fell to my knees. That was so hard, man.”

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Lewis Suffered a Cardiac Arrest

Lewis, a Celtic All-Star who’d played locally at Northeastern, succumbed to cardiac arrest on July 27, 1993, while shooting hoops at Brandeis. He’d been under intense medical scrutiny since collapsing during an April playoff game against Charlotte, and a group of doctors assembled by the club, a so-called dream team, had advised against basketball activity.

But Lewis had moved to come under the care of a different physician, Dr. Gilbert Mudge, who saw Lewis’ condition as less serious. Thirty years later, the arguments of that time have dissolved into a blanket sadness over the tragedy.

Cassell was affected on a different level than most. He spent part of just one season with the Celtics, winning a ring with the franchise’s last title team in 2008. He returns to town this season as an assistant coach on Joe Mazzulla‘s staff. But his connection to Boston was forged long before when a Baltimore friend joined the team.

Reggie Lewis was four years and three days older than Sam Cassell, but they ran fast breaks in the same circles on the same courts back home.

“We grew up in the same neighborhood,” Cassell told Heavy Sports. “My mother used to babysit Reg as a kid. His mother and father were like family to me. I went to school with his younger brother. I know his whole family personally, and they know my whole family personally.

“Everybody from where we grew up felt it hard when Reggie passed away, but it was even harder on some of us. It was harder because some of us were closer to Reggie and his family. You know what I’m saying? It was just like losing someone from your own family.”

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Cassell Will Carry Positive Memories of Lewis in Boston

As Cassell did when he played in Boston and returned as an assistant coach for other teams, he’ll get to look up at Lewis’ retired No. 35 at home games. And the thoughts won’t all be dark. He’ll remember, too, when he was barely a teenager and went to games at Dunbar High to watch the stars within reach.

“Baltimore didn’t have a professional basketball team,” Cassell said. “The Bullets had moved to Washington. Our high school team, Dunbar, was our pros — Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Williams, Reggie Lewis.

“I always talk about that team whenever I can. Reggie, in particular. I keep his spirit and his name alive in Baltimore. I talk about Reggie whenever I get the chance. He was the sixth man on a national championship team in high school. I want people to know about him and remember.”

 

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