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Player With Hank Gathers' Condition to Join UTEP Basketball Team
According to
a recent article in the El Paso Times, Will Kimble, a 6-10
center, is likely to join the UTEP Miners basketball team shortly.
Kimble played two seasons with Pepperdine, from 2000-02, and should have
two seasons of eligibility remaining. The Miners are waiting for
academic clearance from the NCAA, which is considered to be a formality,
as Kimble is a graduate of Pepperdine, and has enrolled as a graduate
student at UTEP. Once he receives academic clearance Kimble should be
eligible to start playing this season.
By playing for the Miners this year Kimble will be taking a tremendous
risk. On November 26, 2002, near the beginning of his junior year at
Pepperdine, Kimble fainted during practice. He was sent to UCLA Medical
Center for some tests, which revealed that he suffered from hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, the same heart conditioned that killed former Loyola
Marymount star Hank Gathers. This condition causes a thickening of the
heart muscle, and can cause a loss of blood to the brain when the heart
is beating at a very high rate. Kimble’s career appeared to be over.
Kimble, however, is now prepared to start playing collegiate basketball
again at UTEP. He has had a defibrillator implanted, which monitors his
heart rate, and sends electric signals to the heart if it is beating
improperly. He obviously believes that the defibrillator makes it safe
for him to resume playing basketabll. He has apparently received
clearance from a number of doctors to return to the court, which he did
this past summer, averaging almost 18 points per game while playing in
the LA City College Summer Pro League. UTEP’s team doctors apparently
agree that it is safe for Kimble to play again, and have granted him
medical clearance to play.
Kimble’s situation is not unique. According to a recent Sports
Illustrated, Kyla Burt, a former guard on the University of Washington’s
women’s basketball team, will rejoin the team this season. Burt’s heart
stopped for five seconds in December of 2002, after which she too had a
defibrillator installed. She has been participating full speed in
pick-up games with her UW teammates.
Nick Knapp suffered a similar problem while playing basketball for
Northwestern eight years ago. He had a defibrillator installed, but
Northwestern still would not let him play basketball. He then
transferred to Ashland, a Division II school in Ohio, where he played
for two seasons. The defibrillator did misfire three times during his
career at Ashland, but it did correct itself. Doctors for both Burt and
Knapp insist that playing with a defibrillator is safe.
Not all doctors agree, however. Pepperdine’s team doctors refused to
let Kimble play again for the Waves basketball team. Dr. Barry Maron
told the Seattle Times in
an article about Burt this past summer, “The
device was never designed to operate in intercollegiate basketball. The
reliability and all those factors are unknown.” The article also
references the 26th Bethesda Conference, which set up guidelines for
situations like Kimble’s. Inside the guidelines, in large block
letters, are the words “COMPETITIVE SPORTS NOT RECOMMENDED.”
No matter which set of medical experts you chose to believe, there is no
doubt that Will Kimble is taking a risk by continuing his basketball
career. I wish the very best.
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