By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops Columnist | ARCHIVES
2020 WCC HALL OF HONOR PROFILES
 
Loyola Marymount athletic director Craig Pintens was a teen-ager when Hank Gathers was creating his basketball legend with the Lions.
 
Pintens was a fan and he tuned in on Feb. 3, 1990 when Gathers and the Lions squared off against Shaquille O’Neal and LSU. “I think it was the greatest regular-season game in college basketball history,” Pintens said.
 
There’s a lot to be said for Pintens’ contention: Gathers scored 48 points that day and Shaq racked up an impressive triple-double with 20 points, 24 rebounds and 12 blocked shots. LSU prevailed 148-141 in overtime, but it was Gathers and his teammates who sent home fans feeling like they’d watched something they’d never seen before.
 
“He was the soul of the team in his performance, his toughness, his ability to score, his ability to rebound, his ability to just dominate,” said former LMU coach Paul Westhead. “When Hank was on the floor, whoever the other four players were and me sitting on the bench, you felt a sense of comfort. He was going to take care of things.”
 
Barely a month after that game, Gathers collapsed and died on the court of a heart ailment during Loyola’s game against Portland in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament at Gersten Pavilion.
 
As the college basketball world tried to make sense of the tragedy, a numb but possessed LMU team - led by Gathers’ childhood pal Bo Kimble - made a stirring run through the NCAA tournament, capturing the attention of the nation, before losing to eventual national champion UNLV in the Elite 8 at Oakland.
 
“When we finally lost, you were struck with now the real world has hit us, we have to deal with Hank’s death, our loss,” Westhead recalled “The honeymoon had ended. It took a long time.”
 
At last, 30 years later, much of the pain, acrimony and legal complication is in the past. And on Saturday, before the Lions play their final home game of the season, Loyola Marymount will honor the memory of Gathers with the unveiling of a statue in front of Gersten Pavilion.
 
Westhead, Kimble and most of Gathers’ old teammates will be there for the ceremony. “You can see the love of the teammates,” Pintens said. Most important, members of the Gathers family will be on hand, including his mother, Lucille.
 
“Not everybody is worthy of a statue. But if there’s anybody who is worthy, it’s Hank Gathers,” said Pintens, who made this project a priority when he became athletic director two years ago, and notes that today’s LMU students weren’t even alive when Gathers led the nation in both scoring and rebounding as a junior in 1988-89. “They need to know who Hank Gathers is,” he said.
 
Pintens knows this event will be emotional for a lot of people. “I hope it provides some healing because there’s still some wounds from this. What people failed to realize, it was a great story for all of us, watching an amazing run in March.
 
“But the people directly impacted by that were the family, the team. They lost a son, a teammate, a friend. That is different.”
 
Terrell Lowery, a sophomore on the ’89-90 LMU team, recalls Gathers for his big personality, his work ethic and his unselfishness. He regarded Gathers as a big brother and struggled for years to talk about his death.
 
“The fact that they're doing it is a blessing and certainly deserving,” said Lowery, who will be in Los Angeles on Saturday. “I’m happy for his family and his legacy that these things are taking place.”
 
 Westhead, who has been asked to speak at the ceremony, is also pleased.
 
“Time heals everything, but it took a long time. Almost every year just around that time early March, my body would begin to say, `Remember when?’
 
“It’s really hard to get over. I guess after 30 years it’s easier to settle down and reflect and think of all the good things and not the shock of his death. But it never goes away.”
 
Lucille Gathers was given the opportunity to view the unfinished version of the statue and was pleased. “It’s wonderful and it looks like Hank, and he would be so proud,” she said in an emotional video posted on the LMU website. 
 
Pintens approached the project carefully, using an intermediary to make initial contact with the family in the fall of 2018. They were receptive to the idea.
 
The next step was finding an artist, and LMU commissioned Julie Rotblatt Amrany and Omri Amrany, Chicago-based sculptors who have done pieces honoring the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Pat Tillman, Magic Johnson and many others.
 
“It looks amazing,” said Pintens. “He’s grabbing a rebound. The amount of detail is scary. It shows off what an amazing human specimen he was.”
 
The statue, which will be mounted on a base, is slightly largely than life. Just like the man himself.
 
THE WEEKEND IN THE WCC
 
Thursday spotlight: Pacific, which has won six of its past seven games, sits alone in fourth place in the WCC and would like to hold onto that and secure a bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. The Tigers play Thursday night at Loyola Marymount before closing Saturday at San Diego. The Tigers beat both opponents in Stockton, but now face the challenging of winning on the road. 
 
Elsewhere on Thursday: San Diego at Gonzaga; Portland at USF; Saint Mary’s at Santa Clara.
 
Women’s schedule: Pepperdine at BYU; Loyola Marymount at San Diego; Santa Clara at Saint Mary’s; USF at Pacific.
 
Saturday spotlight: No. 3 Gonzaga likely will secure the outright WCC championship on Thursday night, but the Zags’ twice-yearly regular-season duel vs. Saint Mary’s has been the league’s most consistently compelling game. Gonzaga crushed the Gaels by 30 points in Moraga last month. Can the Gaels possibly turn the tables in Spokane?
 
Elsewhere on Saturday: BYU at Pepperdine; USF at Loyola Marymount; Pacific at San Diego; Portland at Santa Clara.
 
Women’s schedule: Loyola Marymount at BYU; Gonzaga at Portland; Santa Clara at Pacific; Pepperdine at San Diego; USF at Saint Mary’s.