Death of Hank Gathers

Date: March 4, 1990 • Location: Washington, United States

College basketball player Hank Gathers died after collapsing during a West Coast Conference tournament semifinal game in Los Angeles.

College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athletic bodies, including the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). These national affiliation organizations may be subdivided into divisions, generally based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes. Institutions that play in Division II of the NCCAA are typically small Bible colleges. Some institutions may have multiple affiliations with the most common being USCAA and NCCAA. NCAA Division I does not allow this. An institution does not need to join a national affiliation organization to play college basketball, but this is very rare. As of 2025, Cheyney, a former NCAA member, fields a team with no national affiliation.