The Celtics brass wasted no time responding with a burst of vituperation – ““shameful,’’ ““disgusting,’’ ““gutless,’’ ““yellow journalism,’’ ““racist’’ – and threatened to file a $100 million libel lawsuit. ““Any allegation or insinuation that economic or monetary concerns could have conceivably played a role in any care Reggie Lewis got are absolutely ludicrous,’’ said Paul Gaston, the team’s chief executive officer. The Journal stood by its story. While Gaston offered little defense to the accusations beyond his outrage and the legal posturing, the most poignant response came from Lewis’s widow. A teary-eyed Donna Harris-Lewis described her late husband as a ““model citizen’’ and said emphatically: ““Reggie did not use drugs. Period!''
Lewis had collapsed during a playoff game several months before his death, and the Celtics quickly assembled what became known as the cardiac ““dream team’’ to handle the case. According to the Journal, the medical team concluded that the likely cause of Lewis’s heart condition was cocaine use; the paper quoted doctors who had previously been mum on the subject. Lewis repeatedly denied using drugs, refused to take a drug test and eventually fled the hospital in the middle of the night to seek his own medical care. ““If he’s never done drugs, why would he be so adamant?’’ Dr. Charles Munn, a radiologist involved in the initial examinations, told the Journal. Lewis’s new physician, Dr. Gilbert Mudge, determined that he was suffering from a benign fainting condition – and might even be able to play again under medical supervision.
From that scenario, the Journal builds its case that Lewis, his wife and the Celtics obstructed attempts to confirm the suspicion of drugs. The Celtics, by citing ““reasonable cause,’’ could have, under NBA policy, asked the league to approve a mandatory drug test; Lewis would have had to comply or risk voiding his $16.5 million contract. A positive test might have wiped out Lewis’s disability payments and later the $16.5 million life-insurance policy the Celtics are now using to pay off Lewis’s contract. The Journal debunked NBA drug policy, developed in conjunction with players and once considered a model for pro sports, as an exercise in ““don’t ask, don’t tell.’’ While the policy requires testing of rookies, there is no mandatory testing of veteran players – and only two veterans have tested positive under the policy in the decade it has been in effect.
For all the Journal’s reasoned speculation, in the end it remains just that – speculation. The Boston Globe hinted at possible drug involvement at the time of Lewis’s death. But its own exhaustive investigation a few months later failed to produce anyone who said they sold Lewis drugs or even that they witnessed drug use by the Celtics star. While evidence of drug use might have helped the diagnosis, it would not have substantially altered treatment. A Celtics spokesman told Newsweek that Lewis had submitted to appropriate blood work for his various life-insurance policies. The team has been chided in the past for insensitivity to black ballplayers. It undoubtedly would have been vilified had it tried to force tests on its stricken star.
The Journal quoted one doctor’s assessment of the autopsy report, which attributed Lewis’s death to a common virus, as ““wildly improbable.’’ A recent state examination of that report revealed nothing that would contradict the finding. As a result of the Journal article, that investigation will for the moment remain open. Meanwhile, the Celtics will proceed with plans to retire Lewis’s number 35 in a ceremony at the Boston Garden next Wednesday. Right now that’s the one posthumous treatment that Reggie Lewis clearly deserves.
