Former Texas A&M University-Commerce men’s basketball player Kevin Widemond died Oct. 25 following a heart attack during halftime of a tournament game in the Portuguese basketball league.
Widemond transferred to A&M-Commerce from San Jacinto Junior College, and played Lions basketball from 2006 to 2008.
“Obviously, it is [a huge blow] to our basketball program and to our athletic department, because Kevin was the type of guy everybody liked to be around,” men’s basketball head coach Sam Walker said. “He was a teammate that people liked playing with, not because of his talent, but because of how supportive he was to his teammates and what a good contributor he was to the whole team concept.”
According to a story on espn.com, Widemond was playing for his team Ovarense in a third place playoff tournament game. During halftime, he collapsed in the locker room. A doctor immediately went to work trying to resuscitate him. Widemond was then taken to hospital by ambulance. The tournament he was playing in was canceled.
“We are deeply saddened to hear this news, and our sympathies are with him and his family,” Carlton Cooper, athletic director at A&M-Commerce, said.
During his two years as a Lion, Widemond posted 14.5 points per game, 141 assists, and 208 rebounds. According to Walker, he played an integral team role during his senior year when they lost to Central Oklahoma in the Lone Star Conference championship game.
“His senior year, we started off 0-5,” Walker said. “That group I thought did a phenomenal job of keeping the spirits up. Kevin was one of those people that was like ‘Coach, we’re alright. We’re going to be fine. You just keep doing what you do and we’ll keep doing what we do.'”
Widemond’s former A&M-Commerce teammate Scooby Johnson plays for Academica Coimbra, the team Ovarense were playing against when Widemond collapsed.
“It’s really kind of amazing to have both of them playing in Portugal, both of them in the same league in Portugal, and then both playing against each other that night,” Walker said. “Scooby (Johnson) said both of them were hanging out in the hotel the night before the game, and taking bets on who was going to score on each other.”
Widemond was an all-city player in his hometown of Newark, N.J., and an all-Texas Eastern Athletic Conference player at San Jacinto Junior College.
Portuguese media have speculated that Widemond’s life could have been saved if a defibrillator had been present at the complex where the game was being held.