Player With Heart Problem Dies in Game

Tony Penny, a former Central Connecticut State University basketball player who was once told that his heart condition was a “time bomb,” collapsed and died during a game Tuesday.

Penny, 23, was stricken just after being called back to the bench after playing the first eight minutes of a game in an English league. The game was called off.

Penny played 12 games for Central Connecticut during the 1985-86 season before an examination in the summer of 1986 found he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a life-threatening heart condition characterized by an enlarged heart with a deformed left ventricle. Penny did not play the next two seasons and during that time sought opinions from nine cardiologists. He said he received diagnoses that cleared him to play in the 1988-89 season. Central allowed him to play after consulting with the state attorney general’s office.

In May, 1989, Penny filed a $1-million lawsuit against New Britain General Hospital and cardiologist Dr. Milton J. Sands. The suit said Sands had told Penny in 1986 his heart was a “time bomb” and that if Penny played basketball again, he would risk sudden death.