Defibrillator Put at Courtside After First Gathers Incident

Loyola Marymount team officials kept a defibrillator close to Hank Gathers after he returned to the team and his condition was diagnosed as an arrhythmia, according to a Loyola official.

After Gathers returned to the team on Dec. 30, Loyola team officials began carrying a defibrillator to away games, and kept the device either courtside or in the trainers’ room at home games.

A defibrillator is a device, most often used by trained paramedics, to shock a failing heart back into a normal rhythm. Although some athletic departments keep a defibrillator in their training rooms, it is not standard equipment at most schools and definitely not procedure to travel with the device.

Barry Zepel, the sports information director at Loyola, said Monday that the team’s trainer carried a defibrillator to all away games beginning with Loyola’s game at Xavier on Dec. 30. That was the first game Gathers played since he fainted on Dec. 9, while playing in a game against UC Santa Barbara.

“It was a precaution, something that we should have, hoping it would never have to be used,” Zepel said.

Zepel said he became aware of the device when the team’s trainer, Chip Schaefer, began carrying the defibrillator on the team plane.

“Because it (Gathers’ collapse) happened to an athlete, it was recommended that we have it available,” Zepel said. “I don’t know if Hank is the reason (for it). It could happen to anybody.”

Schaefer said it was purchased after the first Gathers fainting incident on the recommendation of the medical staff.

“Hank’s first incident kind of snapped everybody to attention and it wasn’t just for him, but for any elderly patrons at the game,” Schaefer said. “It was the primary purpose to use for Hank, but if it was just for him we would have rented one, not purchased it. We plan to keep using it.

“But it was because of him that we realized the necessity for it.”

Loyola athletic director, Brian Quinn, would not comment.