American basketball player dies of heart attack during halftime of Portuguese game
By APMonday, October 26, 2009
American basketball player dies in Portugal
LISBON, Portugal — Kevin Widemond, a 23-year-old American guard, died of a heart attack during a Portuguese basketball tournament.
The Portuguese basketball federation said Widemond collapsed in the locker room Sunday during halftime of a game between his team Ovarense and Academica in Leiria, in northern Portugal.
Widemond, a native of Newark, N.J., had played 10 minutes in the third-place playoff game of the cup competition, which was canceled following his death.
“He was sitting on a bench, listening with the others to what the coach was saying, when he just keeled over,” Ovarense sports director Jose Eduardo said.
A doctor immediately began trying to resuscitate Widemond and those efforts continued in an ambulance and then at the hospital, Eduardo told public broadcaster RTP.
Eduardo said Widemond underwent extensive medical tests when he joined Ovarense a month ago. An autopsy would be performed, he said.
Widemond played in college at Texas A&M-Commerce.
(This version CORRECTS college to Texas A&M-Commerce)
