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Many local basketball fans will remember the story of Nick Knapp. Hard to believe it has been almost 20 years!
He was a senior at Woodruff High School in Peoria in the fall of 1994, and was on track to break the state 3-point record, as well as become one of the greatest high school players ever produced by the Peoria area. He had a scholarship already locked up to play the following year in the Big Ten at Northwestern. Then one day while shooting in the gym, his heart stopped beating and he would have died if not for quick action and CPR by people who were there, and the paramedics who arrived quickly. Knapp underwent extensive testing and multiple doctors disagreed on what was the cause. He had a defibrillator implanted, which were in their early stages of development at that point. Northwestern honored their scholarship, but the Northwestern doctors refused to allow Nick to play basketball. There were some doctors who cleared him to play, so eventually Nick and his family sued Northwestern. A legal battle ensued, but Nick never was able to play basketball for Northwestern. Eventually he transferred and played at Northeastern Illinois University, a Division II school that was transitioning to D1. But they dropped basketball the year after Nick arrived, so he had to transfer again, this time to DII Ashland University, where he finished his career. It is a fascinating story, and as the first link below reports, Nick today is healthy and doing well as an investment counselor in East Peoria. Much of what was learned in Nick's case has lead to better testing of athletes, and more standardized approach to how schools deal with similar cases.
Here is a somewhat recent article I came across-
And this article from the New York Times back in 1996-
He was a senior at Woodruff High School in Peoria in the fall of 1994, and was on track to break the state 3-point record, as well as become one of the greatest high school players ever produced by the Peoria area. He had a scholarship already locked up to play the following year in the Big Ten at Northwestern. Then one day while shooting in the gym, his heart stopped beating and he would have died if not for quick action and CPR by people who were there, and the paramedics who arrived quickly. Knapp underwent extensive testing and multiple doctors disagreed on what was the cause. He had a defibrillator implanted, which were in their early stages of development at that point. Northwestern honored their scholarship, but the Northwestern doctors refused to allow Nick to play basketball. There were some doctors who cleared him to play, so eventually Nick and his family sued Northwestern. A legal battle ensued, but Nick never was able to play basketball for Northwestern. Eventually he transferred and played at Northeastern Illinois University, a Division II school that was transitioning to D1. But they dropped basketball the year after Nick arrived, so he had to transfer again, this time to DII Ashland University, where he finished his career. It is a fascinating story, and as the first link below reports, Nick today is healthy and doing well as an investment counselor in East Peoria. Much of what was learned in Nick's case has lead to better testing of athletes, and more standardized approach to how schools deal with similar cases.
Here is a somewhat recent article I came across-
And this article from the New York Times back in 1996-
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