UNLV Great Armen Gilliam Dies at 47

ESPN.com news services UNLV great and former NBA player Armen Gilliam died Tuesday night while playing pickup basketball at a Pittsburgh-area health club. He was 47. Gilliam, the No. 2 overall pick of the Phoenix Suns in the 1987 NBA draft, collapsed of a heart attack while playing at a health club in Bridgeville, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. He was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9:28 p.m. ET, according to the Allegheny County coroner's office, the newspaper reported. Gilliam, a 6-foot-9 forward, played 13 NBA seasons with six teams after leading UNLV to a 37-2 record and the Final Four in 1987.


I also saw on another site Mike Mitchell died during the NBA finals. Damn. What's with these basketball players dying at such a young age?

Far too young. RIP.

Saw this posted on BDL:

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Lorenzo Charles(from NC-State) died too Andrew, but he was in a bus crash.

That's three players, 55 or younger. And of course, Kevin Duckworth and Wayman Tisdale a couple of years back.

Maybe something to do with enlarged hearts due to their height/size. I dunno.

I remember Gilliam with Nets. He was a solid frontcourt scorer off the bench.

Sad when people, not just players, go so young & with so much life left to give. But such is life. RIP.

Tends to be the case, same with Pete Maravich. In Tisdale's case, it was cancer.