Jason Collier
Jason Jeffrey Collier (September 8, 1977 – October 15, 2005) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the first active NBA player to die since Malik Sealy in 2000. High school career. Collier led Catholic Central High School of his hometown Springfield, Ohio to the 1996 Ohio State Basketball Championship, for which he was named 1996 Ohio Mr. Basketball. College career. After transferring from Indiana, Collier completed his college career at Georgia Tech. Professional career. Collier was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 15th overall pick of the 2000 NBA Draft . He was traded on draft day to the Houston Rockets in exchange for their pick, Joel Przybilla. He then played for the Rockets and the Atlanta Hawks, averaging 5.6 points per game over his career. With the Hawks, Collier dropped a career-high 22 points on March 12, 2004 in a 138 - 124 win against the Washington Wizards. Out of the 151 career games Collier played, this was one of only 3 times where he scored 20 or more points. Collier's final NBA game was played on April 20th, 2005 in a 86 - 110 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers  (this was also the Hawks' final game of the 2004 - 2005 season). Although he was Atlanta's starting Center for that game, he only played for 9 minutes and had 2 points and 1 rebound on 1-4 FG shooting. Death and legacy. During the NBA off-season, Collier died suddenly at the age of 28 on October 15, 2005 in Cumming, Georgia. His autopsy indicated that he died because of a "sudden heart rhythm disturbance caused by an abnormally enlarged heart." Georgia's chief medical examiner, Dr. Kris Sperry, said Collier's heart "was above the accepted limits, even  for a man of his size", and said the organ was about one and a half times the size it should have been. It was reported that he experienced shortness of breath before losing consciousness. Medical treatment was performed by emergency medical technicians, but Collier died en route to the hospital. The Hawks wore permanent black shoulder patches on their uniforms to honor Collier. In his honor, the NBA Development League, on which Collier played for a year in the Fayetteville Patriots and was named to the All-NBA Development League Team, unveiled in the following season the Jason Collier  Sportsmanship Award.