Referee collapses and dies on the court...

[KingTripleJump]

(just FYI--this school is about 30 northeast of Dallas.)

Referee died of an arrhythmia from enlarged heart
Medical examiner says Ernie Wilson, 59, had advanced heart disease


09:09 PM CST on Wednesday, December 10, 2003

By JIM BARNES / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News


A basketball referee died of an arrhythmia brought on by an enlarged heart during a game at Princeton High School on Tuesday night, according to the Collin County medical examiner.

Dr. William Rohr determined during an examination Wednesday afternoon that Ernie Wilson, 59, had "severe and advanced heart disease."

"This was subject to happen at any moment," Rohr said.

Pete Busby worked with Wilson during Tuesday's Princeton-Paris North Lamar girls varsity game, one of many they shared during their 11 years together in the Commerce officials chapter.


"With 21 seconds left in the [second] quarter, we talked about taking care of business going into halftime," Busby said Wednesday. "With seven seconds left, he wasn't there anymore. I noticed he made a reach at the wall and then just kind of melted down the wall."

Wilson collapsed seven seconds before halftime. A paramedic in the crowd began performing CPR within seconds. An ambulance arrived less than five minutes later, and paramedics continued CPR for about 45 minutes and administered three shocks with defibrillators.

"Everybody had to stay in the gym and observe it," said William Skinner, who attended the game to watch his daughter, Laci, play for Princeton. "I've been to a million games but have never seen anything like that."

Wilson was later pronounced dead at North Central Medical Center in McKinney.

Nothing in Wilson's pregame demeanor suggested he was ailing, Busby said. They met at Wilson's Greenville home and drove to Princeton together.

"He was talking about how he was going to buy his wife some shoes for Christmas," Busby said.

Wilson worked a subvarsity game with no problems, and Busby said the two were joking before the varsity game. Wilson was in good shape and had recently passed a stress test, Busby said.

Nelson Surovik, president of the Commerce chapter, said he and Wilson often joked about who would travel the farthest to cover a game.

Wilson could not be outworked, Surovik said. Wilson put in several hours each week as the assigning secretary for the chapter's more than 4,500 games, a duty he shared with Busby for the last two years.

Wilson enjoyed seeing the growth of the chapter, Surovik said.

"We had a vision of taking this little-bitty chapter that people kick around and make fun of," Surovik said, "and now it's grown to where it's respected around the state. Ernie took a lot of pride in that."

Said Busby: "He was a great guy, a great boss. He had a good time doing what he loved."

Wilson is survived by his wife, Melinda, two sons and a daughter.

The Princeton-North Lamar game, which is a District 10-3A opener, will resume at 6 p.m. Thursday.

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