Waikato Pistons basketball coach Murray McMahon died this morning after suffering a massive heart attack on July 3. He was 64.
McMahon was playing basketball at the Waikato University Recreation Centre when he suffered the heart attack.
He was taken to Waikato Hospital and put into a drug-induced coma.
Basketball New Zealand chief executive Dale Stephens said that McMahon's family decided yesterday that his life support system be turned off.
McMahon, 64, guided the Pistons to this year's National Basketball League title, on the way clocking up 200 NBL games as coach.
He played basketball for Waikato in his younger days and had coached Waikato in a previous stint.
He also played for New Zealand in 1967, was the national under-21 coach or assistant for seven years and a Tall Blacks assistant for three seasons.
"He'll be sadly missed because he was a very genuine, unassuming and diligent member of the basketball fraternity," Stephens said.
" Murray's been in basketball at all levels for 50 years and he's achieved everything that you would hope to achieve in the sport as a coach, a player and as a mentor of the youth and the kids. It's kind of nice in a way that he was able to win the national league a matter of weeks ago, something he's always aspired to,” he said.
"He had been a coach in the NBL in broken stints over the last 20 years but he's never been able to get the big one, it's a fitting tribute to the guy," Stephens said.
NZPA
source: newshub archive
