Davis Nwankwo’s pre-practice preparation began like any other day on March 6, 2006. The 6-10 Vanderbilt center ate breakfast, received treatment in the team training room at Memorial Gymnasium and strolled onto the practice floor for a morning workout with the Commodores.
Then, about 15 minutes into practice, Nwankwo suddenly collapsed.
“When I talked to teammates later, they told me it was like a tree hitting the floor,” Nwankwo recalls.
Surrounded by stunned teammates and coaches, Vanderbilt athletic trainer Mike Meyer sprang into action. He found no pulse on Nwankwo’s neck and quickly called for a nearby automatic external defibrillator – one that just happened to be in the team training room – to restart the lanky center’s heart. Meyer delivered a shock from the AED and two mouth-to-mouth breaths. Nwankwo began breathing again.
The redshirt freshman center awoke just as surprised as his shocked teammates.
“My mind just went blank,” Nwankwo said. “I had no idea what had happened. Next thing I knew, I was waking up with an oxygen mask on and coaches surrounding me. That’s all I remember.”
Vanderbilt rushed Nwankwo to the hospital in an ambulance, where he soon learned of his ultimate diagnosis: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a thickening of the walls of the heart caused by enlarged cells. HCM can restrict the flow of blood through the heart and cause cardiac arrest, which is what happened to Nwankwo on the practice floor. Within three days, doctors told the redshirt freshman he would require heart surgery. Moreover, he would not be able to play basketball again.
Nwankwo felt lucky to be alive. But a wave of disappointment still overtook the 6-10 center upon learning his playing days were over.
“Anyone who was in that room in that moment can attest to that,” he recalls. “I had tears going down my face. It was just silent. I knew what I’d just heard. I knew it would have a big impact on my life. It hit me like a truck.”
But the Commodores did not forget about Nwankwo. Then-head coach Kevin Stallings kept the College Park, Maryland native on scholarship for the rest of that season, as well as the next two, as a de-facto player-coach. Nwankwo remained on the bench as Vanderbilt finished 17-13 during the 2005-06 season, and the next year the Dores reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament on the heels of a 22-12 campaign. His final year in 2007-08, Vanderbilt finished 26-8 with a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Though he could no longer play for the Commodores, Nwankwo said he still felt like part of the team.
“Being involved and being around my teammates, it felt like I was going through the rounds and going through adversity with them,” Nwankwo said. “It gave me the feeling like they were trying to keep me involved, which I appreciated. I wanted to be treated normal, like nothing happened.”
Nwankwo graduated from Vanderbilt in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering science. He returned to Maryland, where he worked in education for two years. Nwankwo then decided to go to law school and graduated from the Charlotte School of Law in 2013. Following a few years of working at a startup in Maryland, Nwankwo is now back in Nashville with his girlfriend, studying to take the Tennessee Bar Exam.
Nwankwo said he doesn’t harp much on the day in 2006, when his basketball career came to an end – and his life nearly did. Instead, he prefers to move on. “I can’t dwell on that kind of stuff,” Nwankwo said. But he said he is excited to be back in Music City, where he plans to keep rooting for the Commodores.
“This is the first time I’ve been back in Nashville in 10 years,” he said, “but I’ve always kept up with Vanderbilt.”
Zac Ellis is the Writer and Digital Media Editor for Vanderbilt Athletics.
