Frazier's mother, Karen Beckham, formerly a star player at Murrell Dobbins Tech (class of 1986) and Norfolk State, said the family is awaiting autopsy results. She was told by doctors, she added, that her son suffered from a thickening of the heart. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was not a term she remembered hearing, however.
HC was the condition that felled Gathers, a product of Dobbins ('85) and that same rec center (then called Moylan), while he starred for Loyola Marymount late in the 1990 season.
As his mom now realizes, Akhir's passion for basketball cost him his life.
He'd collapsed earlier this summer while representing Prep Charter in a team camp at Saint Joseph's University. An ensuing stress test showed no abnormalities, his mom said, but he'd been advised to avoid strenuous activity until undergoing an MRI Aug. 24. The incident at Gathers Rec occurred Aug. 21.
"You know how 16-year-olds are. They do what they want. They can be hardheaded," Beckham said. "Akhir couldn't help himself. If that was his time to go . . . I'm OK with the fact he was doing something he wanted to do. Something he loved to do."
Beckham expressed appreciation for how much support the family received during Akhir's 5-day stay at CHOP.
"It was overwhelming," she said. "We had to turn people away. So many visitors. The doctor said he wished he'd been able to meet us under different circumstances because he could really see how much our family is loved."
Though it's likely Frazier would have attended Norristown High - his father, Edward, lives in that area - this coming school year, he always would have retained a place of prominence for Dan Brinkley.
