Referee who died after collapsing on court was beloved official, fiancé and grandfather

WATERTOWN, Mass — A referee who collapsed and died on a Watertown basketball court Friday was a beloved official who had been refereeing for 24 years.

Don McGillicuddy, 56, suffered a cardiac emergency and collapsed on the Watertown Middle School court with just seconds left on the clock during the girls’ game between Watertown High and Old Rochester Regional.

Watertown first responders, an athletic trainer and Good Samaritans all rushed to help McGillicuddy as students and spectators were ushered into an auditorium.

Those aiding McGillicuddy were able to revive him with an AED before EMTs arrived, but he suffered a second heart attack on the way to Mount Auburn Hospital and did not survive, his daughter, Erica De Jesus told Boston 25 News.

De Jesus received a late-night call from her brother Wayne who frantically told her their father was gone. They both rushed to th’CLEe hospital to say their goodbyes.

“He’s like, ‘Dad’s gone.’ And that’s all he said, and I just lost it,” De Jesus replied. “I wish I was there. I hope he wasn’t scared. I hope he wasn’t alone. I just wish someone would’ve been with him.”

The medical event was a complete shock to family, who say McGillicuddy was in good health, had recently lost 45 pounds and was able to discontinue his blood pressure medication.

Video from the bleachers shows McGillicuddy running the court with no evident problems.

“He was in the locker room during half-time laughing with the other refs. He talked to his fiancée earlier in the game and said, ‘Your cousin’s playing in the next boys’ game. I’m going to stay and watch it,’” De Jesus said. “So, there was no signs. He had a clean bill of health. He wasn’t he wasn’t short of breath, having chest pains. He was just running down the court reffing and collapsed.”

McGillicuddy was an adoring grandfather to De Jesus’s daughter, 10-year-old Alivianna, as well as a loving fiancé to Nancy, whom he planned to wed soon in Aruba.

While he had been living in Saugus most recently, McGillicuddy was a proud native of Lowell, where he was known in the community as a former baseball coach to underprivileged kids, also a former basketball and football coach and an avid golfer at Longmeadow Golf Club, where a flag was lowered to half-staff in his honor this weekend.

As De Jesus grieves, she also has a message of gratitude to those who rushed to help her dad.

“Thank you. I don’t think ‘thank you’ is enough,” De Jesus said. “I’d love to know who they were.”

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