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In his column today, Washington Post Sportswriter Michael Wilbon notes that yesterday would have been the 40th Birthday of Len Bias. Outside of Washington, DC and Boston, most people probably won't care all that much.
I'm a huge sports fan. And in Washington, DC there are two sports we care about above all else - Washington Redskins football and College Basketball. And the early to mid-1980's were a golden age. We had Georgetown in the Big East and Maryland in the ACC. Every week I could turn on the TV and watch Patrick Ewing, Ralph Sampson of Virginia, Chris Mullin at St John's, David Robinson at Navy. James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Mark Price, Johnny Dawkins, Pearl Washington, and a host of other greats. Local HS stars Sidney Lowe and Derek Whittenburg leading NC State to a cinderella title, and Danny Ferry at Duke. Georgetown made three championship games in four years.
And there were two supremely great college players, in there way, far more exciting than even Ewing and Sampson. Michael Jordan at North Carolina and Lenny Bias at Maryland. By this time, Jordan's legend is secure. Len Bias, if remembered at all, is known for dying of cocaine intoxication the night after he was drafted #2 overall in 1986 by the then-NBA Champion Boston Celtics.
I was ten at the time, and I remember me (and a bunch of my friends) crying. There's a part of me that still cries when I think about him. Lenny's death tore open a wound in College Park, and it's still there even if the Football and Basketball programs, and the school as a whole, has regained its national reputation. But there's a taint that will never go away, and rightfully so. It's not something you get over.
The thing is - Lenny was ours. He was the local boy "done good". He was a Maryland player - grew up less than two miles from campus. And Lenny worked hard, got big, got built, and improved his game in so many ways, every year. By all accounts a wonderful young man. At least until sometime during his senior year when impending success apparently went to his head.
At Maryland, we've always had a certain sense of inferiority. Like the universe was out to get us. Our best teams never made the NCAA because we couldn't win the big one. Dean Smith and Norm Sloane always had the best talent. And everyone knew that the Team in Blue got all the calls in our tobacco-road centric conference.
But Lenny was special. Lenny was a ferocious defender and rebounder. He blocked shots and got steals. And I have never seen a player with a sweeter shot. Jordan with size. That's what they said. He didn't quite have the same first step that Jordan had. But he wasn't far behind. Lenny had the goods. MJ-Lenny was supposed to be Bird-Magic. And Lenny's Celtics were going to win. He was going to be our Jordan, our Dr. J, our Larry Bird. On the court, Bias was *beauty* and *truth*.
His death is tragic. Because Lenny was stupid. He thought he was invulnerable, as we all do at some point - especially if we have greatness within us. And it's tragic for his family, and even worse when his brother Jay was shot dead a few years later. Lenny had everything - good grades, respect and admiration, athletic dominance, and a great financial future. He was already becoming a Legend. And he threw it away for the parties, the high life, and the blow.
Such a tremendous waste.
In the end, it's a cautionary tale and the neverending questions over what might have been. I still get chills when I see highlights of the game when Lenny single-handledly gave a #1 UNC team its first ever loss in the Dean Dome. Growing up where and when I did, Lenny was a huge hero. I'd known death - my beloved grandfather had passed on three years previous.
Three hundred and fifty days out of the year, I don't even think about it. and I'm not the first person to write on it, and Wilbon among others has captured it far better and more eloquently than I can. But it's a bit different to me. Mike Wilbon was the age I am now when he covered Maryland Basketball. He knew Len Bias, and I didn't. But I was 10, and it's something entirely different when your first Hero dies. And Lenny was mine.
I'm a huge sports fan. And in Washington, DC there are two sports we care about above all else - Washington Redskins football and College Basketball. And the early to mid-1980's were a golden age. We had Georgetown in the Big East and Maryland in the ACC. Every week I could turn on the TV and watch Patrick Ewing, Ralph Sampson of Virginia, Chris Mullin at St John's, David Robinson at Navy. James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Mark Price, Johnny Dawkins, Pearl Washington, and a host of other greats. Local HS stars Sidney Lowe and Derek Whittenburg leading NC State to a cinderella title, and Danny Ferry at Duke. Georgetown made three championship games in four years.
And there were two supremely great college players, in there way, far more exciting than even Ewing and Sampson. Michael Jordan at North Carolina and Lenny Bias at Maryland. By this time, Jordan's legend is secure. Len Bias, if remembered at all, is known for dying of cocaine intoxication the night after he was drafted #2 overall in 1986 by the then-NBA Champion Boston Celtics.
I was ten at the time, and I remember me (and a bunch of my friends) crying. There's a part of me that still cries when I think about him. Lenny's death tore open a wound in College Park, and it's still there even if the Football and Basketball programs, and the school as a whole, has regained its national reputation. But there's a taint that will never go away, and rightfully so. It's not something you get over.
The thing is - Lenny was ours. He was the local boy "done good". He was a Maryland player - grew up less than two miles from campus. And Lenny worked hard, got big, got built, and improved his game in so many ways, every year. By all accounts a wonderful young man. At least until sometime during his senior year when impending success apparently went to his head.
At Maryland, we've always had a certain sense of inferiority. Like the universe was out to get us. Our best teams never made the NCAA because we couldn't win the big one. Dean Smith and Norm Sloane always had the best talent. And everyone knew that the Team in Blue got all the calls in our tobacco-road centric conference.
But Lenny was special. Lenny was a ferocious defender and rebounder. He blocked shots and got steals. And I have never seen a player with a sweeter shot. Jordan with size. That's what they said. He didn't quite have the same first step that Jordan had. But he wasn't far behind. Lenny had the goods. MJ-Lenny was supposed to be Bird-Magic. And Lenny's Celtics were going to win. He was going to be our Jordan, our Dr. J, our Larry Bird. On the court, Bias was *beauty* and *truth*.
His death is tragic. Because Lenny was stupid. He thought he was invulnerable, as we all do at some point - especially if we have greatness within us. And it's tragic for his family, and even worse when his brother Jay was shot dead a few years later. Lenny had everything - good grades, respect and admiration, athletic dominance, and a great financial future. He was already becoming a Legend. And he threw it away for the parties, the high life, and the blow.
Such a tremendous waste.
In the end, it's a cautionary tale and the neverending questions over what might have been. I still get chills when I see highlights of the game when Lenny single-handledly gave a #1 UNC team its first ever loss in the Dean Dome. Growing up where and when I did, Lenny was a huge hero. I'd known death - my beloved grandfather had passed on three years previous.
Three hundred and fifty days out of the year, I don't even think about it. and I'm not the first person to write on it, and Wilbon among others has captured it far better and more eloquently than I can. But it's a bit different to me. Mike Wilbon was the age I am now when he covered Maryland Basketball. He knew Len Bias, and I didn't. But I was 10, and it's something entirely different when your first Hero dies. And Lenny was mine.
