Los Angeles
CHANGE MY LOCATION
Mark Newgent
Baltimore History ExaminerMark Newgent is a writer and editor with a talent for breathing history into everyday happenings.
Examiner Feeds
These websites were picked by the Baltimore History Examiner as useful resources.Baltimore Examiners
Craig Meister
Baltimore College Prep Examiner
Most Recent Post
How Should A High School Senior Spend Labor Day Weekend?
Baltimore College Prep Examiner
Most Recent Post
How Should A High School Senior Spend Labor Day Weekend?
Laura Bristow
Baltimore Workplace Examiner
Most Recent Post
Happiness, Meet Productivity. Oops, Never Mind.
Baltimore Workplace Examiner
Most Recent Post
Happiness, Meet Productivity. Oops, Never Mind.
Baltimore History Examiner
The Day the Dream Died
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
How ironic that the Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship nearly 22 years to the day the man they drafted to win several more died.
I will never forget June 19, 1986, the day Len Bias died.
For me, Bias was and will always be the best player to don a Maryland uniform, and arguably the best ever in the ACC.
Most remember him for his incredible leaping ability and thunderous dunks, but for a six foot eight inch power forward, he had a sweet jump shot. Watching Bias release the ball at the pinnacle of his jump, usually well above any defender, was pure joy to watch. Others wanted to emulate Michael Jordan, but for my friends and I MJ was piker compared to Bias.
Cole Field House wasn’t the only place on campus where Bias dazzled audiences. Growing up in adjacent Hyattsville, I was a campus rat at College Park. Honestly, there was nothing better to do but head up to Route 1, play video games at Howie’s, catch a movie at the now defunct 99¢ theater, or hang out at the south hill basketball court. At the south hill court, students or anyone with enough game for that matter could play against Maryland basketball players. Bias’ Washington Hall dorm room overlooked the courts. Lefty Driesell was the “chief” of Cole Field House, but Bias was the king of south hill. I honestly think he showed his best moves at south hill not Cole.
On June 19, 1986 I was at a basketball camp run by my CYO coach from St. Jerome’s in Hyattsville. We were practicing free throws on the lower parking lot, when a man walked by and—I will never forget this—said “Did you hear? Len Bias is dead!” Except for the dropped basketballs bouncing away from us, there was complete silence. Coach brought us all up to the main gym where he had rolled out a television so we could watch the coverage.
How could this happen? He was just drafted by the Celtics! For a twelve year old, your heroes are invincible, they aren’t supposed to die. Bias was from my neck of the woods, he played for my team, he was a dream walking, and now he was gone.
Eventually we found out that Bias had consumed cocaine early that morning and it sent him into cardiac arrest. That revelation was more stunning than the news of his death. I won’t go into the whole story of the aftermath, but Bias’ death exposed a whole host of problems with university, specifically the athletic department. However, the University of Maryland is the superb institution it is today in part because of the reforms instituted to address the Bias tragedy.
When Juan Dixon heaved the ball into the air after defeating Indiana in 2002, and when Johnny Holiday proudly proclaimed “the kids have done it,” my thoughts drifted to Len Bias and how far Maryland had come since that awful June day. We survived his death and endured Bob Wade and the tyrannical NCAA sanctions. So when folks come down on Gary Williams because he lost a couple recruits, they should remember things were a lot worse.
The Washington Post has an online archive of its reporting on Bias’ death.
I recommend Greg Abel’s Press Box piece marking the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. He has some poignant retrospectives from Maryland grads Chick Hernandez of Comcast Sports and Scott Van Pelt of ESPN.
Finally, for those who never saw him, I’ll leave you with this footage of Len’s signature moment in a Terps uniform.
Topics: Len Bias , University of Maryland
More from Baltimore History Examiner
History Made
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
No matter your politics, Barack Obama made history last night accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. He is the first African-American to be nominated for president by a major political party in the United... Read More
Topics: Barack Obama
Obama the heir to JFK? Not so much.
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
Heir to a myth, not the reality.Watching the Democratic National Convention last night with its homage to Ted Kennedy and the concomitant comparisons, by the media between Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy, I had to ask myself, what history are these... Read More
Topics: Obama , JFK
"Trying to reason with hurricane season*"
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
Photo credit to Mark LundinI’m down in the Outer Banks town of Duck North Carolina, on vacation with the family. We were very worried about early forecasts that had tropical storm Fay tracking up the Atlantic seaboard toward us and possibly... Read More
Topics: Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane of 1933
Julia Child: Chef, American Spy
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
Is there microfilm in that fish?Julia Child, in addition to being a world renowned chef, was also an agent of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS was the United States intelligence agency during World War II ,and precursor to the Central... Read More
Topics: Julia Child , OSS
"Prompt and Utter Destruction"
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
Sixty-three years ago this week, the B-29 Superfortresses Enola Gay and Bockscar dropped the world’s first atomic bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings caused untold damage, and... Read More
Topics: World War II , Hiroshima , Nagasaki , Downfall
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn died Sunday in Moscow at the age of 89. Solzhenitsyn will bee forever remembered for his Nobel Prize winning “literary investigation,” The Gulag Archipelago. Gulag is an acronym... Read More
Topics: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The KGB's Source at the Baltimore Sun
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
A Pulitzer Prize winning Baltimore Sun reporter was a Soviet dupe and a source of information for the KGB. Researching the history for my series on the MSP story, I came across some interesting historical nuggets. In Christopher... Read More
Topics: Baltimore Sun , KGB
Historical Context to the Maryland State Police Surveillance Operation Part Three
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
Sorry for the long delay, but family comes first and my daughter’s birthday was this weekend so everything else took a back seat. This post ties together Parts One and Two So why is this history important? How does it connect with... Read More
Topics: Soviet Union , Stalin , Whittaker Chambers , Espionage , Albert Blumberg , local history , Cold War , Baltimore History , Maryland Communist Party , Maryland State Police
Historical Context to the Maryland State Police Surveillance Operation Part 2
Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner
This is Part Two of Historical Context to the MSP Surveillance Operation. You can read Part One here. After the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the Dies Committee investigations, the FBI began close surveillance of the Maryland communists (District34... Read More
Topics: Soviet Union , Stalin , fellow travellers , Whittaker Chambers , Espionage , Albert Blumberg , Cold War , Maryland Communist Party
