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The Day the Dream Died
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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.
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