April 5, 2022 • 52 mins
How does one family recover from the unexpected death of a son, primed to be one of the best basketball players of all time? How does one recover from the unexpected death of another son, who was as good a player as his older brother. What challenges does a young man face never knowing a father whose legacy haunts him?
Those questions are answered in this episode. This is the fourth episode of seven in section three of the series, focusing on the main aspects of Len’s legacy.
About the narrator - Lauren Rosh is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in multi-platform journalism and a double minor in law and general business from The University of Maryland, College Park.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is based in large part on the book
Born Ready Mixed Legacy of lend Bias. Some cults are
narrated by podcast producer and book author David Grady from
interviews done for the book. Recruitings for those comments were
not available. Yeah, we always wanted to be like the
older guys and your say, man, I want to I
(00:21):
want to do what they're doing. So they was like
a big brother to us. I try not to get
oversighted by anybody in the beginning, but I knew he
was He was athletic. I knew he could be a
good player. Jay has more, much more skill than lettered
skill wants as a basketball a player. When I turned around,
(00:44):
Jay was laying damn and I've seen the crowd that
coming on the court. You know, the fight broke out.
I thought it was no doubt that he was a
vision one because you know basketball player. Um, he could
do anything on the court. He didn't want it, the
boy you wouldn't do. I just hope that I lived
the same and had everything I do from now on
(01:06):
is dedicated for my brother. And he was like a man,
you boy just got killed. I said, Now you're talking
about I said, J Bias excuse me, I said, no, man,
stop playing its like wives got weak. I couldn't eat,
I couldn't sleep. I didn't have nothing, and I was
(01:27):
not prepared for the loss of Jay and nothing that
I deal with with. Lenn helped me through Jay through
a window. His face flashed an engaged expression as he
talked about Lunbias being his father. Michael Bias told me
this story. Everything has been a struggling financial emotionally, it's
(01:50):
been a tough break for me all my life. It's
been a jinx from when I was born because he
died a bunch of jerks and this episode of Lambi
next Legacy and how the death of Lundbias and attacked
and the limits. The indoor basketball court at the Columbia
(02:13):
Park Recreation Center is not known for its visual appeal.
It has no windows for bleachers. It's a draft beige
box anchored on each end with a basketball who For
a time, though, one of its walls caught your attention
when walking through the gym. On that wall was a
poster announcing the dedication of the Wharton mac Lee Madkins
(02:33):
Gymnasium in two thousand two. For decades, Madkins was the
director of the center also known as the Wreck. He
helped coach Lunbias and others in both football and basketball.
Here's Madkins talking about Bias shortly after his death. The
first kid used to leaf you's a very awkward, you know,
but he kept playing, playing the like every day. He
(02:54):
was up there, like seven days a week. And one
of the bestball LEAs. A picture are in the poster,
located on the bottom right includes Jay Bias, the younger
brother of Lunn Bias. He flashes an easy smile and
wears a green T shirt emblazoned with the words Boston
Celtics in bright white letters. Below the picture are words
attributed to Madkins that read, they may leave, but they
(03:17):
always find a way back. Jay's legend at the Wreck
is as profound as Len's. For different it's sadly parallel reasons,
neither made it back. Lenn died in six a victim
of drug overdose during a celebration. Jay died in a
victim of gun violence following an argument. The picture and
the poster was taken the winter after Lunn died, when
(03:39):
a Columbia Park team won a club tournament in North
Carolina next to Jay. In the picture is Jay's best
friend Clint Venable. The two had met at the Wreck.
Basketball played a large part in they're developing a deep friendship,
one that resembled brothers more than friends. We ate over
(04:00):
each other house, you know, over there. Yeah, he come
on my house. I mean, that's how all the guys
was in the neighborhood. And that's one thing I can say,
you know, especially boy, our neigh blood. You know, the
guys got along. We always had each other back. We
don't play like all day. That's all we knew basketball.
We want to go up to gym, play ball. If
(04:23):
Jim weren't open yet, we play outside, wait for Mac
to get it open. And we couldn't get enough of basketball.
Five parents wanted us. They they would to find us.
We said direction the Plumber Party one. Bias was a
hero to many young people for his basketball talents, perhaps
none more than to Clint Venable and Jay Bias. Bennable
talks reverently about his mentors Bias, Brian Waller, and Johnny Walker.
(04:46):
They all taught Jane, Clint and others a thereck about
basketball and life. At times, they gave up their court
time so their mentors could play. You know, they kick
us off the core because he was younger, didn't want
us to play. Then we gonna sit and watch those
guys playing. Leonard and Ryan Ice and Johnny. Them guys
used to work out. If you let Jay and myself
(05:08):
and Henry another guy to play with us, hang out
with them, we just get so excited, like it was
like Christmas. He's like, you know, he quiet. You know,
don't do this, don't do that. We just wanted to
hang out with these guys. Watching one play convinced n
a ball that he wanted to go to college, ideally
at Maryland. I used to watch the way he worked
on the court, the way he worked without the ball,
(05:29):
and how you cut off the guy. You know, how
you work to go get it, how you how you
square up to the basket, and the shoot. Like said,
we had plenty of drills that do that. You know,
we're watching them, these other guys doing it. Um, how
he boxed out, you know, how you play the game,
and a lot of stuff you're doing was straight basic,
(05:50):
you know, straight basic basketball. During the rare times Clint
played on the same team as lun Bias. He understood
his role when you're playing with someone like that, you're thinking, like,
I gotta get him in the ball. And when j
played against Lend, the elder Bias did not play favorites.
You know, he's on the floor. You can't take it
easy on it knock them back. The younger guys, we
(06:10):
always wanted to be like the older guys. They didn't
been through what we're going through. We probably gonna go
to our parents and talk to them, you know, about
what's going on. So they would like a big brother
to us. Venable felt as if he was a brother
to Jay and by extension, part of the Bias family.
J Bias and Venable were still in junior high school
when Lyne Bias began his career at Maryland. They looked
(06:30):
at Lunnon as just another guy from the neighborhood. They
hung out together at the Bias family home, just a
couple of bucks away from the wreck. They gathered around
the television set in the Bias basement and watched videos
of one Let's Go Out and watched the highlights of
Maryland and um, I mean we watched it from you know,
(06:50):
it's fresh Medo on up. And you know he was young,
he was going in and watched the games, and you
know see some of the Dungs, didn't you know, Redden
Up get to see on TV and they were able
to play pickup games on the Maryland campus with their
mentors turned heros H craw Side and the play It
ended delights out there. We got some of the guys
(07:13):
from Maryland playing. Um if you had keep gatling, uh
Jeff Baxton And then yeah, I mean just being on
the quote with those guys, you know, you keep thinking
like and I'm in high school and they get to
go up here and play with these guys. You know,
these guys playing on TV playing Division one and basketball.
(07:34):
Soon you know, every kid want to be Brian Waller
was Lee's high school teammate. He says Veneball and Jay
were among a few players they would pick as the
fifth player on their teams in those games. Here's how
Waller compared the skills of Lennon j Waller told me
Leonard was more power, Jay was more finesse. Lendon was
by far the better shooter, but Jay could handle the ball,
(07:57):
put the ball on the floor, create his own shots.
Jay could use as a left hand. Both were great athletes.
Both could jump and leap. Lennard was a two footer.
Most of his dunks were off two feet. When it
came time for j Bias Inventable to pick their high schools,
how could they not pick Northwestern? It was the only
place they would be comfortable playing basketball one Bias and
(08:19):
Brian Waller there two idols made it to the state
finals there in During Leon's junior year, you watch the
older guys played and you want to be in their
shoes as man. Fact, just get into question. We had
the best cheerleaders school, you know. I had school spirit.
Venable was a year older than Jay and played varsity
as a sophomore. Cornell Jones was the junior versity coach
(08:42):
at Northwestern at the time. He first saw j play
as a freshman and picked him to play for the
j V. I try not to get over excited by
anybody in the beginning, but I knew he was he
was athletic, I knew he could be a good player. Um,
you're doing trouts. We we knew he was an outstanding player,
but we thought putting him on the JV would be
(09:03):
the best thing for one hand, so he could grow
and wouldn't have the pressure of saying, hey, he's a bias.
He's gonna be this, that and the other. A lot
of that atmosphere was due to the school's coach, Bob Wagner.
His last year's coach was in nine six, the year
that Lynn died. Earlier that season, Wagner picked J to
play half the year for Northwestern varsity team as a sophomore.
(09:25):
Wagner felt it was best to keep Jay close to
him rather than keep him on the junior versity. Jay
had more much more skilled than Leonard did skill wise
as a basketball player, but he also had more mouth
and and you know that held him back. Humans developed.
(09:48):
On the day Lund died, J scored twenty points in
a summer league basketball team, Northwestern one by twenty one points.
He also made time to talk about his brother for
a local television new show. He was the best brother
that I think ever in the whole world, the best brother.
Anything that he wanted to, I mean, anything that you needed,
he jumped right on it, always on top of the job,
(10:09):
just like my father. I just hope that made to
see him at heaven and everything I do from now
on is dedicated for my brother. But Jay struggled to
maintain that focus, He soon showed signs of trouble dealing
with his brother's death. When he returned to school in
the fall, he lost focus on academics. Jay said the
following in a Baltimore Sun story in March. Quote, when
(10:33):
my brother died, I got a chip on my shoulder.
Nothing worse could happen. Since he was gone. I saw
no reason to do what I was supposed to do.
My attitude was forget the world. I found myself doing
things I shouldn't have. I wouldn't do my school work. Instead,
I'd hang out at clubs with friends. My mother and
friends counseled me. I streightened up end quote. Venable remembers
(10:54):
players doing mean things to Jay related to Len's death.
At times, Jay struggled to control his emotions on the car.
They said, you know, bad things to Jay gon in
off the court. I don't hear who you are. You
only take so much and you know, like say it
(11:14):
was rough one it was, but the kids team. Let's
say something to j Um. I know he will go on.
Somebody say something. You know it's Kevin nagging him. And
I said that was probably part of the game plan
to get in his head, you know, the kind of
to beat us. During his junior year, Jay was ejected
(11:36):
from the first game of the season for throwing an albo.
He was involved in a shoving incident in another The
most dramatic incident happened in a game against county opponent
Eleanor Roosevelt. At the end of the season. Players were
trying their best to prevent Jay from dunking the ball
on fast breaks. After j completed an alley you play
on a pass from Venable, he ended up on the floor.
(11:58):
And when I turned around, Jay was laying damn and
that the fight broke out. And I've seen the crowd
to see coming on the court. You know, the fight
broke out when people came out the stairs, and uh
you know, I mean it was like just it's terrible.
But a lot of their players that get hurt. I
know that. And because one of us fight, he said,
(12:18):
all of us white. Bob Wagner's also you know, he
said the same thing. You know, we're not gonna start
a fight. You know, he had we come to play ball,
taught us a basketball team. We have family, and we
helped each other bild about for one another. Bias was
taken to a hospital and treated for bruises. In a
(12:39):
Washington Post story about a month later in March, Bias
admitted he had trouble controlling his temper. He said the
following in the story quote, I felt a lot of
pressure after one died. I think people expected me to
do what Lund did when he was here. It bothered
me a lot, and I didn't have the patience to
deal with it. I was also getting sick and tired
of always being referred to as Len Bias his brother.
(13:02):
For the rest of my life, I will be Jay,
and I want to be accepted on what I do.
When teams play against me, I want to feel they're
playing against me, not against Len's little brother. Right now,
I'm just trying to help us have the best season
we can have end quote. And he did. Some nine
months after Lenn died. Northwestern One its first state title
since nineteen sixty eight at Coalfield House, Len's home court
(13:26):
at Maryland. As Venable remembers, Jay could display a loose
demeanor similar to Lens, often joking with his teammates before
games to stay relaxed, but before the state championship final
in he was quiet and reflective. Venable remembered seeing tears
well in Jay's eyes in the locker room before the game.
You were called Jay writing Lens Maryland number thirty four
(13:47):
in the back of his basketball shoes. He scrolled Lee
on one shoe and Bias on the other. Inspired perhaps
by his brother's spirit. In the arena he had once dominated,
Jay scored a game high twenty five points. He also
grabbed fourteen rebounds. Cornell Jones was their coach. He was
probably the year that we want to stay. He was
probably our probably second best player behind Clinton Venable. And
(14:12):
the only thing this is what I think, was this
Clinton had experienced and Jay didn't. Things were different. The
next season, Northwestern finished with the ten and twelve record.
I missed the state playoffs, but Ja put up big numbers,
overaging twenty five points in twelve rebounds a game. By
this time, Jones saw stardom in Jay's future. I saw
him as a potential superstar. I thought that he would
(14:33):
be able to do anything that he wanted to do
on the basketball court if he worked at he could
do everything. He could shoot, he could handle the ball,
he could attack the basket. The only thing again, Slindon Bill,
But again, he was only what sixteen seventeen years old,
so he hadn't developed that man's body yet, and he
managed to avoid the on court altercations that soured his
(14:54):
junior season. Still, Jones wondered if Jay was ready to
play in college. Jay was fun love. Jay was fun loving, like, hey,
let's do this, Let's do it. I would say, more impulsive,
you know, And that's what could get even trouble some time,
being impulsive like Jay. And I still think he even
though he was a senior, I still think he had
(15:14):
reached that maturity level that you need sometime to to
breage that gap between high school and college or bread
that kept from high school and just graduate from high school.
He didn't have the greatest grades in the world, so
I think that kind of back some schools, all right.
I would say Jay was an average student. Jay's mother,
(15:36):
Lenise Bias, said that Jay earned a two point eight
three academic average during his senior year, but he failed
to reach seven hundred on his s A t S.
That prevented him from earning scholarship offers from Division one schools.
JA chose instead to attend to Allegheny Community College, considered
a top junior college in the country. Some of its
past players included former terms Steve Francis in All Americans
(15:59):
who or had a prominent NBA career, and Speedy Jones,
a teammate of one Bias. Lennize Bias told The Washington
Post that she was very pleased that he was going
to Allegheny. Quote, it will give him a chance to
get himself together. She said, Jay has been under a
lot of pressure lately, and Allegheny will be good for him.
And it was for one year. It helped that Venable,
(16:21):
a year older, was already a member of the Allegheny team.
He and Jay were reunited as teammates. As a freshman,
j put up good numbers on and off the court.
He scored a two point nine grade point average in
his first semester on the court, the average seventeen points
and eight rebounds per game on a team that finished
thirty two and four. Quote. I study, play basketball and
(16:44):
go to high school games, Jay said in a Baltimore
Soun's story in March. It's like I'm on vacation. I
love basketball. It's my food. I have to have it.
It's like I'm an addict. End quote. But Jay showed
signs of uncertainty with basketball and life. Responsible We sit
down plenty of nights and they just have long talks,
you know, about the neighborhood and basketball. You know, how
(17:09):
how things was in life and moment my last year
he said, you know when you when you leave, he's
at home and I'm coming back down again. He's I
probably when he played basketball, and then it would have
been you know there. I think he did really somewhere
have played four years and I made he may have
(17:29):
put an approve and I guess he didn't really had
that drive. You know, basketball wasn't really important to him,
like you know, anymore like it was. Cannibal went on
to play for Blowing Green University. J chose to quit
basketball and college. He wandered for a couple of years,
not sure what he wanted to do with his life.
Bias worked in a dining facility at a church and
(17:50):
also a bank. You registered for an algebra class at
American University in the summer of nine, but did not
earn a grade during that summer. Bennible, notice that you
it's not his usual self. He thought it was because
he was no longer playing basketball at about that time.
Bob Wagner, Jay and Lenz high school coach, saw Jay
at a basketball game not far from the Bias home,
(18:12):
and Mr Wagney says, my mom's on the road. My
dad's a mess. He says, I don't have anybody to
talk to. I said, well, you know, we're gonna play
again or you know. And I always remember him saying,
he says, you know, I thought about it, and and Leonard,
you know, my brother would have wanted me to continue playing.
Jay Bias brings up an uncomfortable topic in that comment
you made to Wagner, the occasional absence of his mother
(18:34):
in the immediate years after Lee's death. Within weeks of
Lene's death, Lannize Bias became a popular speaker, teaching lessons
learned from One's death. By December three, less than five
months of the death of one, Lanize Bias had done
sixties speaking engagements. During one stretch leading up to the
first anniversary of Len's death, in Lanise Bias gave eight
(18:56):
speeches in eight days. ESPN basketball analysts Jay Billis, who
played against Bias while at Duke University, feels any criticism
of Lenise Bias for speaking so often is un warranted.
You know, there are things that that were said that
I heard that really upset me. And one of them
was when when Jay Bias tragically died, I heard someone
(19:19):
say about their mother that maybe if she weren't out
giving speeches all the time, she would have been able
to do something about about that. I'm like, how could
you say that? Where's the empathy and compassion for for
the horrible tragedy suffered? Um? You know, like so you
you don't want their their mother to be out trying
(19:43):
to help it, like like to your point, trying to
help educate young people that you know you need to
avoid this, you know, the cautionary tale aspect of that. UM.
And it's not that that wasn't the only thing I
heard in that vein and UM And you know, you
just kind of shake your head, going where where does
this kind of of mean spirited stuff come from? In
(20:09):
the summer of Bias was sorting out his life. It
was then that Johnny Walker, Jay and LUN's youth coach
and mentor, saw something he thought he would never see.
Jay walking into the East Side Club in Southeast Washington,
d C. With Brian Tribble, who was with Bias when
he died. Tribble was acquitted on drug charges related to
the death of one Bias. He later served ten years
(20:30):
in prison for drug convictions. Walker told me it was unbelievable.
I just looked at them. I was thrown back. Here's
Bob Wagner. I'm gonna be who if I want to
be with, and um, you know I'm not going to
make the same mistake my brother may He didn't know
what he was doing as j Bias showed uncertainty. Veneble
(20:51):
settled in at Bowling Green in He was a preseason
Conference Player of the Year candidate, and his senior season
started well. Bowling Green hosted fifth ranked Michigan State, led
by all Americans Steve Smith on December one. Venable a
just hit both from the prebrow line twenty three and
the afternoon eighty eight seventy seven down. In a game
(21:14):
recognized as one of the most memorable in the team's history.
Venable led Bowling Green to a big win. Is going
to its basketball holy has registered a point win over
Michigan State as a crowd print us here and Anderson Arena. Unofficially,
(21:34):
Clint Venable finished with twenty five points. Believe attack Joe
Moore Venable also had five assists. He was carried off
Bowling Green's home court by his teammates as the game hero.
Within a few days, though, Venable's life would take a
stunning turn. I was not prepared for the loss of Jay,
(21:59):
and nothing that I dealed with with Lynn helped me
through Ja, because I had already buried one son. God,
what is this? What are you talking about? My daughter
called me and she said, um Man, j has been shot.
I said, what, that's Lenise Bias talking about how she
(22:19):
reacted to the news that her second son, Jay had
been shot. He died soon after. Two sons dead within
five years, both destined for greatness as basketball players, their
legacies instead defined by tragic, unforeseen, and fatal consequences. On
December four, Jay had gone to a jewelry store to
check on an engagement ring he had ordered for his girlfriend.
(22:41):
In the store, Jay saw Jerry Tyler, who thought Jay
was flirting with his wife, a store clerk. The two
men argued. Jay then left the store. Minutes later, someone
in a Mercedes Benz drove up next to the car Jasa,
and the passenger seat of that car it was waiting
at a stop sign outside the mall. Someone from the
Mercedes Benz car fired a gun, killing Jay. Tyler was
(23:02):
later convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.
And he looked up to his brother. He looked up
to his brother even until the day Jay died. He
missed his brother so much. He missed his brother so
much until the very day he died. A few months
(23:23):
before Jay died, Bob Wagner asked former Georgetown coach John
Thompson to have a talk with Jay. John apparently talked
to him and if John camp talked to a kid
off the street and get him and he said, and
he told me, he said, boy, I can't do anything
with that kiddy. You know, he's not gonna make the commitment.
He's not gonna do what he has to do. And
it was sad, and then, of course, you know, a
(23:43):
few months later, Jay's dead. Anyway, Ed basically said to me,
Mr Wagner, my brother didn't know what he was doing,
and I'm not going to make the same mistake Jay made.
The prelimb game or whatever, Capital Classic. I was watching
the practice and it was at Springbrook. Jay was late,
so Anyway, Jay walks into gym at Springbrook with Prian
(24:05):
Trouble and I said, what are you doing with him?
Because I say, in my mind he's still a guy
that killed Leonard. He said, I didn't have a ride,
so Brian gave me a ride. When I said, Jay,
what are you doing? You can't have bron And that's
when he made the comment about you know, I'm gonna
be who if I want to be with, and um,
you know I'm not going to make the same mistake
my brother Maye. He didn't know what he was doing.
(24:26):
Jerry Tyler's wife, the store clerk Jay was talking to,
testified at the trial of her husband. Sean Ell Tyler,
claimed in the testimony that j Bias repeatedly pursued her
in the weeks before he died. The two had dated
each other in high school. She claimed that Jay had
asked her out a few days before the shooting, four
days after its big win over Michigan State and the
(24:48):
day after j Bis died, Bowling Green was preparing for
an evening game at Western Kentucky. Clint Venable, Jay's best
friend in the team's star guard, had just finished showering
in the team hotel following a shooter. We had one
of the rooms with the reconnecting doors, some two of
the guys on the team, and it was, you know,
watching um the sports with this span I think it
(25:10):
was yeah. And I just got a shower and he
was like, hey man, you boy just got killed. I said,
now you're talking about this, said j Bias. Excuse me.
I said, no, man, stop playing. It's right gonna TV again.
So I looked at it and it's like everything, you know,
(25:32):
it just messed me up, and it's like the whole
bodies got weak. I went down there, I called my
parents on the paper, and I just couldn't leave it.
I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. The whole time we
was in West Kentucky. I'm walking around, go down into
the lobby. Uh. The first game we played, I didn't
(25:57):
have nothing in there. I just couldn't I couldn't play,
couldn't play at all the whole time. He tried them
against unraged Western Kentucky that night. Venerable scored just eight points,
shooting two of thirteam from the fields. He missed all
of his shots from three point range. Bowling Green lost
by thirteen points. In When lun Bias died, Venerable made
(26:22):
sure to attend the funeral. He interrupted his day at
the five Star basketball camp to attend the funeral. When
Venerable returned to the camp, he was surprised how everyone
reacted to one stuff. He had a moment of silence,
and the counselors and some of the you know, Paul
(26:43):
played the young kids kind of. You know, I was
crying and cheery and sit looking like, you know, I
couldn't believe it because I was good. But I didn't
look at him like everyone else looked at because he
was from the neighborhood, you know. And I was sitting
here like, you know, these kids don't even know learn
it and they you know, crying and you know, it
(27:04):
was weeping. So I was like, wow, you know, it
was amazing. It was different. For Jay's funeral, Benebal chose
to stay with the Bowling Green team rather than return
to Maryland. I wanted to come home for the funeral,
but when I had talked to his Bias, she told me,
you know, just go ahead and stay up school and
(27:25):
you know, everything is fine. We're doing okay. And you know,
she just told me, you know, her name be all right,
thank you. I wish I would have been there, but
you know, I say, I don't know how I would
have took it, you know, you know that's all I
kept thinking. I'm like, wow, I go home and I'm
(27:46):
not gonna see it. The more you're not gonna be
there any time, because so many times we're always ready
to throwing a town was too hard. I can't make it.
(28:06):
I can't go on. But I'm staying here the wa
today understanding that what my family and I went through
was that horror. It was saying such a time and
to let people know you can't make it. That's Lenise
Bias speaking at a college in Pennsylvania in January two eleven.
(28:30):
For the past three plus decades, Bias has turned personal
grief into a catalyst for change. The middle class Christian
mom has become a national icon. She hopes that others
can benefit from her unrelatable losses. Within weeks of the
famous death of her eldest son One, Lenise began speaking
out against drug abuse, and the murder a few years
later of Jay only fueled her mission with a relentless passion.
(28:53):
Lenise Bias still preaches a series of messages one us
to realize we all have goodness like mad You don't
be weary in doing well. The only way you can
get boiled on the only way you can get oil
from it all that's to crush it. The only way
you can get juice from the door just to squeeze it.
(29:15):
The only way you can get a diamond for the
cold is on a millions and millions and millions of
tons of friends. And we all have some good in
as something that someone is waiting on. We haven't used
all that we have to be able to give a message.
To embrace yourself worth. You get up and looking at mirror,
(29:38):
you're gonna find foiling MEAs that's why you should age yourself.
Learn to feel good in your skin. Know that you're
thearifully and wonderfully made. Know that you're beautiful. Know that
no one else in the world hasn't said a pupils
like yours or finger prints. You are arfully and wonderfully made.
You are a thing of beauty. You are they did.
(30:01):
And to embrace those close to you because you never know.
Don't wait until someone died and how val you will
they work in your world. Stop the aw stop the
things that that could not be robbing nothing, And so
(30:30):
I say, I'm sorry. I didn't need the death of
Lumbias affected millions of people in a variety of ways.
Life saver, career changer, cautionary tale, eye opener, program devastator,
and inspiration against drug abuse. His death affected no one
(30:53):
as much as Lenise Bias, the middle class mom turned
motivational speaker and emotional healer, one who's mantra is young
people are reachable, teachable, lovable, unsavable. If only someone could
have saved her son's one and Jay. It started when
the phone ring at six five am on June. Lenise
(31:13):
remembers getting a phone call. Keith Gatlin, a teammate of
one called to sell her lend how to seizure and
was on his way to the hospital. We're laying there
in bed on a June and um a call comes,
and um, I can. What I remember clearly about that
morning is that the room was filled with so much
(31:37):
sunlight till it was almost like your eyes watered when
you opened your eyes. The phone rang and it was
someone saying that Lynn was sick. He's at the hospital.
I said, what, And so I told my husband he
said what And we got up and we went to
the hospital and um. We got there and um, I
(31:59):
saw all the players outside crying and torn up and
media all over the place, and I was saying, well,
what's going on? And when we got in, they said
that Lenn had gotten sick, something that happened to him.
And I asked the um. The nurse she said, we
(32:25):
have him on life support. I said, well, is he
breathing on his own? She said no. I said, is
his heart beating? And she said no. And it was
one other thing I asked. I said, well, he's gone
and she said no, he's He's not gone. The doctor
isn't here yet arrived and he gave the official um
(32:48):
declaration and if you will, that he's gone. And then
everything fell, the pieces, everything, everything went crazy and uh um.
We went in and we looked at him and um
lying there and my husband, uh torn up, just torn
(33:09):
to pieces. And God had given me a strength to
stain there, to look and to rub his head and
to get home. Jeff Baxter, a teammate of Lens, was
also at the hospital. Baxter noticed the calm demeanor of
Lenise Bias amid the emotional storm how did go to
(33:31):
this calm as hell? That surprised me not because of
her Persouda, but it's surprised because of the event to
happen at that point. I don't know hot you can
could be as calm as she was for Lenise Bias.
There has been a new life after the death of
len Bias. She gave her first speech on July to
six at a church not far from the Bias home.
(33:51):
A young female friend of Lens invited her to speak
after she appeared on The seven hundred Club, a television
show syndicated on a national Christian work. She gave speeches
within the first year of one's death to young people
in business groups. One of those speeches took place on
December three. New Maryland men's basketball coach Bob Wade was
(34:12):
among those in the audience. Here's part of what Baya
said in that speech quote, God had to take something
special to save a generation. Somebody has got to get
out and say something. I believe God is using me.
I'm basically a sewer seeds. I tell people what is
right and what is wrong. Maybe some will get the message.
(34:33):
End quote. In the late nineteen eighties, Lenise Bias earned
the chance to speak to the NBA rookies as part
of its orientation program. Former Celtics star Satt Sanders operated
the program for the NBA. Well, I think the players
(34:54):
came out thinking that players came out thinking that they
aren't mother or grandmother was somehow connected with the NBA's program.
After having this woman talk today, they hadn't left home.
(35:15):
The lectures were there, the voice was there. She brought
an important piece for a few years that she came
and spoke to the players. A lot of players, you know,
they're thinking that they have arrived in terms of being grown.
Now they're leaving home and going to get paid to
play professional basketball, and all of a sudden, here was
(35:38):
the voice of the mother, aunt, grandmother, guardian. Who are
they respected? I was right there in the program because
not only did she talk to them, she stayed around
a couple of days and sat with players and talked
to them, and you know, because they really want to
(36:00):
know more about In the immediate months after the death
of his oldest son Lendon, James, Bias acted like any
(36:21):
father would, with a mix of grief, anger, confusion, and resolve.
During a memorial service for Lyndon a few days after
he died, James spotted Len's two most prominent coaches, Bob
Wagner from high school and left yourself from college. Here's
Wagner or calling the incident at the wake. I was
deeply hurt by this. At the wake, I rode down
(36:44):
with Lefty because we didn't know where we were going.
We come into the church and I know Mr Bias
was still hurt and upset. But Lefty walks over to
give his condolences, and Mr Bias has something like te
Lefty like, you stay away from me. You killed I'm
standing right and you too, and pointed to me. I
(37:06):
just took that very personally. UM. I never said anything
to him. I thought there were times when I thought
about just driving through Columbia Park and maybe talking to
Mr Bias and seeing you know, like you know, I'm
sorry about what happened. James Bias has stayed mostly in
the background since the death of Lennon. He has spoken
little about his son's death. His most profound words came
about a year from Lee's death. Here's what he said
(37:28):
in a Washington Post story quote. The biggest problem for
me was looking at Leonard's possessions all piles up in
the bedroom. They say time heals all wounds, but you
never outlive it because there's always these question marks. What
really happened to Lend Bias end quote. There was a
collective resolve by Linise and James Bias to find out
what happened to the money they felt was due Len's estate.
(37:50):
In June, the Bias family filed a twenty seven million
dollar lawsuit alleging fraud and negligence by Leaf Interest and
Advantage International. Ventriss was the agent for Bias and worked
for Advantage. The company was in negotiations with the Boston
Celtics and Reebok on behalf of Bias. The Bias family
believed that Advantage had secured a one million dollar life
(38:12):
insurance policy on Bias. The Biases claim in the lawsuit
that they did not buy the life insurance because they
believed Ventriss had already purchased it. The suit also asked
for two point six million dollars from Rebak. It claimed
the company told James and Lanize Bias that an agreement
had been made between Reebok and Lun Bias. It claimed
Bias would have been paid three hundred thousand dollars a
(38:34):
year for five years. Advantage denied the existence of a contract.
Joanne Borzaki and Alette worked as a marketing manager for
Reebok when the company was negotiating a deal with Bias.
She worked closely with Bias, so there was nothing signed.
I can honestly tell you that. Further, the Bias family
suited in insurance company for breach of contract. The Biases
(38:56):
had purchased a one million dollar policy on behalf of
lun District and appeals courts ruled against the Bias estate
in both cases. They appealed to lawsuits against Rebak and
Advantage to the U. S. Supreme Court, which refused to
hear the appeal. To make matters worse, the Bias family
had to pay back alone of about twenty tho dollars
they had taken out for in the months before he died.
(39:18):
When Len died, I prayed, I did not want to live.
I did not want to live. Four years later, Jay die,
I prayed to die a day. Guess what here? I
am alive and well I would not see anything but darkness.
(39:38):
When Lena and then when Jay died, the same handful
of the same baby all over a day, I think
I have made h The calm that Lanise Baias displayed
(40:02):
after the death of one was not evident. Four years later,
after Jay Bias died in a surreal manner. Jay was
taken to the same hospital as was one. So I
go to the same waiting room and knock on the
same door and my daughter opens it. I said, how
is Jay doing? She said, mon, j is gone. I
(40:26):
said what she said, Jay is gone. I went completely off.
I took my fists and I beat the walls and
in that waiting room with my fists, I beat holes
in the wall. I took the lamps, I threw them
in the floor. I screamed, I hollowed. I was so
(40:49):
angry with God. I was so mad this was not there.
And as I walked out of the door, my husband
and my daughter were trying to calm me down. As
I walked out of the door, there was a nurse
on my left and she said, oh, we have prepared
Jay's body for you to look at. And at that
time I could have spitten her face. I told her
(41:11):
get away from me. I'm not going to look at anybody.
I'm not going to look at a body. And we
got home, and when we pulled up, here's the whole
thing getting ready to start a game. And I walked in.
There were people sitting and seated in my house. I
told him to get out of my house, get out
my house. And then I went to my bedroom and
(41:34):
shut the door and stayed in there for three days.
And every time I thought about what God had allowed
to hap into our family again, I would get mad.
I would lay there. Someone would bring me a cup
of water I've taken and throw it up against the wall.
So God let me have my temper tantrum for three days.
(41:56):
And on the third day day I got up and
I started to move forward. Over the years, Linise and
James Bias have seen some groups recently except the legacy
of her sons more willingly, most notably of one. Since
two thousand twelve, one has been inducted into three athletic
Halls of Fame, the most recent one in November. We
(42:17):
will have more on that in a later segment. Perhaps
more profoundly, One's legacy lives on in the everyday lives
of some who have used his death as a red
light to stop abusing drugs. Lenise Bias sees the signs
often UM. I was on a plane one time, traveling
to speak in a flight attendant handed me a note
(42:37):
UM saying, I I know, I know it's you. I
know it's you. I know it's you. I stopped cocaine
the day your son died. This was a flight attendant.
I have received letters and cards, emails from people over
the years who said they literally stopped your drugs the day, Lynda.
(43:03):
My husband and I were in um, what was it,
Walmart last year year before last, a man walked up
to us. He said, MS Bias. I've been saying forever
that I wanted to tell you this, he said. I
was in college, never used drugs, he said, and a
(43:27):
friend of mine who was in grad school, someone that
I respected, told me they have this stuff out called cocaine,
and they she said that you would feel so good
when you just rub it on your teeth. And he
said because of who she was, he was in school,
he respected her. He was going to try it, he said.
(43:50):
The next day, Lynda, I and he never touched it.
I mean, wherever I have gone from, I had been everywhere,
to speak, from the wealthiest, the poorest, and everything in between,
and everybody has their stories of how Lens death saved them.
(44:18):
Michael Bias spoke calmly as he sat in a chair
on the secured side of the visitors area through a window.
His face flashed an engaged expression as he talked about
his father. Michael Bias told me everything has been a
struggle financially, emotionally. It's been a tough break for me
all my life. It's been a jinx from when I
was born because he died. The conversation took place in
(44:41):
July two thousand eleven at the Anna Rundel County Detention
Center in Maryland, in the same month that Michael was
born to Tina Maynard twenty five years earlier. Both Michael
Bias and Maynard claimed one Bias is Michael's father. Leonard
Kevin Bias, which matches Len's name, is listed as the
father on my go's birth certificate. A DNA test has
(45:02):
never been done before, others have confirmed that Michael Bias
is one son. Michael Bias has spent the early part
of his adulthood incarcerated for crimes that range from driving
without a license to arm robbery and reckless endanger man.
Michael made it clear that the most important thing he
wants from the Bias family is recognition. He did meet
Lenise and James Bias when he was about one month old.
(45:25):
Michael told me, I want to meet the other side
of my family. They owe me an open conversation. It's
like a missing piece in the puzzle of my life.
Michael Leonard Bias was born in July three. Maynard had
first seen one Bias when she was thirteen. She attended
a high school state playoff game to support the brother
(45:45):
of a friend who was playing in the game, but
after she saw One on the court, her focus shifted
away from her friend's brother. Maynard told me, I was young,
he was tall, and he was the starball player. Several
years later, Maynard met by Us at a party on
the Maryland campus in fall of Bias was just beginning
his senior year. Within weeks of meeting Bias, Maynard says
(46:08):
she was pregnant by him. Maynard, as she spent time
that school year on the Maryland campus, often in Lamb's
dormitory suite, she says she knew that Lamb was romantically
involved with other women. Maynard told me, I never thought
that he was only dating me. I was not bothered
by it at all. Maynard says that during the time
she knew Bias, he would use cocaine on occasion. When
(46:31):
Maynard told Bias she was pregnant with his child, she
says he asked if she was certain. After she started crying,
She says he asked what was wrong. Maynard told me,
I said, I'm so young. He said, You're going to
be okay. He could have been, well, it ain't my baby,
but he didn't say that. Several teammates of Bias during
his senior year all denied knowing of Bias being the
(46:53):
father of Maynard's child. Only one, Phil Nevin, recalled seeing
someone who resembled Maynard. He was a roommate of Bias
during Biases last year. When told during a phone conversation
that a woman claimed to have given birth to Len's child,
Nevin asked, without being told her name, was it Athenia Tina?
I remember? Was she light skinned? He asked, yes, that's her.
(47:16):
He says, I saw her occasionally. Maynard set up a
meeting to introduce her son to the Bias family within
a few weeks of Michael Bias's birth. Maynard says she
visited them at their home along with her mother, a sister,
and her uncle, Joseph Sastro Simms. Maynard didn't make the
call herself because she was concerned about how the Bias
family would react to the news. She was on cheerful.
(47:39):
Nise Bias knew that lenn had fathered a child, and
Maynard says she was concerned about the perception that she
was trying to take advantage of Bias's fame. She felt
people would think she was, as she put it, a
gold digger. Maynard remembers the gathering lasting a few hours.
She claims that Lenise and James Bias held the baby
throughout much of a meeting, and that James cried often
during the visit. Maynard says at the meeting that she
(48:02):
expressed a willingness to take a DNA test to confirm
that Michael's lonesome, but she says she received no response
from the Bias family. Simms, Maynard's uncle, also attended the meeting.
He remembered the meeting as mostly uncomfortable. Simms told me,
speaking of Lenise Bias, I wasn't expecting her to run
out and say, here's my son's child, and I wasn't
(48:24):
expecting the cold and a loopness that I got, Maynard says,
Godbias family showed little interest in Michael after that day.
Once she and Sims brought Michael along to a speech
by Lnise Bias so she could see Michael, Sims took
Michael to greet Lenise after her speech. Sims recalled the
brief encounter. Sims told me she didn't completely ignore me,
(48:45):
but it wasn't that great of a meeting. It was
no better than thirty seconds. During our interview in two
thousand eleven, Maynard wondered why Lenise Bias and her family
have for the most part, ignored him. Maynard told me,
why don't you acknowledge your and son. That's what I
would want to ask her. When asked if she thinks
it will happen, she said no, it hasn't. Thus far,
(49:08):
there are no indications that Michael Bias has met members
of len Bias's immediate family. Michael Bias declined an interview
for this podcast. Lenise Bias was not contacted for this podcast.
She was asked in emails, phone calls on the letter
for an interview for the book of which this podcast
is based. She refused all requests. Based on her past reluctance,
producers have chosen not to reach out to her for
(49:30):
this podcast series. Yeah dedicated up next on Lin Bias
(50:12):
and Mixed Legacy, Faming Legacy. I found out after calling
Lefty Uh that Lynn had never been inducted into the
Maryland Basketball Hall of Fame. And so I said, he
desoves to be recognized. I remember one recently departed alumnis
(50:34):
said that he would have his name removed from the
Hall of Fame if Len Bias got in. So that
was how strong they thought about today experience today here.
(51:06):
It was strictly based on his achievements at Maryland and
and and you often heard during those deliberations. You heard,
you know, comparisons to Michael Jordan's triple was not going
to be blamed. This is a time when drug use
is to already there. They were not going to play
(51:27):
the blame game. One tragedy story. When Lynn Bias passed
away from using cocaine, My father came in the house furious, furious,
if you ever do this, I'll kill you. You don't
even have time in the overdose, I'll kill you. This
podcast series is based on the book Born Ready the
(51:47):
mixed Legacy of LNNBIS. Published like Go Grady Media, the
series is produced by Go Grady Media and partnership with
Octagon Entertainment. This segment was produced by Dave Grady and
Dawn Mark. It was written by Dave and Grady and
edited by Don Marcus. The narrator was Lauren Rosch, with
additional narration by Jamal Williams. Technical production was provided by
Octagon Entertainment. Production assistance was produced by Kevin mcmalty, Tina Quagliata,
(52:12):
Lauren Ross, Georgia brun Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannix
and Enzel Alvarinio. Matt Dewerstus providing the social media assistance
special thanks to the University of Maryland and American University
providing INSTAM. The Decision Education Foundation is a content and
promotional partner of this podcast. More information go to Go
(52:35):
grady Media dot com. This has been a production of
Go Grady Media and the Eight Side Networks.
This podcast is based in large part on the book
Born Ready Mixed Legacy of lend Bias. Some cults are
narrated by podcast producer and book author David Grady from
interviews done for the book. Recruitings for those comments were
not available. Yeah, we always wanted to be like the
older guys and your say, man, I want to I
(00:21):
want to do what they're doing. So they was like
a big brother to us. I try not to get
oversighted by anybody in the beginning, but I knew he
was He was athletic. I knew he could be a
good player. Jay has more, much more skill than lettered
skill wants as a basketball a player. When I turned around,
(00:44):
Jay was laying damn and I've seen the crowd that
coming on the court. You know, the fight broke out.
I thought it was no doubt that he was a
vision one because you know basketball player. Um, he could
do anything on the court. He didn't want it, the
boy you wouldn't do. I just hope that I lived
the same and had everything I do from now on
(01:06):
is dedicated for my brother. And he was like a man,
you boy just got killed. I said, Now you're talking
about I said, J Bias excuse me, I said, no, man,
stop playing its like wives got weak. I couldn't eat,
I couldn't sleep. I didn't have nothing, and I was
(01:27):
not prepared for the loss of Jay and nothing that
I deal with with. Lenn helped me through Jay through
a window. His face flashed an engaged expression as he
talked about Lunbias being his father. Michael Bias told me
this story. Everything has been a struggling financial emotionally, it's
(01:50):
been a tough break for me all my life. It's
been a jinx from when I was born because he
died a bunch of jerks and this episode of Lambi
next Legacy and how the death of Lundbias and attacked
and the limits. The indoor basketball court at the Columbia
(02:13):
Park Recreation Center is not known for its visual appeal.
It has no windows for bleachers. It's a draft beige
box anchored on each end with a basketball who For
a time, though, one of its walls caught your attention
when walking through the gym. On that wall was a
poster announcing the dedication of the Wharton mac Lee Madkins
(02:33):
Gymnasium in two thousand two. For decades, Madkins was the
director of the center also known as the Wreck. He
helped coach Lunbias and others in both football and basketball.
Here's Madkins talking about Bias shortly after his death. The
first kid used to leaf you's a very awkward, you know,
but he kept playing, playing the like every day. He
(02:54):
was up there, like seven days a week. And one
of the bestball LEAs. A picture are in the poster,
located on the bottom right includes Jay Bias, the younger
brother of Lunn Bias. He flashes an easy smile and
wears a green T shirt emblazoned with the words Boston
Celtics in bright white letters. Below the picture are words
attributed to Madkins that read, they may leave, but they
(03:17):
always find a way back. Jay's legend at the Wreck
is as profound as Len's. For different it's sadly parallel reasons,
neither made it back. Lenn died in six a victim
of drug overdose during a celebration. Jay died in a
victim of gun violence following an argument. The picture and
the poster was taken the winter after Lunn died, when
(03:39):
a Columbia Park team won a club tournament in North
Carolina next to Jay. In the picture is Jay's best
friend Clint Venable. The two had met at the Wreck.
Basketball played a large part in they're developing a deep friendship,
one that resembled brothers more than friends. We ate over
(04:00):
each other house, you know, over there. Yeah, he come
on my house. I mean, that's how all the guys
was in the neighborhood. And that's one thing I can say,
you know, especially boy, our neigh blood. You know, the
guys got along. We always had each other back. We
don't play like all day. That's all we knew basketball.
We want to go up to gym, play ball. If
(04:23):
Jim weren't open yet, we play outside, wait for Mac
to get it open. And we couldn't get enough of basketball.
Five parents wanted us. They they would to find us.
We said direction the Plumber Party one. Bias was a
hero to many young people for his basketball talents, perhaps
none more than to Clint Venable and Jay Bias. Bennable
talks reverently about his mentors Bias, Brian Waller, and Johnny Walker.
(04:46):
They all taught Jane, Clint and others a thereck about
basketball and life. At times, they gave up their court
time so their mentors could play. You know, they kick
us off the core because he was younger, didn't want
us to play. Then we gonna sit and watch those
guys playing. Leonard and Ryan Ice and Johnny. Them guys
used to work out. If you let Jay and myself
(05:08):
and Henry another guy to play with us, hang out
with them, we just get so excited, like it was
like Christmas. He's like, you know, he quiet. You know,
don't do this, don't do that. We just wanted to
hang out with these guys. Watching one play convinced n
a ball that he wanted to go to college, ideally
at Maryland. I used to watch the way he worked
on the court, the way he worked without the ball,
(05:29):
and how you cut off the guy. You know, how
you work to go get it, how you how you
square up to the basket, and the shoot. Like said,
we had plenty of drills that do that. You know,
we're watching them, these other guys doing it. Um, how
he boxed out, you know, how you play the game,
and a lot of stuff you're doing was straight basic,
(05:50):
you know, straight basic basketball. During the rare times Clint
played on the same team as lun Bias. He understood
his role when you're playing with someone like that, you're thinking, like,
I gotta get him in the ball. And when j
played against Lend, the elder Bias did not play favorites.
You know, he's on the floor. You can't take it
easy on it knock them back. The younger guys, we
(06:10):
always wanted to be like the older guys. They didn't
been through what we're going through. We probably gonna go
to our parents and talk to them, you know, about
what's going on. So they would like a big brother
to us. Venable felt as if he was a brother
to Jay and by extension, part of the Bias family.
J Bias and Venable were still in junior high school
when Lyne Bias began his career at Maryland. They looked
(06:30):
at Lunnon as just another guy from the neighborhood. They
hung out together at the Bias family home, just a
couple of bucks away from the wreck. They gathered around
the television set in the Bias basement and watched videos
of one Let's Go Out and watched the highlights of
Maryland and um, I mean we watched it from you know,
(06:50):
it's fresh Medo on up. And you know he was young,
he was going in and watched the games, and you
know see some of the Dungs, didn't you know, Redden
Up get to see on TV and they were able
to play pickup games on the Maryland campus with their
mentors turned heros H craw Side and the play It
ended delights out there. We got some of the guys
(07:13):
from Maryland playing. Um if you had keep gatling, uh
Jeff Baxton And then yeah, I mean just being on
the quote with those guys, you know, you keep thinking
like and I'm in high school and they get to
go up here and play with these guys. You know,
these guys playing on TV playing Division one and basketball.
(07:34):
Soon you know, every kid want to be Brian Waller
was Lee's high school teammate. He says Veneball and Jay
were among a few players they would pick as the
fifth player on their teams in those games. Here's how
Waller compared the skills of Lennon j Waller told me
Leonard was more power, Jay was more finesse. Lendon was
by far the better shooter, but Jay could handle the ball,
(07:57):
put the ball on the floor, create his own shots.
Jay could use as a left hand. Both were great athletes.
Both could jump and leap. Lennard was a two footer.
Most of his dunks were off two feet. When it
came time for j Bias Inventable to pick their high schools,
how could they not pick Northwestern? It was the only
place they would be comfortable playing basketball one Bias and
(08:19):
Brian Waller there two idols made it to the state
finals there in During Leon's junior year, you watch the
older guys played and you want to be in their
shoes as man. Fact, just get into question. We had
the best cheerleaders school, you know. I had school spirit.
Venable was a year older than Jay and played varsity
as a sophomore. Cornell Jones was the junior versity coach
(08:42):
at Northwestern at the time. He first saw j play
as a freshman and picked him to play for the
j V. I try not to get over excited by
anybody in the beginning, but I knew he was he
was athletic, I knew he could be a good player. Um,
you're doing trouts. We we knew he was an outstanding player,
but we thought putting him on the JV would be
(09:03):
the best thing for one hand, so he could grow
and wouldn't have the pressure of saying, hey, he's a bias.
He's gonna be this, that and the other. A lot
of that atmosphere was due to the school's coach, Bob Wagner.
His last year's coach was in nine six, the year
that Lynn died. Earlier that season, Wagner picked J to
play half the year for Northwestern varsity team as a sophomore.
(09:25):
Wagner felt it was best to keep Jay close to
him rather than keep him on the junior versity. Jay
had more much more skilled than Leonard did skill wise
as a basketball player, but he also had more mouth
and and you know that held him back. Humans developed.
(09:48):
On the day Lund died, J scored twenty points in
a summer league basketball team, Northwestern one by twenty one points.
He also made time to talk about his brother for
a local television new show. He was the best brother
that I think ever in the whole world, the best brother.
Anything that he wanted to, I mean, anything that you needed,
he jumped right on it, always on top of the job,
(10:09):
just like my father. I just hope that made to
see him at heaven and everything I do from now
on is dedicated for my brother. But Jay struggled to
maintain that focus, He soon showed signs of trouble dealing
with his brother's death. When he returned to school in
the fall, he lost focus on academics. Jay said the
following in a Baltimore Sun story in March. Quote, when
(10:33):
my brother died, I got a chip on my shoulder.
Nothing worse could happen. Since he was gone. I saw
no reason to do what I was supposed to do.
My attitude was forget the world. I found myself doing
things I shouldn't have. I wouldn't do my school work. Instead,
I'd hang out at clubs with friends. My mother and
friends counseled me. I streightened up end quote. Venable remembers
(10:54):
players doing mean things to Jay related to Len's death.
At times, Jay struggled to control his emotions on the car.
They said, you know, bad things to Jay gon in
off the court. I don't hear who you are. You
only take so much and you know, like say it
(11:14):
was rough one it was, but the kids team. Let's
say something to j Um. I know he will go on.
Somebody say something. You know it's Kevin nagging him. And
I said that was probably part of the game plan
to get in his head, you know, the kind of
to beat us. During his junior year, Jay was ejected
(11:36):
from the first game of the season for throwing an albo.
He was involved in a shoving incident in another The
most dramatic incident happened in a game against county opponent
Eleanor Roosevelt. At the end of the season. Players were
trying their best to prevent Jay from dunking the ball
on fast breaks. After j completed an alley you play
on a pass from Venable, he ended up on the floor.
(11:58):
And when I turned around, Jay was laying damn and
that the fight broke out. And I've seen the crowd
to see coming on the court. You know, the fight
broke out when people came out the stairs, and uh
you know, I mean it was like just it's terrible.
But a lot of their players that get hurt. I
know that. And because one of us fight, he said,
(12:18):
all of us white. Bob Wagner's also you know, he
said the same thing. You know, we're not gonna start
a fight. You know, he had we come to play ball,
taught us a basketball team. We have family, and we
helped each other bild about for one another. Bias was
taken to a hospital and treated for bruises. In a
(12:39):
Washington Post story about a month later in March, Bias
admitted he had trouble controlling his temper. He said the
following in the story quote, I felt a lot of
pressure after one died. I think people expected me to
do what Lund did when he was here. It bothered
me a lot, and I didn't have the patience to
deal with it. I was also getting sick and tired
of always being referred to as Len Bias his brother.
(13:02):
For the rest of my life, I will be Jay,
and I want to be accepted on what I do.
When teams play against me, I want to feel they're
playing against me, not against Len's little brother. Right now,
I'm just trying to help us have the best season
we can have end quote. And he did. Some nine
months after Lenn died. Northwestern One its first state title
since nineteen sixty eight at Coalfield House, Len's home court
(13:26):
at Maryland. As Venable remembers, Jay could display a loose
demeanor similar to Lens, often joking with his teammates before
games to stay relaxed, but before the state championship final
in he was quiet and reflective. Venable remembered seeing tears
well in Jay's eyes in the locker room before the game.
You were called Jay writing Lens Maryland number thirty four
(13:47):
in the back of his basketball shoes. He scrolled Lee
on one shoe and Bias on the other. Inspired perhaps
by his brother's spirit. In the arena he had once dominated,
Jay scored a game high twenty five points. He also
grabbed fourteen rebounds. Cornell Jones was their coach. He was
probably the year that we want to stay. He was
probably our probably second best player behind Clinton Venable. And
(14:12):
the only thing this is what I think, was this
Clinton had experienced and Jay didn't. Things were different. The
next season, Northwestern finished with the ten and twelve record.
I missed the state playoffs, but Ja put up big numbers,
overaging twenty five points in twelve rebounds a game. By
this time, Jones saw stardom in Jay's future. I saw
him as a potential superstar. I thought that he would
(14:33):
be able to do anything that he wanted to do
on the basketball court if he worked at he could
do everything. He could shoot, he could handle the ball,
he could attack the basket. The only thing again, Slindon Bill,
But again, he was only what sixteen seventeen years old,
so he hadn't developed that man's body yet, and he
managed to avoid the on court altercations that soured his
(14:54):
junior season. Still, Jones wondered if Jay was ready to
play in college. Jay was fun love. Jay was fun loving, like, hey,
let's do this, Let's do it. I would say, more impulsive,
you know, And that's what could get even trouble some time,
being impulsive like Jay. And I still think he even
though he was a senior, I still think he had
(15:14):
reached that maturity level that you need sometime to to
breage that gap between high school and college or bread
that kept from high school and just graduate from high school.
He didn't have the greatest grades in the world, so
I think that kind of back some schools, all right.
I would say Jay was an average student. Jay's mother,
(15:36):
Lenise Bias, said that Jay earned a two point eight
three academic average during his senior year, but he failed
to reach seven hundred on his s A t S.
That prevented him from earning scholarship offers from Division one schools.
JA chose instead to attend to Allegheny Community College, considered
a top junior college in the country. Some of its
past players included former terms Steve Francis in All Americans
(15:59):
who or had a prominent NBA career, and Speedy Jones,
a teammate of one Bias. Lennize Bias told The Washington
Post that she was very pleased that he was going
to Allegheny. Quote, it will give him a chance to
get himself together. She said, Jay has been under a
lot of pressure lately, and Allegheny will be good for him.
And it was for one year. It helped that Venable,
(16:21):
a year older, was already a member of the Allegheny team.
He and Jay were reunited as teammates. As a freshman,
j put up good numbers on and off the court.
He scored a two point nine grade point average in
his first semester on the court, the average seventeen points
and eight rebounds per game on a team that finished
thirty two and four. Quote. I study, play basketball and
(16:44):
go to high school games, Jay said in a Baltimore
Soun's story in March. It's like I'm on vacation. I
love basketball. It's my food. I have to have it.
It's like I'm an addict. End quote. But Jay showed
signs of uncertainty with basketball and life. Responsible We sit
down plenty of nights and they just have long talks,
you know, about the neighborhood and basketball. You know, how
(17:09):
how things was in life and moment my last year
he said, you know when you when you leave, he's
at home and I'm coming back down again. He's I
probably when he played basketball, and then it would have
been you know there. I think he did really somewhere
have played four years and I made he may have
(17:29):
put an approve and I guess he didn't really had
that drive. You know, basketball wasn't really important to him,
like you know, anymore like it was. Cannibal went on
to play for Blowing Green University. J chose to quit
basketball and college. He wandered for a couple of years,
not sure what he wanted to do with his life.
Bias worked in a dining facility at a church and
(17:50):
also a bank. You registered for an algebra class at
American University in the summer of nine, but did not
earn a grade during that summer. Bennible, notice that you
it's not his usual self. He thought it was because
he was no longer playing basketball at about that time.
Bob Wagner, Jay and Lenz high school coach, saw Jay
at a basketball game not far from the Bias home,
(18:12):
and Mr Wagney says, my mom's on the road. My
dad's a mess. He says, I don't have anybody to
talk to. I said, well, you know, we're gonna play
again or you know. And I always remember him saying,
he says, you know, I thought about it, and and Leonard,
you know, my brother would have wanted me to continue playing.
Jay Bias brings up an uncomfortable topic in that comment
you made to Wagner, the occasional absence of his mother
(18:34):
in the immediate years after Lee's death. Within weeks of
Lene's death, Lannize Bias became a popular speaker, teaching lessons
learned from One's death. By December three, less than five
months of the death of one, Lanize Bias had done
sixties speaking engagements. During one stretch leading up to the
first anniversary of Len's death, in Lanise Bias gave eight
(18:56):
speeches in eight days. ESPN basketball analysts Jay Billis, who
played against Bias while at Duke University, feels any criticism
of Lenise Bias for speaking so often is un warranted.
You know, there are things that that were said that
I heard that really upset me. And one of them
was when when Jay Bias tragically died, I heard someone
(19:19):
say about their mother that maybe if she weren't out
giving speeches all the time, she would have been able
to do something about about that. I'm like, how could
you say that? Where's the empathy and compassion for for
the horrible tragedy suffered? Um? You know, like so you
you don't want their their mother to be out trying
(19:43):
to help it, like like to your point, trying to
help educate young people that you know you need to
avoid this, you know, the cautionary tale aspect of that. UM.
And it's not that that wasn't the only thing I
heard in that vein and UM And you know, you
just kind of shake your head, going where where does
this kind of of mean spirited stuff come from? In
(20:09):
the summer of Bias was sorting out his life. It
was then that Johnny Walker, Jay and LUN's youth coach
and mentor, saw something he thought he would never see.
Jay walking into the East Side Club in Southeast Washington,
d C. With Brian Tribble, who was with Bias when
he died. Tribble was acquitted on drug charges related to
the death of one Bias. He later served ten years
(20:30):
in prison for drug convictions. Walker told me it was unbelievable.
I just looked at them. I was thrown back. Here's
Bob Wagner. I'm gonna be who if I want to
be with, and um, you know I'm not going to
make the same mistake my brother may He didn't know
what he was doing as j Bias showed uncertainty. Veneble
(20:51):
settled in at Bowling Green in He was a preseason
Conference Player of the Year candidate, and his senior season
started well. Bowling Green hosted fifth ranked Michigan State, led
by all Americans Steve Smith on December one. Venable a
just hit both from the prebrow line twenty three and
the afternoon eighty eight seventy seven down. In a game
(21:14):
recognized as one of the most memorable in the team's history.
Venable led Bowling Green to a big win. Is going
to its basketball holy has registered a point win over
Michigan State as a crowd print us here and Anderson Arena. Unofficially,
(21:34):
Clint Venable finished with twenty five points. Believe attack Joe
Moore Venable also had five assists. He was carried off
Bowling Green's home court by his teammates as the game hero.
Within a few days, though, Venable's life would take a
stunning turn. I was not prepared for the loss of Jay,
(21:59):
and nothing that I dealed with with Lynn helped me
through Ja, because I had already buried one son. God,
what is this? What are you talking about? My daughter
called me and she said, um Man, j has been shot.
I said, what, that's Lenise Bias talking about how she
(22:19):
reacted to the news that her second son, Jay had
been shot. He died soon after. Two sons dead within
five years, both destined for greatness as basketball players, their
legacies instead defined by tragic, unforeseen, and fatal consequences. On
December four, Jay had gone to a jewelry store to
check on an engagement ring he had ordered for his girlfriend.
(22:41):
In the store, Jay saw Jerry Tyler, who thought Jay
was flirting with his wife, a store clerk. The two
men argued. Jay then left the store. Minutes later, someone
in a Mercedes Benz drove up next to the car Jasa,
and the passenger seat of that car it was waiting
at a stop sign outside the mall. Someone from the
Mercedes Benz car fired a gun, killing Jay. Tyler was
(23:02):
later convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.
And he looked up to his brother. He looked up
to his brother even until the day Jay died. He
missed his brother so much. He missed his brother so
much until the very day he died. A few months
(23:23):
before Jay died, Bob Wagner asked former Georgetown coach John
Thompson to have a talk with Jay. John apparently talked
to him and if John camp talked to a kid
off the street and get him and he said, and
he told me, he said, boy, I can't do anything
with that kiddy. You know, he's not gonna make the commitment.
He's not gonna do what he has to do. And
it was sad, and then, of course, you know, a
(23:43):
few months later, Jay's dead. Anyway, Ed basically said to me,
Mr Wagner, my brother didn't know what he was doing,
and I'm not going to make the same mistake Jay made.
The prelimb game or whatever, Capital Classic. I was watching
the practice and it was at Springbrook. Jay was late,
so Anyway, Jay walks into gym at Springbrook with Prian
(24:05):
Trouble and I said, what are you doing with him?
Because I say, in my mind he's still a guy
that killed Leonard. He said, I didn't have a ride,
so Brian gave me a ride. When I said, Jay,
what are you doing? You can't have bron And that's
when he made the comment about you know, I'm gonna
be who if I want to be with, and um,
you know I'm not going to make the same mistake
my brother Maye. He didn't know what he was doing.
(24:26):
Jerry Tyler's wife, the store clerk Jay was talking to,
testified at the trial of her husband. Sean Ell Tyler,
claimed in the testimony that j Bias repeatedly pursued her
in the weeks before he died. The two had dated
each other in high school. She claimed that Jay had
asked her out a few days before the shooting, four
days after its big win over Michigan State and the
(24:48):
day after j Bis died, Bowling Green was preparing for
an evening game at Western Kentucky. Clint Venable, Jay's best
friend in the team's star guard, had just finished showering
in the team hotel following a shooter. We had one
of the rooms with the reconnecting doors, some two of
the guys on the team, and it was, you know,
watching um the sports with this span I think it
(25:10):
was yeah. And I just got a shower and he
was like, hey man, you boy just got killed. I said,
now you're talking about this, said j Bias. Excuse me.
I said, no, man, stop playing. It's right gonna TV again.
So I looked at it and it's like everything, you know,
(25:32):
it just messed me up, and it's like the whole
bodies got weak. I went down there, I called my
parents on the paper, and I just couldn't leave it.
I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. The whole time we
was in West Kentucky. I'm walking around, go down into
the lobby. Uh. The first game we played, I didn't
(25:57):
have nothing in there. I just couldn't I couldn't play,
couldn't play at all the whole time. He tried them
against unraged Western Kentucky that night. Venerable scored just eight points,
shooting two of thirteam from the fields. He missed all
of his shots from three point range. Bowling Green lost
by thirteen points. In When lun Bias died, Venerable made
(26:22):
sure to attend the funeral. He interrupted his day at
the five Star basketball camp to attend the funeral. When
Venerable returned to the camp, he was surprised how everyone
reacted to one stuff. He had a moment of silence,
and the counselors and some of the you know, Paul
(26:43):
played the young kids kind of. You know, I was
crying and cheery and sit looking like, you know, I
couldn't believe it because I was good. But I didn't
look at him like everyone else looked at because he
was from the neighborhood, you know. And I was sitting
here like, you know, these kids don't even know learn
it and they you know, crying and you know, it
(27:04):
was weeping. So I was like, wow, you know, it
was amazing. It was different. For Jay's funeral, Benebal chose
to stay with the Bowling Green team rather than return
to Maryland. I wanted to come home for the funeral,
but when I had talked to his Bias, she told me,
you know, just go ahead and stay up school and
(27:25):
you know, everything is fine. We're doing okay. And you know,
she just told me, you know, her name be all right,
thank you. I wish I would have been there, but
you know, I say, I don't know how I would
have took it, you know, you know that's all I
kept thinking. I'm like, wow, I go home and I'm
(27:46):
not gonna see it. The more you're not gonna be
there any time, because so many times we're always ready
to throwing a town was too hard. I can't make it.
(28:06):
I can't go on. But I'm staying here the wa
today understanding that what my family and I went through
was that horror. It was saying such a time and
to let people know you can't make it. That's Lenise
Bias speaking at a college in Pennsylvania in January two eleven.
(28:30):
For the past three plus decades, Bias has turned personal
grief into a catalyst for change. The middle class Christian
mom has become a national icon. She hopes that others
can benefit from her unrelatable losses. Within weeks of the
famous death of her eldest son One, Lenise began speaking
out against drug abuse, and the murder a few years
later of Jay only fueled her mission with a relentless passion.
(28:53):
Lenise Bias still preaches a series of messages one us
to realize we all have goodness like mad You don't
be weary in doing well. The only way you can
get boiled on the only way you can get oil
from it all that's to crush it. The only way
you can get juice from the door just to squeeze it.
(29:15):
The only way you can get a diamond for the
cold is on a millions and millions and millions of
tons of friends. And we all have some good in
as something that someone is waiting on. We haven't used
all that we have to be able to give a message.
To embrace yourself worth. You get up and looking at mirror,
(29:38):
you're gonna find foiling MEAs that's why you should age yourself.
Learn to feel good in your skin. Know that you're
thearifully and wonderfully made. Know that you're beautiful. Know that
no one else in the world hasn't said a pupils
like yours or finger prints. You are arfully and wonderfully made.
You are a thing of beauty. You are they did.
(30:01):
And to embrace those close to you because you never know.
Don't wait until someone died and how val you will
they work in your world. Stop the aw stop the
things that that could not be robbing nothing, And so
(30:30):
I say, I'm sorry. I didn't need the death of
Lumbias affected millions of people in a variety of ways.
Life saver, career changer, cautionary tale, eye opener, program devastator,
and inspiration against drug abuse. His death affected no one
(30:53):
as much as Lenise Bias, the middle class mom turned
motivational speaker and emotional healer, one who's mantra is young
people are reachable, teachable, lovable, unsavable. If only someone could
have saved her son's one and Jay. It started when
the phone ring at six five am on June. Lenise
(31:13):
remembers getting a phone call. Keith Gatlin, a teammate of
one called to sell her lend how to seizure and
was on his way to the hospital. We're laying there
in bed on a June and um a call comes,
and um, I can. What I remember clearly about that
morning is that the room was filled with so much
(31:37):
sunlight till it was almost like your eyes watered when
you opened your eyes. The phone rang and it was
someone saying that Lynn was sick. He's at the hospital.
I said, what, And so I told my husband he
said what And we got up and we went to
the hospital and um. We got there and um, I
(31:59):
saw all the players outside crying and torn up and
media all over the place, and I was saying, well,
what's going on? And when we got in, they said
that Lenn had gotten sick, something that happened to him.
And I asked the um. The nurse she said, we
(32:25):
have him on life support. I said, well, is he
breathing on his own? She said no. I said, is
his heart beating? And she said no. And it was
one other thing I asked. I said, well, he's gone
and she said no, he's He's not gone. The doctor
isn't here yet arrived and he gave the official um
(32:48):
declaration and if you will, that he's gone. And then
everything fell, the pieces, everything, everything went crazy and uh um.
We went in and we looked at him and um
lying there and my husband, uh torn up, just torn
(33:09):
to pieces. And God had given me a strength to
stain there, to look and to rub his head and
to get home. Jeff Baxter, a teammate of Lens, was
also at the hospital. Baxter noticed the calm demeanor of
Lenise Bias amid the emotional storm how did go to
(33:31):
this calm as hell? That surprised me not because of
her Persouda, but it's surprised because of the event to
happen at that point. I don't know hot you can
could be as calm as she was for Lenise Bias.
There has been a new life after the death of
len Bias. She gave her first speech on July to
six at a church not far from the Bias home.
(33:51):
A young female friend of Lens invited her to speak
after she appeared on The seven hundred Club, a television
show syndicated on a national Christian work. She gave speeches
within the first year of one's death to young people
in business groups. One of those speeches took place on
December three. New Maryland men's basketball coach Bob Wade was
(34:12):
among those in the audience. Here's part of what Baya
said in that speech quote, God had to take something
special to save a generation. Somebody has got to get
out and say something. I believe God is using me.
I'm basically a sewer seeds. I tell people what is
right and what is wrong. Maybe some will get the message.
(34:33):
End quote. In the late nineteen eighties, Lenise Bias earned
the chance to speak to the NBA rookies as part
of its orientation program. Former Celtics star Satt Sanders operated
the program for the NBA. Well, I think the players
(34:54):
came out thinking that players came out thinking that they
aren't mother or grandmother was somehow connected with the NBA's program.
After having this woman talk today, they hadn't left home.
(35:15):
The lectures were there, the voice was there. She brought
an important piece for a few years that she came
and spoke to the players. A lot of players, you know,
they're thinking that they have arrived in terms of being grown.
Now they're leaving home and going to get paid to
play professional basketball, and all of a sudden, here was
(35:38):
the voice of the mother, aunt, grandmother, guardian. Who are
they respected? I was right there in the program because
not only did she talk to them, she stayed around
a couple of days and sat with players and talked
to them, and you know, because they really want to
(36:00):
know more about In the immediate months after the death
of his oldest son Lendon, James, Bias acted like any
(36:21):
father would, with a mix of grief, anger, confusion, and resolve.
During a memorial service for Lyndon a few days after
he died, James spotted Len's two most prominent coaches, Bob
Wagner from high school and left yourself from college. Here's
Wagner or calling the incident at the wake. I was
deeply hurt by this. At the wake, I rode down
(36:44):
with Lefty because we didn't know where we were going.
We come into the church and I know Mr Bias
was still hurt and upset. But Lefty walks over to
give his condolences, and Mr Bias has something like te
Lefty like, you stay away from me. You killed I'm
standing right and you too, and pointed to me. I
(37:06):
just took that very personally. UM. I never said anything
to him. I thought there were times when I thought
about just driving through Columbia Park and maybe talking to
Mr Bias and seeing you know, like you know, I'm
sorry about what happened. James Bias has stayed mostly in
the background since the death of Lennon. He has spoken
little about his son's death. His most profound words came
about a year from Lee's death. Here's what he said
(37:28):
in a Washington Post story quote. The biggest problem for
me was looking at Leonard's possessions all piles up in
the bedroom. They say time heals all wounds, but you
never outlive it because there's always these question marks. What
really happened to Lend Bias end quote. There was a
collective resolve by Linise and James Bias to find out
what happened to the money they felt was due Len's estate.
(37:50):
In June, the Bias family filed a twenty seven million
dollar lawsuit alleging fraud and negligence by Leaf Interest and
Advantage International. Ventriss was the agent for Bias and worked
for Advantage. The company was in negotiations with the Boston
Celtics and Reebok on behalf of Bias. The Bias family
believed that Advantage had secured a one million dollar life
(38:12):
insurance policy on Bias. The Biases claim in the lawsuit
that they did not buy the life insurance because they
believed Ventriss had already purchased it. The suit also asked
for two point six million dollars from Rebak. It claimed
the company told James and Lanize Bias that an agreement
had been made between Reebok and Lun Bias. It claimed
Bias would have been paid three hundred thousand dollars a
(38:34):
year for five years. Advantage denied the existence of a contract.
Joanne Borzaki and Alette worked as a marketing manager for
Reebok when the company was negotiating a deal with Bias.
She worked closely with Bias, so there was nothing signed.
I can honestly tell you that. Further, the Bias family
suited in insurance company for breach of contract. The Biases
(38:56):
had purchased a one million dollar policy on behalf of
lun District and appeals courts ruled against the Bias estate
in both cases. They appealed to lawsuits against Rebak and
Advantage to the U. S. Supreme Court, which refused to
hear the appeal. To make matters worse, the Bias family
had to pay back alone of about twenty tho dollars
they had taken out for in the months before he died.
(39:18):
When Len died, I prayed, I did not want to live.
I did not want to live. Four years later, Jay die,
I prayed to die a day. Guess what here? I
am alive and well I would not see anything but darkness.
(39:38):
When Lena and then when Jay died, the same handful
of the same baby all over a day, I think
I have made h The calm that Lanise Baias displayed
(40:02):
after the death of one was not evident. Four years later,
after Jay Bias died in a surreal manner. Jay was
taken to the same hospital as was one. So I
go to the same waiting room and knock on the
same door and my daughter opens it. I said, how
is Jay doing? She said, mon, j is gone. I
(40:26):
said what she said, Jay is gone. I went completely off.
I took my fists and I beat the walls and
in that waiting room with my fists, I beat holes
in the wall. I took the lamps, I threw them
in the floor. I screamed, I hollowed. I was so
(40:49):
angry with God. I was so mad this was not there.
And as I walked out of the door, my husband
and my daughter were trying to calm me down. As
I walked out of the door, there was a nurse
on my left and she said, oh, we have prepared
Jay's body for you to look at. And at that
time I could have spitten her face. I told her
(41:11):
get away from me. I'm not going to look at anybody.
I'm not going to look at a body. And we
got home, and when we pulled up, here's the whole
thing getting ready to start a game. And I walked in.
There were people sitting and seated in my house. I
told him to get out of my house, get out
my house. And then I went to my bedroom and
(41:34):
shut the door and stayed in there for three days.
And every time I thought about what God had allowed
to hap into our family again, I would get mad.
I would lay there. Someone would bring me a cup
of water I've taken and throw it up against the wall.
So God let me have my temper tantrum for three days.
(41:56):
And on the third day day I got up and
I started to move forward. Over the years, Linise and
James Bias have seen some groups recently except the legacy
of her sons more willingly, most notably of one. Since
two thousand twelve, one has been inducted into three athletic
Halls of Fame, the most recent one in November. We
(42:17):
will have more on that in a later segment. Perhaps
more profoundly, One's legacy lives on in the everyday lives
of some who have used his death as a red
light to stop abusing drugs. Lenise Bias sees the signs
often UM. I was on a plane one time, traveling
to speak in a flight attendant handed me a note
(42:37):
UM saying, I I know, I know it's you. I
know it's you. I know it's you. I stopped cocaine
the day your son died. This was a flight attendant.
I have received letters and cards, emails from people over
the years who said they literally stopped your drugs the day, Lynda.
(43:03):
My husband and I were in um, what was it,
Walmart last year year before last, a man walked up
to us. He said, MS Bias. I've been saying forever
that I wanted to tell you this, he said. I
was in college, never used drugs, he said, and a
(43:27):
friend of mine who was in grad school, someone that
I respected, told me they have this stuff out called cocaine,
and they she said that you would feel so good
when you just rub it on your teeth. And he
said because of who she was, he was in school,
he respected her. He was going to try it, he said.
(43:50):
The next day, Lynda, I and he never touched it.
I mean, wherever I have gone from, I had been everywhere,
to speak, from the wealthiest, the poorest, and everything in between,
and everybody has their stories of how Lens death saved them.
(44:18):
Michael Bias spoke calmly as he sat in a chair
on the secured side of the visitors area through a window.
His face flashed an engaged expression as he talked about
his father. Michael Bias told me everything has been a
struggle financially, emotionally. It's been a tough break for me
all my life. It's been a jinx from when I
was born because he died. The conversation took place in
(44:41):
July two thousand eleven at the Anna Rundel County Detention
Center in Maryland, in the same month that Michael was
born to Tina Maynard twenty five years earlier. Both Michael
Bias and Maynard claimed one Bias is Michael's father. Leonard
Kevin Bias, which matches Len's name, is listed as the
father on my go's birth certificate. A DNA test has
(45:02):
never been done before, others have confirmed that Michael Bias
is one son. Michael Bias has spent the early part
of his adulthood incarcerated for crimes that range from driving
without a license to arm robbery and reckless endanger man.
Michael made it clear that the most important thing he
wants from the Bias family is recognition. He did meet
Lenise and James Bias when he was about one month old.
(45:25):
Michael told me, I want to meet the other side
of my family. They owe me an open conversation. It's
like a missing piece in the puzzle of my life.
Michael Leonard Bias was born in July three. Maynard had
first seen one Bias when she was thirteen. She attended
a high school state playoff game to support the brother
(45:45):
of a friend who was playing in the game, but
after she saw One on the court, her focus shifted
away from her friend's brother. Maynard told me, I was young,
he was tall, and he was the starball player. Several
years later, Maynard met by Us at a party on
the Maryland campus in fall of Bias was just beginning
his senior year. Within weeks of meeting Bias, Maynard says
(46:08):
she was pregnant by him. Maynard, as she spent time
that school year on the Maryland campus, often in Lamb's
dormitory suite, she says she knew that Lamb was romantically
involved with other women. Maynard told me, I never thought
that he was only dating me. I was not bothered
by it at all. Maynard says that during the time
she knew Bias, he would use cocaine on occasion. When
(46:31):
Maynard told Bias she was pregnant with his child, she
says he asked if she was certain. After she started crying,
She says he asked what was wrong. Maynard told me,
I said, I'm so young. He said, You're going to
be okay. He could have been, well, it ain't my baby,
but he didn't say that. Several teammates of Bias during
his senior year all denied knowing of Bias being the
(46:53):
father of Maynard's child. Only one, Phil Nevin, recalled seeing
someone who resembled Maynard. He was a roommate of Bias
during Biases last year. When told during a phone conversation
that a woman claimed to have given birth to Len's child,
Nevin asked, without being told her name, was it Athenia Tina?
I remember? Was she light skinned? He asked, yes, that's her.
(47:16):
He says, I saw her occasionally. Maynard set up a
meeting to introduce her son to the Bias family within
a few weeks of Michael Bias's birth. Maynard says she
visited them at their home along with her mother, a sister,
and her uncle, Joseph Sastro Simms. Maynard didn't make the
call herself because she was concerned about how the Bias
family would react to the news. She was on cheerful.
(47:39):
Nise Bias knew that lenn had fathered a child, and
Maynard says she was concerned about the perception that she
was trying to take advantage of Bias's fame. She felt
people would think she was, as she put it, a
gold digger. Maynard remembers the gathering lasting a few hours.
She claims that Lenise and James Bias held the baby
throughout much of a meeting, and that James cried often
during the visit. Maynard says at the meeting that she
(48:02):
expressed a willingness to take a DNA test to confirm
that Michael's lonesome, but she says she received no response
from the Bias family. Simms, Maynard's uncle, also attended the meeting.
He remembered the meeting as mostly uncomfortable. Simms told me,
speaking of Lenise Bias, I wasn't expecting her to run
out and say, here's my son's child, and I wasn't
(48:24):
expecting the cold and a loopness that I got, Maynard says,
Godbias family showed little interest in Michael after that day.
Once she and Sims brought Michael along to a speech
by Lnise Bias so she could see Michael, Sims took
Michael to greet Lenise after her speech. Sims recalled the
brief encounter. Sims told me she didn't completely ignore me,
(48:45):
but it wasn't that great of a meeting. It was
no better than thirty seconds. During our interview in two
thousand eleven, Maynard wondered why Lenise Bias and her family
have for the most part, ignored him. Maynard told me,
why don't you acknowledge your and son. That's what I
would want to ask her. When asked if she thinks
it will happen, she said no, it hasn't. Thus far,
(49:08):
there are no indications that Michael Bias has met members
of len Bias's immediate family. Michael Bias declined an interview
for this podcast. Lenise Bias was not contacted for this podcast.
She was asked in emails, phone calls on the letter
for an interview for the book of which this podcast
is based. She refused all requests. Based on her past reluctance,
producers have chosen not to reach out to her for
(49:30):
this podcast series. Yeah dedicated up next on Lin Bias
(50:12):
and Mixed Legacy, Faming Legacy. I found out after calling
Lefty Uh that Lynn had never been inducted into the
Maryland Basketball Hall of Fame. And so I said, he
desoves to be recognized. I remember one recently departed alumnis
(50:34):
said that he would have his name removed from the
Hall of Fame if Len Bias got in. So that
was how strong they thought about today experience today here.
(51:06):
It was strictly based on his achievements at Maryland and
and and you often heard during those deliberations. You heard,
you know, comparisons to Michael Jordan's triple was not going
to be blamed. This is a time when drug use
is to already there. They were not going to play
(51:27):
the blame game. One tragedy story. When Lynn Bias passed
away from using cocaine, My father came in the house furious, furious,
if you ever do this, I'll kill you. You don't
even have time in the overdose, I'll kill you. This
podcast series is based on the book Born Ready the
(51:47):
mixed Legacy of LNNBIS. Published like Go Grady Media, the
series is produced by Go Grady Media and partnership with
Octagon Entertainment. This segment was produced by Dave Grady and
Dawn Mark. It was written by Dave and Grady and
edited by Don Marcus. The narrator was Lauren Rosch, with
additional narration by Jamal Williams. Technical production was provided by
Octagon Entertainment. Production assistance was produced by Kevin mcmalty, Tina Quagliata,
(52:12):
Lauren Ross, Georgia brun Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannix
and Enzel Alvarinio. Matt Dewerstus providing the social media assistance
special thanks to the University of Maryland and American University
providing INSTAM. The Decision Education Foundation is a content and
promotional partner of this podcast. More information go to Go
(52:35):
grady Media dot com. This has been a production of
Go Grady Media and the Eight Side Networks.
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