December 12, 2021 • 47 mins
Len Bias was a late bloomer to basketball. In this episode, Born Ready, you will discover how Len learned the game at “The Rec", Len’s development from a cry baby to a warrior, and how he became one of the best players in college history.
This episode is narrated by Rich Daniel, a 1985 graduate of the University of Maryland. He covered Len’s story as a television sports producer in the Washington, D.C. area.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is based in large part of the book
Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of Lembis. Some quotes are
narrated by Davon Grady, a podcast producer and the author
of the book, from interviews done for the book. Recordings
for these comments were not available. It's yeah, it all quick,
and he was uttered. Was a warrior's competitor and a warrior.
(00:23):
You know, it wasn't there yet, but you could see
the athletic ability, and you see the potential. You know,
God gave him a lot of talent, the gifted guy.
There were only a few players that I heard our
best players talk about with reverence back that Um. One
(00:43):
was Jordan's, the other was Biased None. It would come
by school and we would just walk the halls and
talk sometimes UM and us not about basketball. Asked from outside,
and he got out of lin Bias with twenty nine,
hold on class hall, lay cow doing for a little while.
(01:09):
Kenney Smith had his back turn as soon as he
threw the ball, and I just came in anticipated and
smacked it down and came back into my hands, and
I was nowhere. I looked up, I was under the basket.
I just jumped up and he played his final game
at cole against Virginia Olden Polonies put up a shot
and I was very close to the floor, and you
(01:30):
heard Leonard go up and snagg it in mid air
and say get that ship out of here, and he
threw it into the fourth row. Up next mixed legacy
born Ready. At basketball practice one day in the winter
(01:51):
of nineteen seventy nine and land Over, Maryland, some kid
kept peeking through the doors to the gym at the
Columbia Ark Recreation Center, also known as the Wreck. He
was yelling to a friend inside the gym. Johnny Walker,
a coach leading the practice, told the boy to ignore
(02:12):
the interloper and to pay attention. The curious boy finally
gave up and walked away. That boy was La Bias.
A few months later, Walker spotted Bias riding his bike
a few blocks from the gym. Walker started talking to him.
(02:33):
Bias was in the ninth grade and said he was
a good player. His parents, he said, did not let
him leave the streets without their supervision. Walker offered to
talk to his parents about walking Bias from his house
to the Wreck so he could play with the other
boys there. His parents agreed, but not without some reservation.
(02:56):
James Bias did stop by the wreck at times to
check on his son. Derek Whittenberg, was a star at
the Maatha High School in North Carolina State. He grew
up playing on the outdoor courts at the wreck, and
remember seeing Lynn play on those courts. And Lynn was
kind of like one of those kids that you know,
(03:17):
you could see the potential, but he you know, he
wasn't there yet high school, but you could definitely see
the potential. Lee Matkins was the director of and a
coach at the wreck. He saw Bias developed quickly. At first,
kid used to laugh at him and cause he was
very awkward, you know, but he kept playing, playing and
like every day he was up there, like seven days
(03:39):
a week and the one of the best ball less.
Bias had been cut from his junior high school team
in both the seventh and eighth grades. He prayed to
get better, and he would with Walker's help. Brian Waller
was a year older than Bias and was already being
coached by Walker at the wreck. He later was a
(04:01):
high school teammatee of Bias. Waller told me Lenn was tall, lanky,
and raw. He could shoot. It was a very good athlete,
but he was a bit of a baby. Wasn't tough.
It was tough at the beginning for Bias. During workouts
at the Wreck, Walker treated Bias like any other player
in the group. He roughed him up, pushed him. After
(04:22):
he took a shot, Walker hit Bias with elbows and
muscled him away from the basket. Slowly, Bias was turning
into a physical force that fans at Maryland and the
a SEC would see. Years later, Waller told me Walker
would give us everything that wasn't in the rule book.
People were filling Bias all the time. No matter how
(04:44):
much he whined, Johnny was still killing him. You either
step up or you don't. Bias adapted to the physical play,
and he became the intimidator on Columbia Park sixteen and
under traveling team. To set the tone. At the beginning
of game, Columbia Park let opponents win the opening tip
so Bias could block or goaltend their first shot. Waller
(05:08):
recalls winning every game that summer. Columbia Park felt so
confident that players on the bench would read the newspaper
towards the end of runaway games. The workouts Walker designed
for Bias and Waller inspired younger players at the Wreck,
most notably Len's younger brother Jay and Clinton Venable, later
(05:29):
a high school teammate of Jay's. When Lenna and Ryan
Ice and Johnny them guys used to work out a
let Jay and myself and him me 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 quite, you know, don't do this, don't do that.
(05:49):
And we just wanted to hang out with these guys
and they've teating us know little tricks and watching those
guys know how to pass ball. Workouts helped Bias develop
into a different player. Wallace says it was like night
and day. When Bias entered Northwestern High School, the school's coach,
Bob Wagner, considered Bias a work of progress. A problem
(06:11):
was lens heightened emotions. The jumping ability was there, um,
the competitiveness was there um, shutting the mouth down, and
what I would basically do there I let him play
in some men's leaves with guys that I knew who
brought him up a little bit. But they would also
talk to him and not physically hurt him. Injure him.
(06:33):
He hurt him, and you've got to get the mouth
shut so the mind confunctions of the body can play.
After his sophomore year, Bias attended the Five Star Basketball Camp. There,
the top high school basketball players in the nation gathered
annually to learn from NBA or college players. Top coaches
(06:55):
included such legends as Bobby Knight Chuck Daily at Hubie
Brown College coaches scouted the top high school talent in
the country. The best players received free tuition at the camp,
but worked off their fee as waiters. That first year,
Bias paid his own way. Waller also attended the camp
(07:19):
with Bias and saw his friend transformed as a player.
Waller told me he either outplayed the other guys or
played them evenly. His confidence changed after that Five Star camp.
After that, there was no looking back. Buzz Peterson first
saw Bias play at the Five Star Camp. Peterson was
(07:40):
a top high school player from North Carolina and was
later Michael Jordan's teammate at the University of North Carolina.
You could you could see that. I mean, it's tons
of athletic ability. Um, you know, more of a two
ft jumper. Uh, they could really explode and get up
in the air. Um. It just it just that it
(08:01):
was unlimited. And he had this kind of a personality
that you know, he was he would soap things in
and and he was just easy to approach. Was this
one of these guys the smile um, you know, put
his arm around you, you know, poke you here and there.
But when he's on the court board he was pretty
(08:22):
dag him good. At the camp, Bias and Waller were
introduced by Larry Spriggs to another rising star. Spriggs, a
camp counselor, played for Northwestern High School and later played
five seasons in the NBA. Waller told me we saw
Jordan's sitting on a bench and Larry said he wanted
(08:43):
to introduce him to his home boys. Larry introduced me
as my nickname Ice. Jordan's said, they call me Black Ice. Waller, Peterson, Bias,
and Jordan's spent nights at the camp talking about their
basketball dreams. The falling year, Waller and Bias played a
pickup game in coal Field House on the Maryland campus
(09:05):
against Jordan and a friend. They had seen each other
at a Maryland football game. Waller claims he and Bias
won the game. Bias also met John Sally at the
five Star camp. Sally played four years at Georgia Tech
against Bias. He was later the number twelve selection in
(09:26):
the nine NBA draft. Sally recalls Bias embracing the chance
to play against Billy Thompson, the number one high school
player in the country who played at Louisville, and Lenn
Bia said, I'm going against Billy today and I'm going
to destroy him. Lenny Bias was bussed in Billy Thompson's
(09:47):
but so bad that Billy pumped aake. Billy went the
air and he cut Lenny said, Lenny had to go
get stitches. I said, did you go into town to
get those stitchens? He's that not before I took Billy
to in the town. Every scout's going to realize why
I had Now That's exactly what his mentality was. Growing
up some ten miles from the Maryland campus, Bias found
(10:10):
it easy to spend time there. While in high school,
he worked as a popcorn vendor at Maryland basketball games.
During the summers, he attended camps operated by Maryland coach
left to Grizelle. Bias and Waller often walked from Northwestern
High School to the Maryland campus, a distance of about
one mile. There, they dreamed about being basketball stars at
(10:33):
the school and spent time with Ernie Graham, one of
Maryland's top players at the time. They lifted weights in
cold Field House and played pickup games with Graham and
other Maryland players. Waller told me, we go to his room,
we go to the gym and play ball. We were
so blessed, we were so happy. Graham remembers Bias as
(10:55):
a nice, enthusiastic kid who smiled and joked around. Found
a lot. Graham told me he would just show up
and stand there at the door. He wouldn't want anything
or say anything. He says, I'm doing whatever you're doing.
He always had that smile, always had a joke or
something funny to say. He kept everybody laughing. At Northwestern,
(11:18):
Bias was developing into a top college prospect. He matched
up well with some of the best high school players
in the area. They included Johnny Dawkins, later an a
C C Player of the Year at Duke. And I
just always respected guys who really worked on a craft.
I mean, you know, when you love the game and
you're passionate about it, you know you're gonna put whatever
(11:39):
time it takes to become great at it, and and
I could tell he was doing that because there wasn't
a time I didn't see him getting better and better.
After his junior year, Bias returned to five star. He
had reached the heralded status of waiter, giving him free tuition.
Bias won the Most Outstanding Player award that year over
such future NBA player as his Dawkins and Billie Thompson,
(12:02):
who helped Louisville win a national title in ninety six.
Howard Garfinkel started the camp in nineteen sixty six and
ran it for forty two years. Garfinkel told me he
was one of the top ten or fifteen best ever
at our camp. He was an extra terrestrial athlete and
(12:23):
a great scorer, and he was a great person, very likable.
Biases senior year at Northwestern started slowly. The team lost
four of its first five games. A lot had to
do with Biases suspension earlier in the year. The senior year,
I sat Leonard down for two weeks. Now people don't
under it was academic reasons. He had a couple of
(12:45):
season classes. He was a smart kid. We want to
make sure he was gonna get his qualifying scores to
go to school. Um, he's definitely better than a C
student any subject on the court. Wagner was trying to
develop a well rounded warrior. He made sure Bias understood
you had to stand up for yourself, all the while
(13:06):
making sure you had the talent to back it up.
Leonard was a warrior's compeer and a warrior. So if
I had told him, you know, never defend yourself, never retaliate,
he wouldn't have bought into He think I'm going to
get him hurt or something. I remember we're up in
Boston in a tournament, a tournament. Guys were just warming.
(13:27):
I mean just like his senior year. I mean people,
the referees, they physically he took a beating, but that
started in high school. He was prepared for that in
Maryland and these kids, small Catholic, white school, they're just
bounding cheap Shottingham And in the beginning of the second half,
I see a kid double over coming down the court
and going out of the game. So the rule was,
(13:50):
you can never retaliate because referees always see the second
thing that occurred. But you could. Yeah, my, what a
warrior does and on the places from the play, you
might found me real hard. I don't value back right away.
I wait till later on or a game later and
you're just gonna relax, or going for a layup, and
you know, all of a sudden, you know, you lay
(14:11):
on the ground. You're listening to m Bixed Legacy on
the eight Side Network. With Bias back on the team,
Northwestern won nineteen consecutive games and advanced to the state
championship game. There, they lost by a point. At the Buzzer.
(14:32):
Bias scored eighteen points and had thirteen rebounds. Bias later
joined Dawkins on a DC area All Star team that
beat a team of US All Americans in the Capitol Classic.
The game was then the premier high school all star
tournament in the country. Dawkins had nineteen points and Bias
(14:55):
eighteen against a team that featured future NBA stars Brad
Doherty and Dell Curry. Had that kind of performance on
that stage, you know, told him everything I need to
know about him and how good he could become. And
so of course to win that game against all the
All Americans from all over the country is a big
dale in our city and we were able to win
(15:16):
that game, and we shared dan VP. Bias considered a
few other colleges besides Maryland. On a trip to Oregon State,
Bias was let around campus by a C. Green, who
later played seventeen seasons in the NBA. Wallace says that
Bias came home and pressed the Green drove a Lincoln
(15:37):
town car. While visiting the University of San Francisco, Bias
watched Quentin Daily play against Dominique Wilkins of Georgia. He
came away impressed by the jumping ability of Wilkins, who
became a nine time NBA All Star, as well as
his dunks, and he was inspired to get stronger. Waller
(16:01):
told me, all of a sudden, he started lifting weights
with his legs, and then there was NC State. The
last thing Bias told head coach Jim Valvano after a
visit to the school was that he would attend NC
State if it had been up to Bias alone. He
may very well have done that. Johnny Walker claims that
(16:24):
NC State was biass first choice, based in part on
an enjoyable campus visit. Walker told me NC State did
a lot of things down there for him. He had
a good time, they lived well down there. Whittenberg, who
was finishing his junior year at nc State when Bias
took his visit, says that he was struck at how
(16:45):
introverted Bias was at the time, and he had a
wonderful presson down the big smile. But I don't think
he was this outgoing guy that you would say many
it's over here and Lenny's over there. I didn't see that,
and it's certainly I've been on the business. He was
one of the few guys I could see this comfortable
(17:06):
staying at home. I think because he didn't know anything else.
I think he was close to his brother and his
family and friends around Northwestern I think that he was
very comfortable staying at home. The influence of Bias's father, James,
was stronger than the appeal of NCI State. That, combined
with bias His passion for Maryland, convinced Land to stay
(17:29):
close to home. During their summers together at Five Star, Sally,
Dawkins and Bias talked about playing together in college. It
was apparent to them that Bias was going to Maryland,
and for a time, Sally said he and Dawkins considered
it too. We were going to go to Maryland. Me him,
(17:50):
Johnny Dawkins, we're gonna be the big three. Before Lebron
even knew you could do that, but left it his out.
He uh told me that I wouldn't I would have
to play behind Ben Coleman, and Uh, I didn't like that.
Johnny Dawkins said, well, I heard I can start at Duke.
So we we all agreed. You know, hey, lady, you
(18:12):
stay in my Johnny dunkins, I didn't want to stay home.
It's too much pressure, too many tickets, too much stuff. Um,
so we all picked different places to be in a c. C.
Dawkins was an immediate star for Duke as a freshman,
leading the Blue Devils and scoring and minutes played. Sally
(18:33):
started every game and averaged more than thirty minutes a
night for Georgia Tech. Bias did not make his first
start for Maryland until after the new year. He struggled
as coach Grizel altered his shooting style, getting Bias to
release the ball at the height of his jump. Bias
would later say he was not comfortable with the change
(18:54):
until his junior year, but Bias did not relish his
first year in Maryland. He felt that Griselle wanted him
to focus too much on defense. Grizzle matched him against
such top players as Ralph Sampson, a three time College
Player of the Year, and Clyde Drexler, later atten time
NBA All Star. Johnny Walker remembers Bias asking him during
(19:16):
the season to contact nc State about transferring there the
next year. Walker told me he would say that they're
trying to change a shot, and that every time he
tried to shoot the ball, they have something to say
to him and they take him out of the game.
He finally got tired of it. Here's a guy who's
been a scorer, and you're asking him to not shoot
the ball. Scoring as all he's done, and now you
(19:39):
don't do that. Here's Bias. His teammate Jeff Baxter actually
asked Johnny to reach out to I do know that
was ready for him. We were ready to take a
meeting before the end of the season between Bias and
Grizelle resolved their differences, and after his first year, Bias
(20:01):
worked on his dribbling skills, considered his main weakness. He
wore special glasses that did not allow him to see
the basketball when he looked down during his sophomore year.
Maryland was ten and one when they hosted North Carolina
on January. This is coal Field House overflowing the fans
(20:23):
to watch what could be the game of the year
with number one North Carolina against fifth rank Maryland. It
would be Michael Jordan's last year with Carolina, setting up
a classic clash between Jordan's and Bias. Bias scored twenty
four in the game and Jordan had one, leading Carolina
to a twelve point win. It was a game that
(20:44):
plays Bias within the national conversation of top college players.
Bias was the second leading scorer that season for Maryland,
which finished second in the a c C, but Bias
was not selected to the All a CEC team. That's
prompted Bias to make a bold proclamation. Walder remembers receiving
(21:05):
a phone call from Bias about that. Waller told me,
you see the paper today, I didn't even make the
second team. That's all right, I'm gonna go down to
the a c C and win the m v P
of the tournament. He did, leading Maryland to its first
(21:25):
a CC conference title since nineteen and the final against Duke.
Bias scored twenty six points, big result, twenty one seconds
away from the victory, leading by eleven right here the
time outlets, many confided and the Maryland people celebrating, then
(21:48):
Colman lapping his coach on the back of hand slaps
all around the Maryland e Venture. Johnny Dawkins was a
sophomore on Duke's team that year. He was to ethic again.
You know, he saw snakes play after play. I just
like I said, it was very difficult to guard because
he gave so many things, whether it's shooting the ball
from the premitive, whether it's you know, finishing around the basket,
offensive rebounds, getting out in the lane and running. I mean,
(22:11):
he just was, like said he was. He was so
well rounded as a player and can't find too many
false in his game. And those guys are the hardest
wants to defend. As a freshman, Bias was a stubborn student.
Ben Coleman, a senior center on the a C C
title team, said Bias did not take criticism well as
a freshman, that it was difficult to talk to him,
(22:34):
but that changed his sophomore year. After his sophomore season,
Bias stressed increasing his strength. Farrell Edmonds, an all American
tight end at Maryland, remembers Bias working out with Maryland
players that summer. Pharrell Edmonds told me he would do
a lot of reps, not a lot of weight for endurance.
(22:58):
It was far and then to see a basket ballplayer
working out with the football players. He would challenge us.
If you did fifteen reps and he thought he could
do it, he try and beat you. He loved competition.
He was challenged by everybody. Frank Costello was Maryland's strength
coach at the time. He compares Bias to another athlete
(23:19):
from Maryland, Ronaldo Nehemiah. He set world records in the
hurdles at Maryland in the late seventies when Costello was
the school's track coach. You know, God gave him a
lot of talent. It's genetically gifted guy. He has a
high level of fast food muscle fibers, and he knows
(23:41):
how to use them. People talk about athletic combility, we're
talking about the smoothness of coordination. How to control this power,
how to control all the strength. And he could do
it exceptionally well, and he could do it and make
it look easy. John Philbin worked with Costello as the
head strength coach for men's basketball during biases freshman year.
(24:05):
Over the course of three decades, Philibin later was a
U S Olympic head Bob Sled coach, and a conditioning
coach in the NFL as well as Major League Baseball.
His physique was probably like no other athlete I've ever
worked with. The only one that might compare would be
(24:27):
probably Prsall Walker. He was just naturally strong. We ended
up doing some bench tests and some squad testing. Lenny
had never really done any formal strength training. He did
fifteen good rips with two pounds and that wasn't bouncing
off the chest and doing him really quickly. That was
(24:51):
just brow. He had not done a program up to
that point. And then we did the squads with ended
up being to seventy five and he did. He ended
up doing fifteen reps with those to give you an
idea the level of power and strength that he naturally
had by the time you finished that year. Did you
(25:12):
test him again, Well, we did, and he ended up
going to tot and he ended up getting eighteen reps
and then three and a quarter with the squad ended
up doing fourteen. Something of that nature. Somewhere between twelve
and fourteen, and boy was it was amazing. I think
he obviously in that situation he probably could have done
(25:35):
more if you really wanted to to do more. He
was motivated to do more. His strength levels were off
the charts. Uh, nobody could compare well. The bottom line
is that the guy was a free He was very flexible. Um,
he was explosive. We did vertical jump. He was forty
(25:55):
four point five vertical straight up. You know, no step
in what he stepped in he was fifty. The power
output was just exceptional, beyond anything I've ever seen him
in any sport. And I love to jump. That's no,
That's basically something my game right there, just jumping and
dunk and I love it dump and sometimes did ever
(26:17):
since I've been doing a high school and that's keep
on doing it. It's not just one thing, uh, like
the exceptional strength or exceptional speed. It's a combination of
all those things you know, developed a good athlete. It's
like a chemist with a chemistry. Second courts in this
and make them all together. Where he had all those chemicals,
you didn't have to like, oh man, this guy will
(26:38):
be good if I can get him a little bit quicker,
a little bit faster. This he had it, and then
he had it. ESPN basketball analyst j Billis played a
duke against Bias for four years by the time he
became a sophomore and was, you know, sort of the
lead dog for Maryland. His his athleticism was off the arts.
(27:00):
Here's Biases teammate and classmate Jeff Baxter, another star player
out of the Washington, DC area. I'm Letty coming out
of high school. It was not in the University of Maryland.
If you ever seen a player to stop blossom and
(27:20):
just growing and all of a sudden talent you start
to come out from me everywhere it was. Baxter recalls
it played during one game that was symbolic of the
magical moves Bias could make. I never forget who. We
would played Georgia Tech and he was in the baseline
(27:42):
and he was suited his right hand. John Sally came
to blotch and he was near right. Letty swiss to
his left hand on the baseline and shot it. Took
his hat off and they had to stop the game
because he weren't. It was the most It was the
craziest thing. So what I remember that one move. No,
(28:05):
but I do know he can shoot when he was
able to shoot with both hands, and that was important
to him to not be stopped. Lenny would talk about
being able to use both hands, being able to drink, dribble,
play defense, jump shoot, hit a foul shot, he said,
hit him, hit a foul shot, it's free. I mean,
(28:27):
he was so like being able to do what. You
gotta be able to do everything as a ballplayer to
call yourself a total ballplayer. Ed Woods was a six
ft seven inch walk on forward for Maryland and he
was able to witness Bias do things that few have
ever seen. Len Bias would do something that you just like,
(28:50):
I just can't believe you did that. Like he would
block a jump shot from the wing, so he's halfway
between the basket and the wing and he takes it
out of the air and it's and you're just you know,
everything kind of stops, and everybody's just like, holy Mackarel.
He's just a man among children and toying with us,
(29:12):
and you know he gets something underneath, and it's you,
you know, the old hacker shack. I mean, that's that's
your only defense. And you know, because he's gonna take
it up and dunk on you because just because he could.
You're listening to Lem Bias the mixed legacy on the
(29:34):
eighth Side Network. Bias inspired some players on the women's
basketball team as well. Vicky Bullett was an All American
at Maryland and was the first player allocated in the
very beginning of the w NBA draft in so we
(29:55):
just start imitating. We'll go to his practices, we'll watch
and see what he does, and we tried in practice.
He taught us in versatility. He goes, well, who said
you couldn't take anybody off the dripple from the freethrom line?
Who said you couldn't shoot a turnaround jumper on the
low block outside of the league. So I think he
had that guard like mentality that was just evolving. And
(30:16):
now today if you're watching his basketball, I mean, Janice
is bringing the ball up the court. You didn't see
that much from a big guy. And I think Lynn
was that player that said could have set that tone
for that type of player. And you know, as my
career went on, I learned to be versatile, and you know,
those words meant a lot. Bias showed has improved mental
and physical maturity. Throughout his junior year, he was the
(30:39):
a SEC's top scorer, averaging nineteen points a game. He
was voted Conference Player of the Year. He made third
team All American. Indiana Pacers scout Tom Newell said Bias
had the potential to be one of the best forwards
to ever play the game. Many, including Bias, thought he
was indeed ready for the NBA, but one prominent voice
(31:02):
encouraged Bias to stay another year. Celtics president Read are Back,
a good friend of Lefty Grizel, had told Bias the
previous summer he would do everything he could to draft him,
and Bias had no problem with that. When I talked
to me are Back last year, when I was deciding
whether to stay in school and go hardship, I really
(31:25):
thought just about talking to him, I could sell it.
I would really like to play for him or play
in his organization. At a dinner with Bias and his
parents after his junior year, are Back told Bias that
if he waited a year, it would have proved Bias
his chances of being drafted by the Celtics. My wife
and I and his mother and father, and Lenny and
his coach. We sat down and I said the most
(31:47):
important thing. It's get some maturity. Stay in school. You
go out now, you'll be drafted fifteen. Wait, wait that
extra year. You will surely be in the lottery. You
get your degree, and you will achieve something in life.
Bias decided to stay another year at Maryland. Few were
(32:09):
as pleased as Griselle, a devout Christian, that Bias was returning.
The two had grown closer, in part after Bias became
a born again Christian while that Maryland. Sue Tyler, and
assistant athletic director, recalls being told about Bias sitting alone
and cold Field House reading a Bible. He had a
(32:32):
Bible for a long time. He carried a Bible with
him around the classes. It was interesting that I recall
um seeing him more times than not. I would see
him having a Bible along with his books, if he
had if he had him visible. Miriam Lij became good
friends with Bias while she attended Maryland. They met while
(32:52):
she was a tutor for the basketball team. He specifically
was very approachable. So we had the stamp union. You
can walk down you know, the campus drive. You can
kind of walk in the back um, and I would
kind of take a short cut to getting my classes
through the back and he'd always be driving and he'd said, hey,
you know, jump in the car, let's go to McDonald's.
I can remember this vividly, and I'd say, you know, Lenny,
(33:14):
I gotta get a class. You know, I don't have time.
It's like, come on, let's you know, let's just go
to McDonald's really quick. I'll take you back, um, and
then we go to McDonald's. Their friendship grew stronger with
their common interest in Christianity. This is somebody who had
a prayer life. There was no question. You know, he
told me that he prayed regularly. So when I mean
a spiritual life with consistency, you you know, you credit
(33:37):
God for having created you, um, sustaining you. Where your
blessings come from. Your clear that it comes from God
and not somewhere else. So as I spoke to him,
and interestingly enough, a lot of the other guys on
the team from time to time, it was clear in
their language that we spoke the same language, in terms
(33:59):
of a spiritual language that was rooted in the Bible.
Drizzelle's connection with Bias at times transcended Christianity. He cherished
a common interaction between he and Bias before games. Drizzelle
would often ask him, len are you ready, and Land
would respond, coach, I was born ready. Grizelle praised Biases
(34:23):
work ethic and practice left it. Grissell told me I
used to have to take him out of practices because
he would dominate score all the time and get all
the rebounds. I had to ask him, sit down, will you.
He was a great kid to coach, very coachable. When
I recruited him, I didn't think he'd be that good.
(34:43):
He was everything you want in a player. He never
got hurt, was never late, always worked hard. Bias displayed
an infectious personality throughout his career. Here's Vicky Bullett with
more on that. We'd always have to and our practices
running suicides while they were coming in, so I said, well,
(35:04):
can they stay in the tunnel until we were done?
So that was always a big thing, and but they were.
They cheered for us, and you know Lenny was a
part of that. You know, we had the time to
make those suicides and you know, having him clapping his
hands for us, and it was it was special. Bias
could be spontaneous, silly, and fun loving. John Johnson, a
(35:27):
freshman on Maryland's nine six team, finally recalls his recruiting
trip to Maryland. I remember, one of the biggest reasons
why I came was because of the fact that when
I got here, you know, he and I were down
there wrastling in the floor or whatever. You know, I'll
never forget that. And I had no idea who Linn
(35:47):
Bias was when I was a senior in hospital at
the time. At the time, the moment I hit the door,
it was one of those things where he's joking around,
he and I and the horse playing or whatever, and
wrastling in the flow and stuff like that, just like
he had known me all his life. You know, Jeff
Baxter was Biased his roommate for four years in Maryland
(36:07):
for a guy at six fort the basketball player, amazing dancers.
We would actually when we would have to have perfew,
which was gonna commented, you're not before a game, and
you can you can go out, you can go out
to the apartment at all. I couldn't believe it. You
(36:28):
get bored, You get bored stuff you've done. The game
is not until nine o'clock. The next night, and you know,
it could be a Friday night, so we're fresh. He
would just type, turn the music out. Then we would dance, funny,
myself and him being a dancing. It's great, not together,
(36:49):
but just dancing. Okay, didn't you go okay? It would
be funny. I mean, okay, I mean, And that's how
it was just hilarious. Bias Is dancing interests at least
once got him in trouble. After a win against NC
State in nineteen eighty six, Baxter, Johnson and Bias attended
a party and Raleigh with an NC State player and
(37:12):
returned past curfew. I never forgot it. The annual Treat
Mama contest suddenly did every year. I Juckie Brown and
all those guys and guys from DC. I think back
to know him pretty well or whatever. But we had
I don't regret it at all. We had a great time.
(37:36):
Oh Man, never gonna get that. The three were suspended
for the following game. By this time, Bias showed signs
of struggling with the pressure of his senior season. Teammate
Terry Long would later reveal publicly that Bias introduced him
to cocaine in four Miriam lij, a friend at Maryland,
(37:56):
recalled Bias was not as happy, go lucky he approached
his senior season. I saw that he was weighted down.
And as time goes on, um, you can see I
don't want to say it's less joy, but you can
you can you see that his personality still there, but
you can feel that he's he's weighted down, like there's
something way on him now. He wasn't specific with me
(38:19):
about what it was. I don't think he signed up for, uh,
the weight of you know, the weight of his of
his talent, the weight of you know what, the weight
of his gift. During repeated visits Bias made to Wagner,
his high school coach, Wagner noticed Bias becoming more concerned
(38:40):
about increased pressures during his senior year. We would just
we'd walk the halls. I wouldn't raiseiation use it at
your high school. I wasn't usually wasn't about basketball. Um.
I know at one point where media and other people
started to absorb more of his time and attention than
(39:05):
than than the people that he came from. Walker Biases
mentor recalled it. Bias struggled to find joy during his
senior season, due in part to some interest in turning
pro after his junior year. Here's Jeff Baxter with a
different view about Bias during his senior year, and I
didn't see him filling the pressure year had changed. The
(39:28):
hip were to change, of him getting better, him probably
becoming more vocal. I could be vocal because we were
co captives, but he could be much more imposed, much
more imposed. The suspension of Bias, Baxter, and Johnson came
in a challenging time for Maryland to win against NC State.
(39:51):
But Maryland at three and six in the conference after
a loss to Clemson, Maryland needed to win three of
its last four conference games for a chance to receive
an n C double a bid. Maryland then faced top
rank North Carolina and Chapel Hill. It would feature two
plays by Bias that defined his career. In a game
(40:12):
where he scored thirty five points, I cried more than
twenty two tons of it don hand to watch the
tire Heels take on the Maryland Terral. The signature play
off Bias's career came with Maryland down by nine with
just under three minutes remaining in regulation at the d
dc Han Center. Bias from outside and he got it
was letting Biased with twenty nine holdline jail. What a
(40:36):
plight by Blias Hall Lake Cow and I just stood
it for a little bit and Kenney Smith had his
back turn as soon as he threw the ball, and
I just came in anticipated and smacked it down and
came right into my hands, and I was nowhere. I
looked up, I was on the bass. I just jumped
up and just regulation in it. In a tie. At
the start of overtime, the television announcers felt the need
to acknowledge the effort of Bias so far. If you
(41:00):
joined us late, this one of the great performances that
I certainly I've seen all year. And I think Damily
concur with me. With Lenny by his thirty three points,
he's just been absolutely magniveuson five rebounds, let's three assist,
couple of blocks of the steel. I mean, he has
been everything this. Bias was not done with his heroics.
With Mariland ahead by one and fifteen seconds remaining in overtime,
(41:24):
a defensive play by Bias secured the win, not a
Kenny spet Scott blocks down The ten game clock is
down to night Gage set one on one with Gatlin
Punni Critch throws it up Pluck the white boxer comes down,
but it crimples. How of traffic to Bias, Crush Court
to Charlie Tennis, Puckers, Horomaine and nine of course court
Claster box cur of Turks one up to number one
Marth Carolina. Dan Bonner has been an analyst on college
(41:46):
basketball broadcast since ninety one. He worked that game and
vividly remembers that play. As he went up to block
that shot, it was down close to the basket. I
distinctly heard in my year through the UH the mic
that was trying to get effects, I heard him say
give me that, and I thought that that was in
(42:10):
this particular situation that's sort of defined for me the
type of game he had. He basically told North Carolinas
throughout that entire game, even though they trailed most of
the game. Basically his actions during the game, We're telling
them give me that. And you know, in those days
and you don't do it anymore, But when I was
(42:30):
growing up, we we didn't have a you. That's what
guys did all the time when they blocked your shot,
they would yell give me that, uh and so it
just impressed me that here in this situation, in this moment,
and everybody knew it was a big moment, that this
would all around give me that the performance by Bias
and that went over North Carolina wasn't even his most
(42:52):
dominant game of the season. In January that year, Bias
scored Maryland's first ten points and added with forty one
and game against Duke, he made fourteen twenty field goals
in all thirteen of his free throws. J Billis was
a senior Duke that year and he remembers that game
very well. The memory was, we couldn't stop him, and
(43:14):
guys were coming back to the bench saying, I'm trying
to foul him. I can't even foul him. We knew
how good he was. Our players were ever in awe
of anyone. Um. You know that there were only a
few players that I heard our best players talk about
with reverence back then. UM One was Jordan's. The other
(43:34):
was Bias. After Maryland beat Virginia at home, when the
last game of the regular season, Virginia coach Terry Holland
called it Lenny Bias Knight. Bias had extra motivation in
the game in the game against Virginia earlier in the season,
old and Polynice blocked by a shot. He then pointed
(43:56):
at Bias as he lay on the ground. Bias got
his revenge late in the first half, and the rematch
on March one, Andrew Kennedy inside the ploy missed the
shot Guy's own rebouck. Kevin Shean, a sportscaster and the
Washington d C. Area, attended that game. He explained what
(44:20):
happened on his podcast during an interview with Dave Grady,
a producer of this podcast series, that he played his
final game at Cole against Virginia. Olden Polinies put up
a shot and I was very close to the poor
thought a lot of play half and you heard Leonard
(44:42):
go up in snagg it mid air and say get
that ship out of here. And he threw it into
the fourth row, went by it, intimidate Polinie, prest shot
and then blocked the next win. Unbelievable, as Dave Winton
Jones cappy it off, just letting Polonies no who did it?
(45:03):
Said Bias after the game, I had to block his
shot and put it in his face. After the last game,
everybody had asked me why I let him do that
to me. Bias scored twenty two points in that game.
A week later, Maryland lost to sixth rank Georgia Tech
(45:24):
in an a C C semifinal. In an n C
double A tournament first round win over Pepperdine, Bias scored
twenty six points, breaking Maryland's season scoring record that he
had set the prior year. Bias scored thirty one points
in a second round lost to UNLV. Afterward, in an
(45:45):
image that foretold his future, he sat in his locker,
towel over his head, his face buried in his hands.
I felt we could have gone a lot further, he said.
The boy next on Len Bias and mixed Legacy lit
barn Stormer and Boston. I was a big fan of
(46:07):
Lenny Bias. I just loved his game. He was a
great growl because you know, he was just some Flama
players he should he said, I'm not interested in He
said there's something about him that concerns me. I really
were hoping that with Boston. That was what our biggest
(46:30):
part of the pitch was that he would be our guy.
Really and then he just said, yeah, I can't. I
wish my mom was part of this like I can't
wait to get home and see my mom. This podcast
series is based on the book Born Ready, a mixed
legacy of Lambis others like Go Grady Media. The series
is produced by Go Grady Media and partnership with Octagon Entertainment.
(46:50):
This segment was produced by Davon Grady and Don Marcus.
It was written by Davon Grady and edited by Don Marcus.
The narrator was Rich Daniel, with additional narration Jamal Williams.
Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment. Production assistance was
produced by Kevin McNalty, Tino Quagliata, Lauren Rosch, Georgia Braun,
Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannix and Enzo Alvarino. Matt
(47:16):
Deersus providing the social media assistance special thanks to the
University of Maryland and American Universities and providing incidents. The
Decision Education Foundation is a content and promotional partner of
this podcast series. More information go to dog Grady Media
dot com. This has been a production of Go grading
(47:37):
Media and the Eight Side Network.
This podcast is based in large part of the book
Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of Lembis. Some quotes are
narrated by Davon Grady, a podcast producer and the author
of the book, from interviews done for the book. Recordings
for these comments were not available. It's yeah, it all quick,
and he was uttered. Was a warrior's competitor and a warrior.
(00:23):
You know, it wasn't there yet, but you could see
the athletic ability, and you see the potential. You know,
God gave him a lot of talent, the gifted guy.
There were only a few players that I heard our
best players talk about with reverence back that Um. One
(00:43):
was Jordan's, the other was Biased None. It would come
by school and we would just walk the halls and
talk sometimes UM and us not about basketball. Asked from outside,
and he got out of lin Bias with twenty nine,
hold on class hall, lay cow doing for a little while.
(01:09):
Kenney Smith had his back turn as soon as he
threw the ball, and I just came in anticipated and
smacked it down and came back into my hands, and
I was nowhere. I looked up, I was under the basket.
I just jumped up and he played his final game
at cole against Virginia Olden Polonies put up a shot
and I was very close to the floor, and you
(01:30):
heard Leonard go up and snagg it in mid air
and say get that ship out of here, and he
threw it into the fourth row. Up next mixed legacy
born Ready. At basketball practice one day in the winter
(01:51):
of nineteen seventy nine and land Over, Maryland, some kid
kept peeking through the doors to the gym at the
Columbia Ark Recreation Center, also known as the Wreck. He
was yelling to a friend inside the gym. Johnny Walker,
a coach leading the practice, told the boy to ignore
(02:12):
the interloper and to pay attention. The curious boy finally
gave up and walked away. That boy was La Bias.
A few months later, Walker spotted Bias riding his bike
a few blocks from the gym. Walker started talking to him.
(02:33):
Bias was in the ninth grade and said he was
a good player. His parents, he said, did not let
him leave the streets without their supervision. Walker offered to
talk to his parents about walking Bias from his house
to the Wreck so he could play with the other
boys there. His parents agreed, but not without some reservation.
(02:56):
James Bias did stop by the wreck at times to
check on his son. Derek Whittenberg, was a star at
the Maatha High School in North Carolina State. He grew
up playing on the outdoor courts at the wreck, and
remember seeing Lynn play on those courts. And Lynn was
kind of like one of those kids that you know,
(03:17):
you could see the potential, but he you know, he
wasn't there yet high school, but you could definitely see
the potential. Lee Matkins was the director of and a
coach at the wreck. He saw Bias developed quickly. At first,
kid used to laugh at him and cause he was
very awkward, you know, but he kept playing, playing and
like every day he was up there, like seven days
(03:39):
a week and the one of the best ball less.
Bias had been cut from his junior high school team
in both the seventh and eighth grades. He prayed to
get better, and he would with Walker's help. Brian Waller
was a year older than Bias and was already being
coached by Walker at the wreck. He later was a
(04:01):
high school teammatee of Bias. Waller told me Lenn was tall, lanky,
and raw. He could shoot. It was a very good athlete,
but he was a bit of a baby. Wasn't tough.
It was tough at the beginning for Bias. During workouts
at the Wreck, Walker treated Bias like any other player
in the group. He roughed him up, pushed him. After
(04:22):
he took a shot, Walker hit Bias with elbows and
muscled him away from the basket. Slowly, Bias was turning
into a physical force that fans at Maryland and the
a SEC would see. Years later, Waller told me Walker
would give us everything that wasn't in the rule book.
People were filling Bias all the time. No matter how
(04:44):
much he whined, Johnny was still killing him. You either
step up or you don't. Bias adapted to the physical play,
and he became the intimidator on Columbia Park sixteen and
under traveling team. To set the tone. At the beginning
of game, Columbia Park let opponents win the opening tip
so Bias could block or goaltend their first shot. Waller
(05:08):
recalls winning every game that summer. Columbia Park felt so
confident that players on the bench would read the newspaper
towards the end of runaway games. The workouts Walker designed
for Bias and Waller inspired younger players at the Wreck,
most notably Len's younger brother Jay and Clinton Venable, later
(05:29):
a high school teammate of Jay's. When Lenna and Ryan
Ice and Johnny them guys used to work out a
let Jay and myself and him me 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 quite, you know, don't do this, don't do that.
(05:49):
And we just wanted to hang out with these guys
and they've teating us know little tricks and watching those
guys know how to pass ball. Workouts helped Bias develop
into a different player. Wallace says it was like night
and day. When Bias entered Northwestern High School, the school's coach,
Bob Wagner, considered Bias a work of progress. A problem
(06:11):
was lens heightened emotions. The jumping ability was there, um,
the competitiveness was there um, shutting the mouth down, and
what I would basically do there I let him play
in some men's leaves with guys that I knew who
brought him up a little bit. But they would also
talk to him and not physically hurt him. Injure him.
(06:33):
He hurt him, and you've got to get the mouth
shut so the mind confunctions of the body can play.
After his sophomore year, Bias attended the Five Star Basketball Camp. There,
the top high school basketball players in the nation gathered
annually to learn from NBA or college players. Top coaches
(06:55):
included such legends as Bobby Knight Chuck Daily at Hubie
Brown College coaches scouted the top high school talent in
the country. The best players received free tuition at the camp,
but worked off their fee as waiters. That first year,
Bias paid his own way. Waller also attended the camp
(07:19):
with Bias and saw his friend transformed as a player.
Waller told me he either outplayed the other guys or
played them evenly. His confidence changed after that Five Star camp.
After that, there was no looking back. Buzz Peterson first
saw Bias play at the Five Star Camp. Peterson was
(07:40):
a top high school player from North Carolina and was
later Michael Jordan's teammate at the University of North Carolina.
You could you could see that. I mean, it's tons
of athletic ability. Um, you know, more of a two
ft jumper. Uh, they could really explode and get up
in the air. Um. It just it just that it
(08:01):
was unlimited. And he had this kind of a personality
that you know, he was he would soap things in
and and he was just easy to approach. Was this
one of these guys the smile um, you know, put
his arm around you, you know, poke you here and there.
But when he's on the court board he was pretty
(08:22):
dag him good. At the camp, Bias and Waller were
introduced by Larry Spriggs to another rising star. Spriggs, a
camp counselor, played for Northwestern High School and later played
five seasons in the NBA. Waller told me we saw
Jordan's sitting on a bench and Larry said he wanted
(08:43):
to introduce him to his home boys. Larry introduced me
as my nickname Ice. Jordan's said, they call me Black Ice. Waller, Peterson, Bias,
and Jordan's spent nights at the camp talking about their
basketball dreams. The falling year, Waller and Bias played a
pickup game in coal Field House on the Maryland campus
(09:05):
against Jordan and a friend. They had seen each other
at a Maryland football game. Waller claims he and Bias
won the game. Bias also met John Sally at the
five Star camp. Sally played four years at Georgia Tech
against Bias. He was later the number twelve selection in
(09:26):
the nine NBA draft. Sally recalls Bias embracing the chance
to play against Billy Thompson, the number one high school
player in the country who played at Louisville, and Lenn
Bia said, I'm going against Billy today and I'm going
to destroy him. Lenny Bias was bussed in Billy Thompson's
(09:47):
but so bad that Billy pumped aake. Billy went the
air and he cut Lenny said, Lenny had to go
get stitches. I said, did you go into town to
get those stitchens? He's that not before I took Billy
to in the town. Every scout's going to realize why
I had Now That's exactly what his mentality was. Growing
up some ten miles from the Maryland campus, Bias found
(10:10):
it easy to spend time there. While in high school,
he worked as a popcorn vendor at Maryland basketball games.
During the summers, he attended camps operated by Maryland coach
left to Grizelle. Bias and Waller often walked from Northwestern
High School to the Maryland campus, a distance of about
one mile. There, they dreamed about being basketball stars at
(10:33):
the school and spent time with Ernie Graham, one of
Maryland's top players at the time. They lifted weights in
cold Field House and played pickup games with Graham and
other Maryland players. Waller told me, we go to his room,
we go to the gym and play ball. We were
so blessed, we were so happy. Graham remembers Bias as
(10:55):
a nice, enthusiastic kid who smiled and joked around. Found
a lot. Graham told me he would just show up
and stand there at the door. He wouldn't want anything
or say anything. He says, I'm doing whatever you're doing.
He always had that smile, always had a joke or
something funny to say. He kept everybody laughing. At Northwestern,
(11:18):
Bias was developing into a top college prospect. He matched
up well with some of the best high school players
in the area. They included Johnny Dawkins, later an a
C C Player of the Year at Duke. And I
just always respected guys who really worked on a craft.
I mean, you know, when you love the game and
you're passionate about it, you know you're gonna put whatever
(11:39):
time it takes to become great at it, and and
I could tell he was doing that because there wasn't
a time I didn't see him getting better and better.
After his junior year, Bias returned to five star. He
had reached the heralded status of waiter, giving him free tuition.
Bias won the Most Outstanding Player award that year over
such future NBA player as his Dawkins and Billie Thompson,
(12:02):
who helped Louisville win a national title in ninety six.
Howard Garfinkel started the camp in nineteen sixty six and
ran it for forty two years. Garfinkel told me he
was one of the top ten or fifteen best ever
at our camp. He was an extra terrestrial athlete and
(12:23):
a great scorer, and he was a great person, very likable.
Biases senior year at Northwestern started slowly. The team lost
four of its first five games. A lot had to
do with Biases suspension earlier in the year. The senior year,
I sat Leonard down for two weeks. Now people don't
under it was academic reasons. He had a couple of
(12:45):
season classes. He was a smart kid. We want to
make sure he was gonna get his qualifying scores to
go to school. Um, he's definitely better than a C
student any subject on the court. Wagner was trying to
develop a well rounded warrior. He made sure Bias understood
you had to stand up for yourself, all the while
(13:06):
making sure you had the talent to back it up.
Leonard was a warrior's compeer and a warrior. So if
I had told him, you know, never defend yourself, never retaliate,
he wouldn't have bought into He think I'm going to
get him hurt or something. I remember we're up in
Boston in a tournament, a tournament. Guys were just warming.
(13:27):
I mean just like his senior year. I mean people,
the referees, they physically he took a beating, but that
started in high school. He was prepared for that in
Maryland and these kids, small Catholic, white school, they're just
bounding cheap Shottingham And in the beginning of the second half,
I see a kid double over coming down the court
and going out of the game. So the rule was,
(13:50):
you can never retaliate because referees always see the second
thing that occurred. But you could. Yeah, my, what a
warrior does and on the places from the play, you
might found me real hard. I don't value back right away.
I wait till later on or a game later and
you're just gonna relax, or going for a layup, and
you know, all of a sudden, you know, you lay
(14:11):
on the ground. You're listening to m Bixed Legacy on
the eight Side Network. With Bias back on the team,
Northwestern won nineteen consecutive games and advanced to the state
championship game. There, they lost by a point. At the Buzzer.
(14:32):
Bias scored eighteen points and had thirteen rebounds. Bias later
joined Dawkins on a DC area All Star team that
beat a team of US All Americans in the Capitol Classic.
The game was then the premier high school all star
tournament in the country. Dawkins had nineteen points and Bias
(14:55):
eighteen against a team that featured future NBA stars Brad
Doherty and Dell Curry. Had that kind of performance on
that stage, you know, told him everything I need to
know about him and how good he could become. And
so of course to win that game against all the
All Americans from all over the country is a big
dale in our city and we were able to win
(15:16):
that game, and we shared dan VP. Bias considered a
few other colleges besides Maryland. On a trip to Oregon State,
Bias was let around campus by a C. Green, who
later played seventeen seasons in the NBA. Wallace says that
Bias came home and pressed the Green drove a Lincoln
(15:37):
town car. While visiting the University of San Francisco, Bias
watched Quentin Daily play against Dominique Wilkins of Georgia. He
came away impressed by the jumping ability of Wilkins, who
became a nine time NBA All Star, as well as
his dunks, and he was inspired to get stronger. Waller
(16:01):
told me, all of a sudden, he started lifting weights
with his legs, and then there was NC State. The
last thing Bias told head coach Jim Valvano after a
visit to the school was that he would attend NC
State if it had been up to Bias alone. He
may very well have done that. Johnny Walker claims that
(16:24):
NC State was biass first choice, based in part on
an enjoyable campus visit. Walker told me NC State did
a lot of things down there for him. He had
a good time, they lived well down there. Whittenberg, who
was finishing his junior year at nc State when Bias
took his visit, says that he was struck at how
(16:45):
introverted Bias was at the time, and he had a
wonderful presson down the big smile. But I don't think
he was this outgoing guy that you would say many
it's over here and Lenny's over there. I didn't see that,
and it's certainly I've been on the business. He was
one of the few guys I could see this comfortable
(17:06):
staying at home. I think because he didn't know anything else.
I think he was close to his brother and his
family and friends around Northwestern I think that he was
very comfortable staying at home. The influence of Bias's father, James,
was stronger than the appeal of NCI State. That, combined
with bias His passion for Maryland, convinced Land to stay
(17:29):
close to home. During their summers together at Five Star, Sally,
Dawkins and Bias talked about playing together in college. It
was apparent to them that Bias was going to Maryland,
and for a time, Sally said he and Dawkins considered
it too. We were going to go to Maryland. Me him,
(17:50):
Johnny Dawkins, we're gonna be the big three. Before Lebron
even knew you could do that, but left it his out.
He uh told me that I wouldn't I would have
to play behind Ben Coleman, and Uh, I didn't like that.
Johnny Dawkins said, well, I heard I can start at Duke.
So we we all agreed. You know, hey, lady, you
(18:12):
stay in my Johnny dunkins, I didn't want to stay home.
It's too much pressure, too many tickets, too much stuff. Um,
so we all picked different places to be in a c. C.
Dawkins was an immediate star for Duke as a freshman,
leading the Blue Devils and scoring and minutes played. Sally
(18:33):
started every game and averaged more than thirty minutes a
night for Georgia Tech. Bias did not make his first
start for Maryland until after the new year. He struggled
as coach Grizel altered his shooting style, getting Bias to
release the ball at the height of his jump. Bias
would later say he was not comfortable with the change
(18:54):
until his junior year, but Bias did not relish his
first year in Maryland. He felt that Griselle wanted him
to focus too much on defense. Grizzle matched him against
such top players as Ralph Sampson, a three time College
Player of the Year, and Clyde Drexler, later atten time
NBA All Star. Johnny Walker remembers Bias asking him during
(19:16):
the season to contact nc State about transferring there the
next year. Walker told me he would say that they're
trying to change a shot, and that every time he
tried to shoot the ball, they have something to say
to him and they take him out of the game.
He finally got tired of it. Here's a guy who's
been a scorer, and you're asking him to not shoot
the ball. Scoring as all he's done, and now you
(19:39):
don't do that. Here's Bias. His teammate Jeff Baxter actually
asked Johnny to reach out to I do know that
was ready for him. We were ready to take a
meeting before the end of the season between Bias and
Grizelle resolved their differences, and after his first year, Bias
(20:01):
worked on his dribbling skills, considered his main weakness. He
wore special glasses that did not allow him to see
the basketball when he looked down during his sophomore year.
Maryland was ten and one when they hosted North Carolina
on January. This is coal Field House overflowing the fans
(20:23):
to watch what could be the game of the year
with number one North Carolina against fifth rank Maryland. It
would be Michael Jordan's last year with Carolina, setting up
a classic clash between Jordan's and Bias. Bias scored twenty
four in the game and Jordan had one, leading Carolina
to a twelve point win. It was a game that
(20:44):
plays Bias within the national conversation of top college players.
Bias was the second leading scorer that season for Maryland,
which finished second in the a c C, but Bias
was not selected to the All a CEC team. That's
prompted Bias to make a bold proclamation. Walder remembers receiving
(21:05):
a phone call from Bias about that. Waller told me,
you see the paper today, I didn't even make the
second team. That's all right, I'm gonna go down to
the a c C and win the m v P
of the tournament. He did, leading Maryland to its first
(21:25):
a CC conference title since nineteen and the final against Duke.
Bias scored twenty six points, big result, twenty one seconds
away from the victory, leading by eleven right here the
time outlets, many confided and the Maryland people celebrating, then
(21:48):
Colman lapping his coach on the back of hand slaps
all around the Maryland e Venture. Johnny Dawkins was a
sophomore on Duke's team that year. He was to ethic again.
You know, he saw snakes play after play. I just
like I said, it was very difficult to guard because
he gave so many things, whether it's shooting the ball
from the premitive, whether it's you know, finishing around the basket,
offensive rebounds, getting out in the lane and running. I mean,
(22:11):
he just was, like said he was. He was so
well rounded as a player and can't find too many
false in his game. And those guys are the hardest
wants to defend. As a freshman, Bias was a stubborn student.
Ben Coleman, a senior center on the a C C
title team, said Bias did not take criticism well as
a freshman, that it was difficult to talk to him,
(22:34):
but that changed his sophomore year. After his sophomore season,
Bias stressed increasing his strength. Farrell Edmonds, an all American
tight end at Maryland, remembers Bias working out with Maryland
players that summer. Pharrell Edmonds told me he would do
a lot of reps, not a lot of weight for endurance.
(22:58):
It was far and then to see a basket ballplayer
working out with the football players. He would challenge us.
If you did fifteen reps and he thought he could
do it, he try and beat you. He loved competition.
He was challenged by everybody. Frank Costello was Maryland's strength
coach at the time. He compares Bias to another athlete
(23:19):
from Maryland, Ronaldo Nehemiah. He set world records in the
hurdles at Maryland in the late seventies when Costello was
the school's track coach. You know, God gave him a
lot of talent. It's genetically gifted guy. He has a
high level of fast food muscle fibers, and he knows
(23:41):
how to use them. People talk about athletic combility, we're
talking about the smoothness of coordination. How to control this power,
how to control all the strength. And he could do
it exceptionally well, and he could do it and make
it look easy. John Philbin worked with Costello as the
head strength coach for men's basketball during biases freshman year.
(24:05):
Over the course of three decades, Philibin later was a
U S Olympic head Bob Sled coach, and a conditioning
coach in the NFL as well as Major League Baseball.
His physique was probably like no other athlete I've ever
worked with. The only one that might compare would be
(24:27):
probably Prsall Walker. He was just naturally strong. We ended
up doing some bench tests and some squad testing. Lenny
had never really done any formal strength training. He did
fifteen good rips with two pounds and that wasn't bouncing
off the chest and doing him really quickly. That was
(24:51):
just brow. He had not done a program up to
that point. And then we did the squads with ended
up being to seventy five and he did. He ended
up doing fifteen reps with those to give you an
idea the level of power and strength that he naturally
had by the time you finished that year. Did you
(25:12):
test him again, Well, we did, and he ended up
going to tot and he ended up getting eighteen reps
and then three and a quarter with the squad ended
up doing fourteen. Something of that nature. Somewhere between twelve
and fourteen, and boy was it was amazing. I think
he obviously in that situation he probably could have done
(25:35):
more if you really wanted to to do more. He
was motivated to do more. His strength levels were off
the charts. Uh, nobody could compare well. The bottom line
is that the guy was a free He was very flexible. Um,
he was explosive. We did vertical jump. He was forty
(25:55):
four point five vertical straight up. You know, no step
in what he stepped in he was fifty. The power
output was just exceptional, beyond anything I've ever seen him
in any sport. And I love to jump. That's no,
That's basically something my game right there, just jumping and
dunk and I love it dump and sometimes did ever
(26:17):
since I've been doing a high school and that's keep
on doing it. It's not just one thing, uh, like
the exceptional strength or exceptional speed. It's a combination of
all those things you know, developed a good athlete. It's
like a chemist with a chemistry. Second courts in this
and make them all together. Where he had all those chemicals,
you didn't have to like, oh man, this guy will
(26:38):
be good if I can get him a little bit quicker,
a little bit faster. This he had it, and then
he had it. ESPN basketball analyst j Billis played a
duke against Bias for four years by the time he
became a sophomore and was, you know, sort of the
lead dog for Maryland. His his athleticism was off the arts.
(27:00):
Here's Biases teammate and classmate Jeff Baxter, another star player
out of the Washington, DC area. I'm Letty coming out
of high school. It was not in the University of Maryland.
If you ever seen a player to stop blossom and
(27:20):
just growing and all of a sudden talent you start
to come out from me everywhere it was. Baxter recalls
it played during one game that was symbolic of the
magical moves Bias could make. I never forget who. We
would played Georgia Tech and he was in the baseline
(27:42):
and he was suited his right hand. John Sally came
to blotch and he was near right. Letty swiss to
his left hand on the baseline and shot it. Took
his hat off and they had to stop the game
because he weren't. It was the most It was the
craziest thing. So what I remember that one move. No,
(28:05):
but I do know he can shoot when he was
able to shoot with both hands, and that was important
to him to not be stopped. Lenny would talk about
being able to use both hands, being able to drink, dribble,
play defense, jump shoot, hit a foul shot, he said,
hit him, hit a foul shot, it's free. I mean,
(28:27):
he was so like being able to do what. You
gotta be able to do everything as a ballplayer to
call yourself a total ballplayer. Ed Woods was a six
ft seven inch walk on forward for Maryland and he
was able to witness Bias do things that few have
ever seen. Len Bias would do something that you just like,
(28:50):
I just can't believe you did that. Like he would
block a jump shot from the wing, so he's halfway
between the basket and the wing and he takes it
out of the air and it's and you're just you know,
everything kind of stops, and everybody's just like, holy Mackarel.
He's just a man among children and toying with us,
(29:12):
and you know he gets something underneath, and it's you,
you know, the old hacker shack. I mean, that's that's
your only defense. And you know, because he's gonna take
it up and dunk on you because just because he could.
You're listening to Lem Bias the mixed legacy on the
(29:34):
eighth Side Network. Bias inspired some players on the women's
basketball team as well. Vicky Bullett was an All American
at Maryland and was the first player allocated in the
very beginning of the w NBA draft in so we
(29:55):
just start imitating. We'll go to his practices, we'll watch
and see what he does, and we tried in practice.
He taught us in versatility. He goes, well, who said
you couldn't take anybody off the dripple from the freethrom line?
Who said you couldn't shoot a turnaround jumper on the
low block outside of the league. So I think he
had that guard like mentality that was just evolving. And
(30:16):
now today if you're watching his basketball, I mean, Janice
is bringing the ball up the court. You didn't see
that much from a big guy. And I think Lynn
was that player that said could have set that tone
for that type of player. And you know, as my
career went on, I learned to be versatile, and you know,
those words meant a lot. Bias showed has improved mental
and physical maturity. Throughout his junior year, he was the
(30:39):
a SEC's top scorer, averaging nineteen points a game. He
was voted Conference Player of the Year. He made third
team All American. Indiana Pacers scout Tom Newell said Bias
had the potential to be one of the best forwards
to ever play the game. Many, including Bias, thought he
was indeed ready for the NBA, but one prominent voice
(31:02):
encouraged Bias to stay another year. Celtics president Read are Back,
a good friend of Lefty Grizel, had told Bias the
previous summer he would do everything he could to draft him,
and Bias had no problem with that. When I talked
to me are Back last year, when I was deciding
whether to stay in school and go hardship, I really
(31:25):
thought just about talking to him, I could sell it.
I would really like to play for him or play
in his organization. At a dinner with Bias and his
parents after his junior year, are Back told Bias that
if he waited a year, it would have proved Bias
his chances of being drafted by the Celtics. My wife
and I and his mother and father, and Lenny and
his coach. We sat down and I said the most
(31:47):
important thing. It's get some maturity. Stay in school. You
go out now, you'll be drafted fifteen. Wait, wait that
extra year. You will surely be in the lottery. You
get your degree, and you will achieve something in life.
Bias decided to stay another year at Maryland. Few were
(32:09):
as pleased as Griselle, a devout Christian, that Bias was returning.
The two had grown closer, in part after Bias became
a born again Christian while that Maryland. Sue Tyler, and
assistant athletic director, recalls being told about Bias sitting alone
and cold Field House reading a Bible. He had a
(32:32):
Bible for a long time. He carried a Bible with
him around the classes. It was interesting that I recall
um seeing him more times than not. I would see
him having a Bible along with his books, if he
had if he had him visible. Miriam Lij became good
friends with Bias while she attended Maryland. They met while
(32:52):
she was a tutor for the basketball team. He specifically
was very approachable. So we had the stamp union. You
can walk down you know, the campus drive. You can
kind of walk in the back um, and I would
kind of take a short cut to getting my classes
through the back and he'd always be driving and he'd said, hey,
you know, jump in the car, let's go to McDonald's.
I can remember this vividly, and I'd say, you know, Lenny,
(33:14):
I gotta get a class. You know, I don't have time.
It's like, come on, let's you know, let's just go
to McDonald's really quick. I'll take you back, um, and
then we go to McDonald's. Their friendship grew stronger with
their common interest in Christianity. This is somebody who had
a prayer life. There was no question. You know, he
told me that he prayed regularly. So when I mean
a spiritual life with consistency, you you know, you credit
(33:37):
God for having created you, um, sustaining you. Where your
blessings come from. Your clear that it comes from God
and not somewhere else. So as I spoke to him,
and interestingly enough, a lot of the other guys on
the team from time to time, it was clear in
their language that we spoke the same language, in terms
(33:59):
of a spiritual language that was rooted in the Bible.
Drizzelle's connection with Bias at times transcended Christianity. He cherished
a common interaction between he and Bias before games. Drizzelle
would often ask him, len are you ready, and Land
would respond, coach, I was born ready. Grizelle praised Biases
(34:23):
work ethic and practice left it. Grissell told me I
used to have to take him out of practices because
he would dominate score all the time and get all
the rebounds. I had to ask him, sit down, will you.
He was a great kid to coach, very coachable. When
I recruited him, I didn't think he'd be that good.
(34:43):
He was everything you want in a player. He never
got hurt, was never late, always worked hard. Bias displayed
an infectious personality throughout his career. Here's Vicky Bullett with
more on that. We'd always have to and our practices
running suicides while they were coming in, so I said, well,
(35:04):
can they stay in the tunnel until we were done?
So that was always a big thing, and but they were.
They cheered for us, and you know Lenny was a
part of that. You know, we had the time to
make those suicides and you know, having him clapping his
hands for us, and it was it was special. Bias
could be spontaneous, silly, and fun loving. John Johnson, a
(35:27):
freshman on Maryland's nine six team, finally recalls his recruiting
trip to Maryland. I remember, one of the biggest reasons
why I came was because of the fact that when
I got here, you know, he and I were down
there wrastling in the floor or whatever. You know, I'll
never forget that. And I had no idea who Linn
(35:47):
Bias was when I was a senior in hospital at
the time. At the time, the moment I hit the door,
it was one of those things where he's joking around,
he and I and the horse playing or whatever, and
wrastling in the flow and stuff like that, just like
he had known me all his life. You know, Jeff
Baxter was Biased his roommate for four years in Maryland
(36:07):
for a guy at six fort the basketball player, amazing dancers.
We would actually when we would have to have perfew,
which was gonna commented, you're not before a game, and
you can you can go out, you can go out
to the apartment at all. I couldn't believe it. You
(36:28):
get bored, You get bored stuff you've done. The game
is not until nine o'clock. The next night, and you know,
it could be a Friday night, so we're fresh. He
would just type, turn the music out. Then we would dance, funny,
myself and him being a dancing. It's great, not together,
(36:49):
but just dancing. Okay, didn't you go okay? It would
be funny. I mean, okay, I mean, And that's how
it was just hilarious. Bias Is dancing interests at least
once got him in trouble. After a win against NC
State in nineteen eighty six, Baxter, Johnson and Bias attended
a party and Raleigh with an NC State player and
(37:12):
returned past curfew. I never forgot it. The annual Treat
Mama contest suddenly did every year. I Juckie Brown and
all those guys and guys from DC. I think back
to know him pretty well or whatever. But we had
I don't regret it at all. We had a great time.
(37:36):
Oh Man, never gonna get that. The three were suspended
for the following game. By this time, Bias showed signs
of struggling with the pressure of his senior season. Teammate
Terry Long would later reveal publicly that Bias introduced him
to cocaine in four Miriam lij, a friend at Maryland,
(37:56):
recalled Bias was not as happy, go lucky he approached
his senior season. I saw that he was weighted down.
And as time goes on, um, you can see I
don't want to say it's less joy, but you can
you can you see that his personality still there, but
you can feel that he's he's weighted down, like there's
something way on him now. He wasn't specific with me
(38:19):
about what it was. I don't think he signed up for, uh,
the weight of you know, the weight of his of
his talent, the weight of you know what, the weight
of his gift. During repeated visits Bias made to Wagner,
his high school coach, Wagner noticed Bias becoming more concerned
(38:40):
about increased pressures during his senior year. We would just
we'd walk the halls. I wouldn't raiseiation use it at
your high school. I wasn't usually wasn't about basketball. Um.
I know at one point where media and other people
started to absorb more of his time and attention than
(39:05):
than than the people that he came from. Walker Biases
mentor recalled it. Bias struggled to find joy during his
senior season, due in part to some interest in turning
pro after his junior year. Here's Jeff Baxter with a
different view about Bias during his senior year, and I
didn't see him filling the pressure year had changed. The
(39:28):
hip were to change, of him getting better, him probably
becoming more vocal. I could be vocal because we were
co captives, but he could be much more imposed, much
more imposed. The suspension of Bias, Baxter, and Johnson came
in a challenging time for Maryland to win against NC State.
(39:51):
But Maryland at three and six in the conference after
a loss to Clemson, Maryland needed to win three of
its last four conference games for a chance to receive
an n C double a bid. Maryland then faced top
rank North Carolina and Chapel Hill. It would feature two
plays by Bias that defined his career. In a game
(40:12):
where he scored thirty five points, I cried more than
twenty two tons of it don hand to watch the
tire Heels take on the Maryland Terral. The signature play
off Bias's career came with Maryland down by nine with
just under three minutes remaining in regulation at the d
dc Han Center. Bias from outside and he got it
was letting Biased with twenty nine holdline jail. What a
(40:36):
plight by Blias Hall Lake Cow and I just stood
it for a little bit and Kenney Smith had his
back turn as soon as he threw the ball, and
I just came in anticipated and smacked it down and
came right into my hands, and I was nowhere. I
looked up, I was on the bass. I just jumped
up and just regulation in it. In a tie. At
the start of overtime, the television announcers felt the need
to acknowledge the effort of Bias so far. If you
(41:00):
joined us late, this one of the great performances that
I certainly I've seen all year. And I think Damily
concur with me. With Lenny by his thirty three points,
he's just been absolutely magniveuson five rebounds, let's three assist,
couple of blocks of the steel. I mean, he has
been everything this. Bias was not done with his heroics.
With Mariland ahead by one and fifteen seconds remaining in overtime,
(41:24):
a defensive play by Bias secured the win, not a
Kenny spet Scott blocks down The ten game clock is
down to night Gage set one on one with Gatlin
Punni Critch throws it up Pluck the white boxer comes down,
but it crimples. How of traffic to Bias, Crush Court
to Charlie Tennis, Puckers, Horomaine and nine of course court
Claster box cur of Turks one up to number one
Marth Carolina. Dan Bonner has been an analyst on college
(41:46):
basketball broadcast since ninety one. He worked that game and
vividly remembers that play. As he went up to block
that shot, it was down close to the basket. I
distinctly heard in my year through the UH the mic
that was trying to get effects, I heard him say
give me that, and I thought that that was in
(42:10):
this particular situation that's sort of defined for me the
type of game he had. He basically told North Carolinas
throughout that entire game, even though they trailed most of
the game. Basically his actions during the game, We're telling
them give me that. And you know, in those days
and you don't do it anymore, But when I was
(42:30):
growing up, we we didn't have a you. That's what
guys did all the time when they blocked your shot,
they would yell give me that, uh and so it
just impressed me that here in this situation, in this moment,
and everybody knew it was a big moment, that this
would all around give me that the performance by Bias
and that went over North Carolina wasn't even his most
(42:52):
dominant game of the season. In January that year, Bias
scored Maryland's first ten points and added with forty one
and game against Duke, he made fourteen twenty field goals
in all thirteen of his free throws. J Billis was
a senior Duke that year and he remembers that game
very well. The memory was, we couldn't stop him, and
(43:14):
guys were coming back to the bench saying, I'm trying
to foul him. I can't even foul him. We knew
how good he was. Our players were ever in awe
of anyone. Um. You know that there were only a
few players that I heard our best players talk about
with reverence back then. UM One was Jordan's. The other
(43:34):
was Bias. After Maryland beat Virginia at home, when the
last game of the regular season, Virginia coach Terry Holland
called it Lenny Bias Knight. Bias had extra motivation in
the game in the game against Virginia earlier in the season,
old and Polynice blocked by a shot. He then pointed
(43:56):
at Bias as he lay on the ground. Bias got
his revenge late in the first half, and the rematch
on March one, Andrew Kennedy inside the ploy missed the
shot Guy's own rebouck. Kevin Shean, a sportscaster and the
Washington d C. Area, attended that game. He explained what
(44:20):
happened on his podcast during an interview with Dave Grady,
a producer of this podcast series, that he played his
final game at Cole against Virginia. Olden Polinies put up
a shot and I was very close to the poor
thought a lot of play half and you heard Leonard
(44:42):
go up in snagg it mid air and say get
that ship out of here. And he threw it into
the fourth row, went by it, intimidate Polinie, prest shot
and then blocked the next win. Unbelievable, as Dave Winton
Jones cappy it off, just letting Polonies no who did it?
(45:03):
Said Bias after the game, I had to block his
shot and put it in his face. After the last game,
everybody had asked me why I let him do that
to me. Bias scored twenty two points in that game.
A week later, Maryland lost to sixth rank Georgia Tech
(45:24):
in an a C C semifinal. In an n C
double A tournament first round win over Pepperdine, Bias scored
twenty six points, breaking Maryland's season scoring record that he
had set the prior year. Bias scored thirty one points
in a second round lost to UNLV. Afterward, in an
(45:45):
image that foretold his future, he sat in his locker,
towel over his head, his face buried in his hands.
I felt we could have gone a lot further, he said.
The boy next on Len Bias and mixed Legacy lit
barn Stormer and Boston. I was a big fan of
(46:07):
Lenny Bias. I just loved his game. He was a
great growl because you know, he was just some Flama
players he should he said, I'm not interested in He
said there's something about him that concerns me. I really
were hoping that with Boston. That was what our biggest
(46:30):
part of the pitch was that he would be our guy.
Really and then he just said, yeah, I can't. I
wish my mom was part of this like I can't
wait to get home and see my mom. This podcast
series is based on the book Born Ready, a mixed
legacy of Lambis others like Go Grady Media. The series
is produced by Go Grady Media and partnership with Octagon Entertainment.
(46:50):
This segment was produced by Davon Grady and Don Marcus.
It was written by Davon Grady and edited by Don Marcus.
The narrator was Rich Daniel, with additional narration Jamal Williams.
Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment. Production assistance was
produced by Kevin McNalty, Tino Quagliata, Lauren Rosch, Georgia Braun,
Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannix and Enzo Alvarino. Matt
(47:16):
Deersus providing the social media assistance special thanks to the
University of Maryland and American Universities and providing incidents. The
Decision Education Foundation is a content and promotional partner of
this podcast series. More information go to dog Grady Media
dot com. This has been a production of Go grading
(47:37):
Media and the Eight Side Network.
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