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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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is based in large part of the book
Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of Limby's. 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.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It's get it all from quick and he was so warriors.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Competitor and a warrior.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
You know, he wasn't there yet, but you could see
the athletic ability, and you see the potential.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
You know, God gave him a lot of talentedly gifted guy.
Speaker 6 (00:35):
There were only a few players that I heard our
best players talk about with reverence about that.
Speaker 7 (00:43):
One was Jordan's. The other was Biased. London would come by.
Speaker 8 (00:49):
School and we would just walk the halls and talk.
Sometimes got it and usually not about basketball.
Speaker 9 (00:57):
Mayas from outside and he got out bias with twenty
nine oh on Jawn, what a play Bias?
Speaker 10 (01:06):
Howay cow throwing it for a little while. Kenny Smith
had his back turned as soon as he threw the ball,
and I just came and anticipated and smacked it down
and then came right into my hands.
Speaker 11 (01:15):
And I was no where I looked up. I was
under the basket.
Speaker 12 (01:17):
I just jumped up and court 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 heard Leonard go up in snagg it in
mid air and say get that shit out of here,
and he threw it into the fourth row.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Up next to Lumby's mixed legacy Born Ready like the gold,
chains and beaks.
Speaker 11 (01:49):
At basketball practice one day in the winter of nineteen
seventy nine and Landover, Maryland, some kid kept peeking through
the doors to the gym at the Columbia Recreation Center,
also known as the Wreck. He was yelling to a
friend inside the gym. Johnny Walker, a coach leading the practice,
(02:11):
told the boy to ignore the interloper and to pay attention.
The curious boy finally gave up and walked away. That
boy was Lambias. A few months later, Walker spotted Bias
riding his bike a few blocks from the gym. Walker
(02:31):
started talking to him. 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
(02:53):
without some reservation. James Bias did stop by the wreck
at times to check on his son. Derek Wittenberg, was
a star at the Matha High School in North Carolina State.
He grew up playing on the outdoor courts at the
wreck and remembers seeing Lynn play on those courts.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
And Lynn was kind of like one of those kids
that you know, you could see the potential, but he,
you know, he wasn't there yet in high school, but
you could definitely see the potential.
Speaker 11 (03:24):
Lee Matkins was the director of and a coach at
the wreck. He saw Bias developed quickly.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
At first, kid he used to laugh at him, you know,
cause he was very awkward, you know, but he.
Speaker 13 (03:35):
Kept playing playing, and then like every day he was
up there, like seven days a week, and he developed
one of the basketball players I had.
Speaker 11 (03:42):
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
high school teammate of Bias.
Speaker 14 (04:03):
Waller told me Len was tall, lanky, and raw.
Speaker 15 (04:07):
He could shoot, was a very good athlete, but he
was a bit of a baby.
Speaker 14 (04:11):
Wasn't tough.
Speaker 11 (04:12):
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
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
(04:34):
ACC would see years later.
Speaker 15 (04:37):
Waller told me Walker would give us everything that wasn't
in the rule book. People were felling Bias all the time.
No matter how much you whined, Johnny was still killing him.
You're either step up or you don't.
Speaker 11 (04:49):
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 recalls winning every game
(05:09):
that summer. Columbia Park felt so confident that players on
the bench would read the newspaper. Toward the end of
Runaway Games. The workouts Walker designed for Bias and Waller
inspired younger players at the Wreck, most notably Lenn's younger
brother Jay and Clinton Vennible, later a high school teammate
(05:31):
of Jays.
Speaker 16 (05:32):
When Lennard and Ryan Ice and Johnny them guys used
to work out, they used to let Jay and myself
and Henry never got to play with us hang out
with them. We just get so excited, like it was
like Christmas, and He's like, you know, be quiet, you know,
don't do this, don't do that, And we just wanted
to hang out with these guys. But they teaching us
to know little tricks and watching those guys, you know,
(05:54):
how to pass.
Speaker 11 (05:55):
Ball workouts helped Bias develop into a different player. Waller
says it was like night and day. When Bias entered
Northwestern High School. The school's coach, Bob Wagner, considered Bias
a work in progress. A problem was lens heightened emotions.
Speaker 17 (06:14):
The jumping abiltie was there, the competitiveness was there, shutting
the mouth down. And what I would basically do there
I let him play in some men's leagues with guys
that I knew it. Wo brough him up a little bit,
but they would also talk to him and not physically
hurt him or injure him.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
He'd heard him, and.
Speaker 17 (06:36):
You've got to get the mouth shut so the mind
can functions of the body can play.
Speaker 11 (06:41):
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
included such legends as Bobby Knight, Chuck Daily at QB Brown.
College coaches scouted the top high school talent in the country.
(07:05):
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 with
Bias and saw his friend transformed as a player.
Speaker 15 (07:24):
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.
Speaker 11 (07:35):
Buzz Peterson first saw Bias play at the Five Star Camp.
Peterson was a top high school player from North Carolina
and was later Michael Jordan's teammate at the University of
North Carolina.
Speaker 14 (07:47):
You could you could see that.
Speaker 18 (07:49):
I mean, are's tons of athleticability, you know, more of
a two foot jumper than could really explode and get
up in the air.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
It just it just it was unlimited. And he had
this kind of a.
Speaker 18 (08:03):
Personality that you know, he was he would soap things
in and and he was this easy to approach.
Speaker 11 (08:12):
Was this one of.
Speaker 18 (08:12):
These guys the smile, you know, put his arm around you,
you know, poke you here and there. But when he's
on a court, boy, he was pretty Dagham good.
Speaker 11 (08:23):
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.
Speaker 15 (08:38):
Waller told me we saw Jordan sitting on a bench
and Larry said he wanted to introduce him to his
home boys. Larry introduced me as my nickname Ice. Jordan said,
they call me Black Ice.
Speaker 11 (08:53):
Waller, Peterson, Bias, and Jordan's spent nights at the camp
talking about their basketball dreams. The following year, Waller and
Bias played a pickup game in Colefield House on the
Maryland campus 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
(09:18):
at the five Star camp. Sally played four years at
Georgia Tech against Bias. He was later the number twelve
selection in the nineteen eighty six 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 Len.
Speaker 19 (09:38):
Bias said, I'm going against Billy today and I'm going
to destroy him. Lenny Bias was busted and Billy Thompson's
but so bad that Billy pump Fake Billy went the
air and he cut Lenny's head. Lenny had to go
get stitches. I said, did you go into town to
get those stitches? He said, not before I took Billy
(09:59):
t the town. Every scout's going to realize why Now,
That's exactly what his mentality was.
Speaker 11 (10:06):
Growing up some ten miles from the Maryland campus, Bias
found 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 Grisel. Bias and Waller often walked from Northwestern
High School to the Maryland campus, a distance of about
(10:28):
one mile. There, they dreamed about being basketball stars at
the school and spent time with Ernie Graham, one of
Maryland's top players at the time. They lifted weights in
cole Fieldhouse and played pickup games with Graham and other
Maryland players.
Speaker 15 (10:45):
Waller told me, we go to his room, We go
to with Jim and play ball. We were so blessed,
we were so happy.
Speaker 11 (10:54):
Graham remembers Bias as a nice, enthusiastic kid who smiled
and joked around a lot.
Speaker 15 (11:01):
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.
Speaker 14 (11:15):
He kept everybody laughing.
Speaker 11 (11:17):
At Northwestern, 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 ACC Player of the Year at Duke.
Speaker 13 (11:31):
And I just always respected guys who really worked on
the craft. I mean, you know, when you love the
game and you're passionate about it, you know you're gonna
put whatever time it takes to become great at it.
And I could tell he was doing that because there
wasn't a time I didn't seehim getting better and better.
Speaker 11 (11:46):
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 Dawkins and Billy Thompson, who helped
Louisville win a national title in nineteen eighty six. Howard
(12:08):
Garfinkel started the camp in nineteen sixty six and ran
it for forty two years.
Speaker 15 (12:15):
Garfinkel told me he was one of the top ten
or fifteen best ever at our camp. He was an
extraterrestrial athlete and a great scorer, and he was a
great person, very likable.
Speaker 11 (12:27):
Bias' senior year at Northwestern started slowly. The team lost
four of its first five games. A lot had to
do with Bias' suspension earlier in the year.
Speaker 8 (12:39):
His senior year, I sat Leonard down for two weeks. Now,
people don't under it was academic reasons. He had a
couple of season classes. He was a smart kid. We
want to make sure he was going to get his
golfline scores to go to school. He's definitely better than
a C student any subject.
Speaker 11 (12:56):
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 making sure you
had the talent to back it up.
Speaker 8 (13:10):
Leonard was a warrior's a compeditor 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
were up in Boston in a tournament, AAU tournament. Guys
are just warming. I mean just like his senior year.
I mean people, the referees, they physically he took a beating,
(13:32):
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 shot man. 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 you could never retaliate because referees
(13:52):
always see the second.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Thing that occurred.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
But you could, yeah, what a warrior does and on
the play, it's from the play.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Now you might.
Speaker 8 (14:01):
Found me real hard. I don't value back right away.
I wait till later on or a game later and
you're just going to relax or going for a layup,
and you know, all of a sudden, you know you're
laid out.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
On the ground.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
It's so sad.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You're listening to Lembias the Mixed Legacy on the Eighth
Side Network.
Speaker 11 (14:21):
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. Bias scored eighteen
points and had thirteen rebounds. Bias later joined Dawkins on
a DC area All Star team that beat a team
(14:42):
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 eighteen against
a team that featured future NBA stars Brad Doherty and
Del Curry.
Speaker 13 (15:04):
They 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 Americas small over
the country's.
Speaker 7 (15:13):
A big deal in our city.
Speaker 13 (15:15):
And we were able to win that game and we
shared d MVP.
Speaker 11 (15:19):
Bias considered a few other colleges besides Maryland. On a
trip to Oregon State, Bias was led around campus by
Ac Green, who later played seventeen seasons in the NBA.
Waller says that Bias came home and pressed that Green
drove a Lincoln town Car. While visiting the University of
(15:41):
San Francisco, Bias watched Quinton 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.
Speaker 15 (16:00):
Waller told me, all of a sudden, he started lifting
weights with his legs, and.
Speaker 11 (16:06):
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 NC State was Bias'
first choice, based in part on an enjoyable campus visit.
Speaker 15 (16:30):
Walker told me NC State did a lot of things
down there for him.
Speaker 14 (16:35):
He had a good time. They lived well down there.
Speaker 11 (16:38):
Wittenberg, who was finishing his junior year at NC State
when Bias took his visit, says that he was struck
at how introverted Bias was at the time. And he
had a.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Wonderful person out that dikes a smile.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
But I don't think he.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Was just outgoing guy that you would say, Lenny, it's
over here, Lenny's over there.
Speaker 7 (16:59):
I didn't see that, and.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
It's certainly been on the business.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
He was one of the few guys I could see
just comfortable stay 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 Northwest, and I
think that he was very comfortable standing at home.
Speaker 11 (17:18):
The influence of Bias's father, James, was stronger than the
appeal of NC State. That, combined with Bias's passion for Maryland,
convinced lend to stay 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
(17:39):
Bias was going to Maryland, and for a time, Sally said,
he and Dawkins considered it too.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
We were going to go to Maryland and be.
Speaker 19 (17:48):
Him, Johnny Dawkins were going to be the big three
before Lebron even knew you could do that.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
But left to Giselle.
Speaker 19 (17:56):
He told me that I would I would have to
play behind Ben Coleman, and I didn't like that. Johnny
Dawkins said, well, I heard I could start at Duke,
so we all agreed. You know, hey, lady, you stay
in and Johnny Dalks I didn't want to stay home.
It's too much pressure, too many tickets, too much stuff.
(18:20):
So we all picked different places to be.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
A acc.
Speaker 11 (18:25):
Dawkins was an immediate star for Duke as a freshman,
leading the Blue Devils in scoring and minutes played. Sally
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 Drizzell altered his shooting style, getting Bias to
(18:48):
release the ball at the height of his jump. Bias
would later say he was not comfortable with the change
until his junior year, but Bias did not relish his
first year at Maryland. He felt that Drizzell wanted him
to focus too much on defense. Drizzel matched him against
such top players as Ralph Sampson, a three time College
(19:08):
Player of the Year, and Clyde Drexler, later at ten
time NBA All Star. Johnny Walker remembers Bias asking him
during the season to contact NC State about transferring there
the next year.
Speaker 15 (19:22):
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.
Speaker 14 (19:31):
He finally got tired of it. Here's a guy who's.
Speaker 15 (19:34):
Been a scorer, and you're asking him to not shoot
the ball. Scoring is all he's done, and now you
don't do that.
Speaker 11 (19:40):
Here's Bias's teammate, Jeff Baxter.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Glenn actually asked Johnny to reach out to n State.
I do know that State was ready for him. We
were ready to take for now.
Speaker 11 (19:51):
I do know that this year, a meeting before the
end of the season between Bias and Drizzell resolved their differences.
And after his first year, Bias 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.
(20:12):
During his sophomore year, Maryland was ten and one when
they hosted North Carolina on January twelfth, nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 9 (20:20):
This is cole Field House overflowing the fans to watch
what could be the game of the year with number
one North Carolina against fifth rank Maryland.
Speaker 11 (20:28):
It would be Michael Jordan's last year with Carolina, setting
up a classic clash between Jordan and Bias. Bias scored
twenty four in the game and Jordan had twenty one,
leading Carolina to a twelve point win. It was a
game that plays Bias within the national conversation of top
college players. Bias was the second leading scorer that season
(20:52):
for Maryland, which finished second in the ACC, but Bias
was not selected to the All ACC team. That prompted
Bias to make a bold proclamation. Walder remembers receiving a
phone call from Bias about that.
Speaker 15 (21:09):
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 ACC and win the MVP of
the tournament.
Speaker 11 (21:22):
He did, leading Maryland to its first ACC Conference title
since nineteen fifty eight, and the final against Duke, Bias
scored twenty six points.
Speaker 9 (21:33):
Pigs all his block twenty one seconds away from the victory,
leading by eleven.
Speaker 20 (21:38):
Right here the time out was Magan Bye do and
the Maryland people celebrate him. Ben Bullman flapping his coach
on the back of hands, laps all a round the.
Speaker 11 (21:52):
Maryl Aventure Johnny Dawkins was a sophomore on Duke's team
that year.
Speaker 13 (21:57):
He was terrific. Again, you know, he stalled just making
clay after play. I just, like I said, it was
very difficult to guard because he did so many things,
whether it's shooting the ball from the perimeter, whether it's
you know, finishing around the basket, offensive rebounds, getting out
in the lane and running. I mean, he just was
like I say he was. He was so well rounded
as a player and can't find too many faults in
his game. And those guys are the hardest ones to defend.
Speaker 11 (22:20):
As a freshman, Bias was a stubborn student. Ben Coleman,
a senior center on the ACC title team said Bias
did not take criticism well as a freshman, that it
was difficult to talk to him, but that changed his
sophomore year. After his sophomore season, Bias stressed increasing his strength.
(22:43):
Feral Edmunds, an All American tight end at Maryland, remembers
Bias working out with Maryland players that summer.
Speaker 15 (22:52):
Feral Edmunds told me he would do a lot of reps,
not a lot of weight to endurance. It was far
and then to see a basket ball player working out
with the football players.
Speaker 14 (23:02):
He would challenge us.
Speaker 15 (23:04):
If you did fifteen reps and he thought he could
do it, he'd try and beat you.
Speaker 14 (23:09):
He loved competition. He was challenged by everybody.
Speaker 11 (23:13):
Frank Costello was Maryland's strength coach at the time. He
compares Bias to another athlete from Maryland, Rinaldo Nehemiah. He
set world records in the hurdles at Maryland in the
late seventies when Costello was the school's track coach.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
You know, God gave him a lot of talent. He's
a genetically gifted guy. He has a high level of
fast swooch muscle fibers and he knows how to use them.
People talk about athletic ability, we're talking about the smoothness
of coordination, how to control his power, how to control
all his strength, and he could do it exceptionally well,
(23:54):
and he could do it and make it look easy.
Speaker 11 (23:56):
John Philbin worked with Costello as the head strength coach
for men's basketball during bias freshman year. Over the course
of three decades, Philbin later was a US Olympic head
Bob sled coach, and a conditioning coach in the NFL
as well as Major League Baseball.
Speaker 21 (24:18):
His physique was probably like no other athlete I've ever
worked with. The only one that might compare would be
probably Herscha 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
(24:41):
fifteen good rips with two hundred and twenty five pounds
and that wasn't bouncing off the chest and doing them
really quickly. That was just bro He had not done
a program up to that point. And then we did
the squads with ended up being two seventy five and
he did. He ended up doing fifteen reps with those.
(25:04):
To give you an idea the level of power and
strength that he naturally had.
Speaker 15 (25:10):
By the time you finished that year, did you test
him again?
Speaker 21 (25:13):
Well, we did, and he ended up going to forty
five and he ended up getting eighteen reps and then
three in a quarter with the squad. He 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 more if
(25:36):
he really wanted to do more.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
He was motivated to do more.
Speaker 21 (25:41):
His strength levels were off the charts. Nobody could compare well.
The bottom line is that the guy was a freak.
He was very flexible, he was explosive. We did vertical jump.
He was forty four point five vertical straight up, you know,
no step in. When he stepped in, he was forty
(26:02):
eight to fifty. The power output was just exceptional, beyond
anything I've ever seen him in any sport.
Speaker 11 (26:10):
I love the dump.
Speaker 10 (26:11):
That's you know, that's basically some of my game right there,
just jumping and dunk.
Speaker 7 (26:14):
And I loved the dumb That's something.
Speaker 22 (26:16):
I did every since I was in junior high school,
and I just keep on doing it.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
It's not just one thing like the exceptional strength or
exceptional speed. It's a combination of all those things you
know develop a good athlete. It's like a chemist for
a chemistry set, you know, fortius and this, and he
mix them all together. Where he had all those chemicals,
you didn't have to like, Oh man, this guy will
be good if I can get him a little bit quicker,
(26:40):
a little bit faster.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
This he had it. Then he had it.
Speaker 11 (26:44):
ESPN basketball analyst Jay Billis played at Duke against Bias
for four years.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
By the time he became a sophomore and was, you know,
sort of the lead dog for Maryland.
Speaker 7 (26:57):
His his athleticism was off the track.
Speaker 11 (27:00):
Here's Bias. His teammate and classmate Jeff Baxter, another star
player out of the Washington DC area.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Ley coming out of high school was not in the
University of Maryland.
Speaker 19 (27:15):
But if you ever seen a player to stop it
blossom well and just growing and all.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Of a sudden talent started to come out from everywhere.
Speaker 11 (27:25):
It was Baxter recalls and played during one game that
was symbolic of the magical moves Bias could make.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I never forget.
Speaker 19 (27:35):
We were playing Georgia Tech and Lee was in the
baseline and he was shooting with his right hand. John
Sally came to block and he was near his right hand.
Lenny Swiss to his left hand on the baseline and
shot it great Armad took his hat off through it,
(27:56):
and they had to stop the game.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Because they weren't He was the most It was the
craziest thing. So would I remember that one move?
Speaker 19 (28:05):
No, But I do know he can shoot with 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 fout shot, he said,
hit him, hit a foust shot.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It's free.
Speaker 11 (28:26):
I mean, he was so like being able to do everything.
Speaker 19 (28:30):
You gotta be able to do everything as a ballplayer
to call yourself a total ballplayer.
Speaker 11 (28:34):
Ed Woods was a six foot seven inch walk on
forward from Maryland in nineteen eighty four. He was able
to witness Bias do things that few have ever seen.
Speaker 23 (28:45):
Len Bias would do something that you just like, I
just can't believe he 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 that out
of the air, and it's and you're just, you know,
everything kind of stops, and everybody's just like, holy macklem
(29:08):
he's just a man among children and toying with us,
and you know he gets something underneath, and it's you know,
the little hack a shack. I mean, that's that's your
only defense. And you know, because he's going to take
it up and dunk on you because just because he could.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You're listening to Limbias, the mixed Legacy on the eighth
Side Network.
Speaker 11 (29:41):
Bias inspired some players on the women's basketball team as well.
Vicky Bullet was an All American at Maryland and was
the first player allocated in the very beginning of the
WNBA draft in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 24 (29:54):
So we just start imitating. We'll go to his practices
and we'll watch and see what he does. We tried
in practice. He taught us in versatility. He goes, well,
who said you couldn't take anybody off the dribble from
the free throw line? Who said you couldn't shoot a
turner round jumper on the low block outside of the lague.
So I think he had that guard like mentality that
was just evolving and now today, if you watch him
(30:17):
his basketball, I mean, Giannis is bringing the ball up
the court. You didn't see that much from a big guy.
And I think then 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.
Speaker 11 (30:34):
Bias showed his improved mental and physical maturity throughout his
junior year. He was the ACC'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
Nowle said Bias had the potential to be one of
the best forwards to ever play the game. Many, including Bias,
(30:58):
thought he was indeed ready for the NBA, but one
prominent voice encouraged Bias to stay another year. Celtics president
Read Aarbach, 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.
Speaker 22 (31:19):
When I talked to mid our back last year when
I was deciding whether the stay school of go hardship,
just about talking to him, I could tell it I
would really like to play for him or play in
his organization.
Speaker 11 (31:30):
At a dinner with Bias and his parents after his
junior year, Arbak told Bias that if he waited a year,
it would have proved Bias's chances of being drafted by
the Celtics.
Speaker 25 (31:42):
My wife and I and his mother and father, Lenny
and his coach.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
We sat down.
Speaker 25 (31:46):
I said, the most important thing is get some maturity.
Stay in school. You go out now, you'll be drafted fifteenth. Wait,
wait that extra year, you'll surely be in the lottery.
Get your degree, and you'll achieve something in life.
Speaker 11 (32:05):
Bias decided to stay another year at Maryland. Few were
as pleased as Drizell, a devout Christian, that Bias was returning.
The two had grown closer, in part after Bias became
a born again Christian while at Maryland. Sue Tyler, an
assistant athletic director, recalls being told about Bias sitting alone
(32:28):
and cole Fieldhouse reading a Bible.
Speaker 26 (32:31):
He had a Bible for a long time. He carried
a Bible with him around the classes. It was interesting
that I recall seeing him more times than not. I
would see him having a Bible along with his books
if he had him visible.
Speaker 11 (32:46):
Miriam Lejay became good friends with Bias while she attended Maryland.
They met while she was a tutor for the basketball team.
Speaker 14 (32:55):
He specifically was very approachable.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
So we had the Stamp Union.
Speaker 27 (32:59):
You can walk down you know, the campus drive where
you can kind of walk in the back, and I
would kind of take a short cut to get in
my classes through the back, and he'd always be driving
and he'd say, hey, you know, jump the car, let's
go to McDonald's. I can remember this vividly, and I'd say,
you know, Lenny, I gotta get a class.
Speaker 19 (33:15):
You know, I don't have time.
Speaker 27 (33:16):
It's like, oh, come on, let's you know, let's just
go to McDonald's really quick. I'll take you back and
then we go to McDonald's.
Speaker 11 (33:22):
Their friendship grew stronger with their common interest in Christianity.
Speaker 27 (33:27):
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 God for having created you, sustaining you.
Where your blessings come from, You're clear that it comes
from God and not somewhere else. So as I spoke
(33:49):
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 of a spiritual language that was rooted in
the Bible.
Speaker 11 (34:03):
Drizell's connection with Bias at times transcended Christianity. He cherished
a common interaction between he and Bias before games. Drizzel
would often ask him, len are you ready, and Lean
would respond coach, I was born ready. Drizzell praised Bias's
(34:23):
work ethic in practice.
Speaker 15 (34:26):
Lefty Grisel 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. He was everything you
want in a player. He never got hurt, was never late,
(34:49):
always worked hard.
Speaker 11 (34:50):
Bias displayed an infectious personality throughout his career. Here's Vicky
bullet with more on that.
Speaker 24 (34:57):
We'd always have to and all our practices running suicides
while they were coming in. So I said, well, can
they stand in the tunnel until.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
We were done, So that was always a big thing.
Speaker 24 (35:09):
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.
Speaker 13 (35:20):
It was it was special.
Speaker 11 (35:22):
Bias could be spontaneous, silly and fun loving. John Johnson,
a freshman on Maryland's nineteen eighty sixteen, finally recalls his
recruiting trip to Maryland.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I remember, one of the biggest reasons why I came
was because the fact that when I got here, you know,
he and I were down there wrestling in the floor
for whatever.
Speaker 7 (35:43):
You know, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And I had no idea who Lynn Bias was when
I was at Senior Hospital.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
The time the time the moment I.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Hit the door, it was one of those things where
he's joking around, he and I and that horse playing
or whatever and wrestling in the flow and stuff like that,
just like he had known me all his life.
Speaker 11 (36:03):
You know. Jeff Baxter was Biased his roommate for four
years at Maryland for.
Speaker 19 (36:08):
A guy six for the basketball player, amazing dancers. We
would actually when we would have to have curfew, which
wasn't permitted. You're not for a game, and you couldn't
you could go out out, you couldn't go out the
apartment at all, couldn't leave it. You get bored. You're
(36:29):
getting 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 were fast. We would
just type, turn the music out. Then we would dance.
Be the funny myself and being it dancing. It's great,
not together, but just dancing. Say you go, okay, then
(36:53):
you go. It would be funny as I mean okay,
here I mean. And that's how it was just hilarious.
Speaker 11 (36:59):
Biases dancing interest at least once got him in trouble.
After a win against NC State in nineteen eighty six, Baxter,
Johnson and Bias attended a party in Raleigh with an
NC State player and returned past curfew.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I'll never forget it.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
The annual Freak Mama contest Lama, something they did every year.
I call you Chuckie Brown and all those guys and
guys from DC.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I think Baxter know him pretty well or whatever, but
we had him. I don't regret it at all.
Speaker 11 (37:32):
We had a great time.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Oh man, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 11 (37:38):
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 nineteen eighty four. Miriam Lejay,
a friend at Maryland, recalled Bias was not as happy
(37:58):
go lucky as he approached his senior season.
Speaker 27 (38:02):
I saw that he was weighted down. And as time
goes on, you can see I don't want to say
it's less joy, but you can you could you see
that his personality is still there, but you can feel
that he's he's weighted down, like there's something weighing on him.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Now.
Speaker 27 (38:18):
He wasn't specific with me about what it was. I
don't think he signed.
Speaker 22 (38:22):
Up for.
Speaker 27 (38:24):
The weight of you know, the weight of his of
his talent, the weight of you know, the weight of
his gift.
Speaker 11 (38:33):
During repeated visits Bias made to Wagner, his high school coach,
Wagner noticed Bias becoming more concerned about increased pressures during
his senior year. We would just we'd walk the halls.
Speaker 8 (38:46):
I wouldn't raise the issue used it walls at your
high school.
Speaker 17 (38:49):
It wasn't usually wasn't about basketball.
Speaker 8 (38:54):
I know at one point where media and other people
started to absorb more.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Of his time and attention than.
Speaker 17 (39:06):
The people that he came from.
Speaker 11 (39:08):
Walker Bias's mentor recalled that 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.
Speaker 19 (39:25):
I didn't see him feeling the pressure changes they have
for other changes. It's of him getting fatter, have probably
becoming more vocal. I could be vocal because we were
co captives, but he could be much more imposing, much.
Speaker 11 (39:43):
More imposing the suspension of Bias, Baxter and Johnson came
in a challenging time for Maryland. The win against NC
State 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 or a chance
to receive an NCAA bid. Maryland then faced top ranked
(40:05):
North Carolina and Chapel Hill. It would feature two plays
by Bias that defined his career. In a game where
he scored thirty five points.
Speaker 9 (40:14):
A crowded more than twenty two thousand, it's no hand
to watch the Tar Heels take on the Maryland Tarrelman.
Speaker 11 (40:20):
The signature play of Bias' career came with Maryland down
by nine with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.
Speaker 28 (40:27):
At the DVSN sent Bias from outside and he got it.
Speaker 9 (40:31):
It was Lenn Bias with twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
O one Stay on tail.
Speaker 11 (40:36):
What a play by Bias.
Speaker 10 (40:38):
Ho Lake Cow and I just stood there for a
little while. Kenny Smith had his back turned as soon
as he threw the ball, and I just came and
anticipated and smacked him down and then came right to
my hands and I was nowhere.
Speaker 11 (40:48):
I looked up, I was under the basket. I just
jumped up and regulation ended in a tie. At the
start of overtime, the television announcers felt the need to
acknowledge the effort of Bias so far.
Speaker 28 (41:00):
If you joined us late, you've missed one of the
great performances that I certainly I've seen all year.
Speaker 9 (41:05):
And I think Danviton Turley made.
Speaker 28 (41:06):
Winny Bias thirty three points. He's has been absolutely vegnave
since five rebounds. It's ree assist, couple of blocks in
the steel. I mean he has been abthing.
Speaker 11 (41:17):
Bias was not done with his heroics. With Maryland ahead
by one and fifteen seconds remaining in overtime, a defensive
play by Bias secured the win.
Speaker 20 (41:27):
Now to Kenny Smith.
Speaker 12 (41:27):
Scott Clucks down the ten game. Cluck is down to
hit Tame Smith one on one with Gatlin.
Speaker 9 (41:31):
Cutt fights throws it up.
Speaker 12 (41:33):
Pluck the way boxer comes down when it dribbles out
of topic to Bias. Quss Cork to Charles ten seconds
hamad in mine of course Cork.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
Custer bucks to.
Speaker 9 (41:41):
The tops one ups up number one Bock Carolina.
Speaker 11 (41:44):
Dan Bonner has been an analyst on college basketball broadcast
since nineteen eighty one. He worked that game and vividly
remembers that play.
Speaker 17 (41:53):
As he went up to block that shot, it was
down close to the basket.
Speaker 7 (41:57):
I distinctly heard in my year through.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
The mic that was trying to get effects. I heard
him say give me that.
Speaker 18 (42:08):
And I thought that that was in this particular situation
that sort of defined for me the type of game
he had.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
He basically told North Carolina throughout that entire game, even.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Though they trailed most of the game.
Speaker 15 (42:22):
Basically, his actions during the game were telling them give
me that.
Speaker 6 (42:26):
And you know, in those days and you don't do
it anymore, But when I was growing up.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
We didn't have AAU. That's what guys did all the time.
When they blocked your shot, they would yell, give me that.
And so it just impressed me that here in this situation.
Speaker 25 (42:40):
In this moment, and everybody knew it was a big
moment that this would holler out give me that.
Speaker 11 (42:47):
The performance by Bias and the win over North Carolina
wasn't even his most dominant game of the season. In
January that year, Bias scored Maryland's first ten points and
ended with forty. One game against Duke, he made fourteen
of twenty field goals in all thirteen of his free throws.
Jay Billis was a senior at Duke that year and
(43:09):
he remembers that game very well.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
The memory was, we couldn't stop him, and guys were
coming back to the bench saying, I'm trying to foul him.
Speaker 7 (43:16):
I can't even fowl him. We knew how good he was.
Speaker 6 (43:19):
Our players were ever in awe of anyone you know,
there were only a few players that I heard our
best players talk about with reverence back then.
Speaker 7 (43:32):
One was Jordan, the other was Bias.
Speaker 11 (43:36):
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, Olden
Polynice blocked a Bias shot. He then pointed at Bias
(43:57):
as he lay on the ground. Bias got his revenge
late in the first half, and the rematch on March first.
Speaker 9 (44:07):
Andrew Kennedy inside the Plony mister Shot got his own rebound.
Speaker 11 (44:12):
Kevin Shean, a sportscaster and the Washington DC area, attended
that game. He explained what happened on his podcast during
an interview with Dave Ungrady, a producer of this podcast series.
Speaker 12 (44:27):
And he played his final game at cole against Virginia.
Olden Polonies put up a shot and I was very close.
Speaker 15 (44:35):
To the crews.
Speaker 7 (44:37):
I want to play.
Speaker 12 (44:40):
Like that, And you heard Leonard go up in Snaggett
mid air and say get that shit out of here,
and he.
Speaker 7 (44:47):
Threw it into the fourth row, jo.
Speaker 9 (44:50):
Len Bias intimidate Polonies first shot and then block the
next one.
Speaker 11 (44:56):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 7 (44:56):
See Quinton Jones.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Cappy it off.
Speaker 11 (45:00):
Is letton Polonies.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Know who did it?
Speaker 11 (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 had let him do
that to me. Bias scored twenty two points in that game.
A week later, Maryland lost a sixth ranked Georgia Tech
(45:24):
in an ACC semifinal. In an NCAA 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 loss
to UNLV. Afterward, in an image that foretold his future,
(45:47):
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 to the boy.
Speaker 14 (46:02):
Next.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
On Lembia's a mixed Legacy Barnstormer and Boston.
Speaker 11 (46:07):
I was a big fan of Lenny Bise.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
I just loved his game.
Speaker 18 (46:11):
He was a great drawl because you know he was
just some SLAMA player.
Speaker 22 (46:17):
He said.
Speaker 17 (46:18):
He said, I'm not interested in he said, there's something
about him that concerns me.
Speaker 22 (46:24):
I really was hoping that it was Boston and my
dream came through.
Speaker 27 (46:28):
That was what our biggest 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.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
This podcast series is based on the book Born Ready,
a mixed Legacy of Lemba's, published by Go Grady Media.
The series is produced by Go Grady Media in partnership
with Octagon Entertainment. This segment was produced by Dave Ngrady
and Don Marcus. It was written by Dave Grady and
edited by Don Marcus. The narrator was Rich Daniel, with
additional narration Jamal Williams. Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment.
(47:03):
Production assistance was produced by Kevin mcnelty, Tino Quagliata, Lauren Ross,
Georgia Brown, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannox and Enzo
al Varrengo. Matt Doherst is providing the social media assistance
special thanks to the University of Maryland and American Universities
of providing insights. The Decision Education Foundation is a content
(47:25):
and promotional partner of this podcast series. More information go
to do gradymedia dot com. This has been a production
of Go grading Media and the Eighth Side Network
This podcast is based in large part of the book
Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of Limby's. 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.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It's get it all from quick and he was so warriors.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Competitor and a warrior.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
You know, he wasn't there yet, but you could see
the athletic ability, and you see the potential.
Speaker 5 (00:29):
You know, God gave him a lot of talentedly gifted guy.
Speaker 6 (00:35):
There were only a few players that I heard our
best players talk about with reverence about that.
Speaker 7 (00:43):
One was Jordan's. The other was Biased. London would come by.
Speaker 8 (00:49):
School and we would just walk the halls and talk.
Sometimes got it and usually not about basketball.
Speaker 9 (00:57):
Mayas from outside and he got out bias with twenty
nine oh on Jawn, what a play Bias?
Speaker 10 (01:06):
Howay cow throwing it for a little while. Kenny Smith
had his back turned as soon as he threw the ball,
and I just came and anticipated and smacked it down
and then came right into my hands.
Speaker 11 (01:15):
And I was no where I looked up. I was
under the basket.
Speaker 12 (01:17):
I just jumped up and court 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 heard Leonard go up in snagg it in
mid air and say get that shit out of here,
and he threw it into the fourth row.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Up next to Lumby's mixed legacy Born Ready like the gold,
chains and beaks.
Speaker 11 (01:49):
At basketball practice one day in the winter of nineteen
seventy nine and Landover, Maryland, some kid kept peeking through
the doors to the gym at the Columbia Recreation Center,
also known as the Wreck. He was yelling to a
friend inside the gym. Johnny Walker, a coach leading the practice,
(02:11):
told the boy to ignore the interloper and to pay attention.
The curious boy finally gave up and walked away. That
boy was Lambias. A few months later, Walker spotted Bias
riding his bike a few blocks from the gym. Walker
(02:31):
started talking to him. 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
(02:53):
without some reservation. James Bias did stop by the wreck
at times to check on his son. Derek Wittenberg, was
a star at the Matha High School in North Carolina State.
He grew up playing on the outdoor courts at the
wreck and remembers seeing Lynn play on those courts.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
And Lynn was kind of like one of those kids
that you know, you could see the potential, but he,
you know, he wasn't there yet in high school, but
you could definitely see the potential.
Speaker 11 (03:24):
Lee Matkins was the director of and a coach at
the wreck. He saw Bias developed quickly.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
At first, kid he used to laugh at him, you know,
cause he was very awkward, you know, but he.
Speaker 13 (03:35):
Kept playing playing, and then like every day he was
up there, like seven days a week, and he developed
one of the basketball players I had.
Speaker 11 (03:42):
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
high school teammate of Bias.
Speaker 14 (04:03):
Waller told me Len was tall, lanky, and raw.
Speaker 15 (04:07):
He could shoot, was a very good athlete, but he
was a bit of a baby.
Speaker 14 (04:11):
Wasn't tough.
Speaker 11 (04:12):
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
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
(04:34):
ACC would see years later.
Speaker 15 (04:37):
Waller told me Walker would give us everything that wasn't
in the rule book. People were felling Bias all the time.
No matter how much you whined, Johnny was still killing him.
You're either step up or you don't.
Speaker 11 (04:49):
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 recalls winning every game
(05:09):
that summer. Columbia Park felt so confident that players on
the bench would read the newspaper. Toward the end of
Runaway Games. The workouts Walker designed for Bias and Waller
inspired younger players at the Wreck, most notably Lenn's younger
brother Jay and Clinton Vennible, later a high school teammate
(05:31):
of Jays.
Speaker 16 (05:32):
When Lennard and Ryan Ice and Johnny them guys used
to work out, they used to let Jay and myself
and Henry never got to play with us hang out
with them. We just get so excited, like it was
like Christmas, and He's like, you know, be quiet, you know,
don't do this, don't do that, And we just wanted
to hang out with these guys. But they teaching us
to know little tricks and watching those guys, you know,
(05:54):
how to pass.
Speaker 11 (05:55):
Ball workouts helped Bias develop into a different player. Waller
says it was like night and day. When Bias entered
Northwestern High School. The school's coach, Bob Wagner, considered Bias
a work in progress. A problem was lens heightened emotions.
Speaker 17 (06:14):
The jumping abiltie was there, the competitiveness was there, shutting
the mouth down. And what I would basically do there
I let him play in some men's leagues with guys
that I knew it. Wo brough him up a little bit,
but they would also talk to him and not physically
hurt him or injure him.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
He'd heard him, and.
Speaker 17 (06:36):
You've got to get the mouth shut so the mind
can functions of the body can play.
Speaker 11 (06:41):
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
included such legends as Bobby Knight, Chuck Daily at QB Brown.
College coaches scouted the top high school talent in the country.
(07:05):
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 with
Bias and saw his friend transformed as a player.
Speaker 15 (07:24):
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.
Speaker 11 (07:35):
Buzz Peterson first saw Bias play at the Five Star Camp.
Peterson was a top high school player from North Carolina
and was later Michael Jordan's teammate at the University of
North Carolina.
Speaker 14 (07:47):
You could you could see that.
Speaker 18 (07:49):
I mean, are's tons of athleticability, you know, more of
a two foot jumper than could really explode and get
up in the air.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
It just it just it was unlimited. And he had
this kind of a.
Speaker 18 (08:03):
Personality that you know, he was he would soap things
in and and he was this easy to approach.
Speaker 11 (08:12):
Was this one of.
Speaker 18 (08:12):
These guys the smile, you know, put his arm around you,
you know, poke you here and there. But when he's
on a court, boy, he was pretty Dagham good.
Speaker 11 (08:23):
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.
Speaker 15 (08:38):
Waller told me we saw Jordan sitting on a bench
and Larry said he wanted to introduce him to his
home boys. Larry introduced me as my nickname Ice. Jordan said,
they call me Black Ice.
Speaker 11 (08:53):
Waller, Peterson, Bias, and Jordan's spent nights at the camp
talking about their basketball dreams. The following year, Waller and
Bias played a pickup game in Colefield House on the
Maryland campus 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
(09:18):
at the five Star camp. Sally played four years at
Georgia Tech against Bias. He was later the number twelve
selection in the nineteen eighty six 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 Len.
Speaker 19 (09:38):
Bias said, I'm going against Billy today and I'm going
to destroy him. Lenny Bias was busted and Billy Thompson's
but so bad that Billy pump Fake Billy went the
air and he cut Lenny's head. Lenny had to go
get stitches. I said, did you go into town to
get those stitches? He said, not before I took Billy
(09:59):
t the town. Every scout's going to realize why Now,
That's exactly what his mentality was.
Speaker 11 (10:06):
Growing up some ten miles from the Maryland campus, Bias
found 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 Grisel. Bias and Waller often walked from Northwestern
High School to the Maryland campus, a distance of about
(10:28):
one mile. There, they dreamed about being basketball stars at
the school and spent time with Ernie Graham, one of
Maryland's top players at the time. They lifted weights in
cole Fieldhouse and played pickup games with Graham and other
Maryland players.
Speaker 15 (10:45):
Waller told me, we go to his room, We go
to with Jim and play ball. We were so blessed,
we were so happy.
Speaker 11 (10:54):
Graham remembers Bias as a nice, enthusiastic kid who smiled
and joked around a lot.
Speaker 15 (11:01):
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.
Speaker 14 (11:15):
He kept everybody laughing.
Speaker 11 (11:17):
At Northwestern, 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 ACC Player of the Year at Duke.
Speaker 13 (11:31):
And I just always respected guys who really worked on
the craft. I mean, you know, when you love the
game and you're passionate about it, you know you're gonna
put whatever time it takes to become great at it.
And I could tell he was doing that because there
wasn't a time I didn't seehim getting better and better.
Speaker 11 (11:46):
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 Dawkins and Billy Thompson, who helped
Louisville win a national title in nineteen eighty six. Howard
(12:08):
Garfinkel started the camp in nineteen sixty six and ran
it for forty two years.
Speaker 15 (12:15):
Garfinkel told me he was one of the top ten
or fifteen best ever at our camp. He was an
extraterrestrial athlete and a great scorer, and he was a
great person, very likable.
Speaker 11 (12:27):
Bias' senior year at Northwestern started slowly. The team lost
four of its first five games. A lot had to
do with Bias' suspension earlier in the year.
Speaker 8 (12:39):
His senior year, I sat Leonard down for two weeks. Now,
people don't under it was academic reasons. He had a
couple of season classes. He was a smart kid. We
want to make sure he was going to get his
golfline scores to go to school. He's definitely better than
a C student any subject.
Speaker 11 (12:56):
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 making sure you
had the talent to back it up.
Speaker 8 (13:10):
Leonard was a warrior's a compeditor 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
were up in Boston in a tournament, AAU tournament. Guys
are just warming. I mean just like his senior year.
I mean people, the referees, they physically he took a beating,
(13:32):
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 shot man. 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 you could never retaliate because referees
(13:52):
always see the second.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Thing that occurred.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
But you could, yeah, what a warrior does and on
the play, it's from the play.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Now you might.
Speaker 8 (14:01):
Found me real hard. I don't value back right away.
I wait till later on or a game later and
you're just going to relax or going for a layup,
and you know, all of a sudden, you know you're
laid out.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
On the ground.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
It's so sad.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You're listening to Lembias the Mixed Legacy on the Eighth
Side Network.
Speaker 11 (14:21):
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. Bias scored eighteen
points and had thirteen rebounds. Bias later joined Dawkins on
a DC area All Star team that beat a team
(14:42):
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 eighteen against
a team that featured future NBA stars Brad Doherty and
Del Curry.
Speaker 13 (15:04):
They 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 Americas small over
the country's.
Speaker 7 (15:13):
A big deal in our city.
Speaker 13 (15:15):
And we were able to win that game and we
shared d MVP.
Speaker 11 (15:19):
Bias considered a few other colleges besides Maryland. On a
trip to Oregon State, Bias was led around campus by
Ac Green, who later played seventeen seasons in the NBA.
Waller says that Bias came home and pressed that Green
drove a Lincoln town Car. While visiting the University of
(15:41):
San Francisco, Bias watched Quinton 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.
Speaker 15 (16:00):
Waller told me, all of a sudden, he started lifting
weights with his legs, and.
Speaker 11 (16:06):
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 NC State was Bias'
first choice, based in part on an enjoyable campus visit.
Speaker 15 (16:30):
Walker told me NC State did a lot of things
down there for him.
Speaker 14 (16:35):
He had a good time. They lived well down there.
Speaker 11 (16:38):
Wittenberg, who was finishing his junior year at NC State
when Bias took his visit, says that he was struck
at how introverted Bias was at the time. And he
had a.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Wonderful person out that dikes a smile.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
But I don't think he.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Was just outgoing guy that you would say, Lenny, it's
over here, Lenny's over there.
Speaker 7 (16:59):
I didn't see that, and.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
It's certainly been on the business.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
He was one of the few guys I could see
just comfortable stay 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 Northwest, and I
think that he was very comfortable standing at home.
Speaker 11 (17:18):
The influence of Bias's father, James, was stronger than the
appeal of NC State. That, combined with Bias's passion for Maryland,
convinced lend to stay 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
(17:39):
Bias was going to Maryland, and for a time, Sally said,
he and Dawkins considered it too.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
We were going to go to Maryland and be.
Speaker 19 (17:48):
Him, Johnny Dawkins were going to be the big three
before Lebron even knew you could do that.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
But left to Giselle.
Speaker 19 (17:56):
He told me that I would I would have to
play behind Ben Coleman, and I didn't like that. Johnny
Dawkins said, well, I heard I could start at Duke,
so we all agreed. You know, hey, lady, you stay
in and Johnny Dalks I didn't want to stay home.
It's too much pressure, too many tickets, too much stuff.
(18:20):
So we all picked different places to be.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
A acc.
Speaker 11 (18:25):
Dawkins was an immediate star for Duke as a freshman,
leading the Blue Devils in scoring and minutes played. Sally
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 Drizzell altered his shooting style, getting Bias to
(18:48):
release the ball at the height of his jump. Bias
would later say he was not comfortable with the change
until his junior year, but Bias did not relish his
first year at Maryland. He felt that Drizzell wanted him
to focus too much on defense. Drizzel matched him against
such top players as Ralph Sampson, a three time College
(19:08):
Player of the Year, and Clyde Drexler, later at ten
time NBA All Star. Johnny Walker remembers Bias asking him
during the season to contact NC State about transferring there
the next year.
Speaker 15 (19:22):
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.
Speaker 14 (19:31):
He finally got tired of it. Here's a guy who's.
Speaker 15 (19:34):
Been a scorer, and you're asking him to not shoot
the ball. Scoring is all he's done, and now you
don't do that.
Speaker 11 (19:40):
Here's Bias's teammate, Jeff Baxter.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Glenn actually asked Johnny to reach out to n State.
I do know that State was ready for him. We
were ready to take for now.
Speaker 11 (19:51):
I do know that this year, a meeting before the
end of the season between Bias and Drizzell resolved their differences.
And after his first year, Bias 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.
(20:12):
During his sophomore year, Maryland was ten and one when
they hosted North Carolina on January twelfth, nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 9 (20:20):
This is cole Field House overflowing the fans to watch
what could be the game of the year with number
one North Carolina against fifth rank Maryland.
Speaker 11 (20:28):
It would be Michael Jordan's last year with Carolina, setting
up a classic clash between Jordan and Bias. Bias scored
twenty four in the game and Jordan had twenty one,
leading Carolina to a twelve point win. It was a
game that plays Bias within the national conversation of top
college players. Bias was the second leading scorer that season
(20:52):
for Maryland, which finished second in the ACC, but Bias
was not selected to the All ACC team. That prompted
Bias to make a bold proclamation. Walder remembers receiving a
phone call from Bias about that.
Speaker 15 (21:09):
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 ACC and win the MVP of
the tournament.
Speaker 11 (21:22):
He did, leading Maryland to its first ACC Conference title
since nineteen fifty eight, and the final against Duke, Bias
scored twenty six points.
Speaker 9 (21:33):
Pigs all his block twenty one seconds away from the victory,
leading by eleven.
Speaker 20 (21:38):
Right here the time out was Magan Bye do and
the Maryland people celebrate him. Ben Bullman flapping his coach
on the back of hands, laps all a round the.
Speaker 11 (21:52):
Maryl Aventure Johnny Dawkins was a sophomore on Duke's team
that year.
Speaker 13 (21:57):
He was terrific. Again, you know, he stalled just making
clay after play. I just, like I said, it was
very difficult to guard because he did so many things,
whether it's shooting the ball from the perimeter, whether it's
you know, finishing around the basket, offensive rebounds, getting out
in the lane and running. I mean, he just was
like I say he was. He was so well rounded
as a player and can't find too many faults in
his game. And those guys are the hardest ones to defend.
Speaker 11 (22:20):
As a freshman, Bias was a stubborn student. Ben Coleman,
a senior center on the ACC title team said Bias
did not take criticism well as a freshman, that it
was difficult to talk to him, but that changed his
sophomore year. After his sophomore season, Bias stressed increasing his strength.
(22:43):
Feral Edmunds, an All American tight end at Maryland, remembers
Bias working out with Maryland players that summer.
Speaker 15 (22:52):
Feral Edmunds told me he would do a lot of reps,
not a lot of weight to endurance. It was far
and then to see a basket ball player working out
with the football players.
Speaker 14 (23:02):
He would challenge us.
Speaker 15 (23:04):
If you did fifteen reps and he thought he could
do it, he'd try and beat you.
Speaker 14 (23:09):
He loved competition. He was challenged by everybody.
Speaker 11 (23:13):
Frank Costello was Maryland's strength coach at the time. He
compares Bias to another athlete from Maryland, Rinaldo Nehemiah. He
set world records in the hurdles at Maryland in the
late seventies when Costello was the school's track coach.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
You know, God gave him a lot of talent. He's
a genetically gifted guy. He has a high level of
fast swooch muscle fibers and he knows how to use them.
People talk about athletic ability, we're talking about the smoothness
of coordination, how to control his power, how to control
all his strength, and he could do it exceptionally well,
(23:54):
and he could do it and make it look easy.
Speaker 11 (23:56):
John Philbin worked with Costello as the head strength coach
for men's basketball during bias freshman year. Over the course
of three decades, Philbin later was a US Olympic head
Bob sled coach, and a conditioning coach in the NFL
as well as Major League Baseball.
Speaker 21 (24:18):
His physique was probably like no other athlete I've ever
worked with. The only one that might compare would be
probably Herscha 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
(24:41):
fifteen good rips with two hundred and twenty five pounds
and that wasn't bouncing off the chest and doing them
really quickly. That was just bro He had not done
a program up to that point. And then we did
the squads with ended up being two seventy five and
he did. He ended up doing fifteen reps with those.
(25:04):
To give you an idea the level of power and
strength that he naturally had.
Speaker 15 (25:10):
By the time you finished that year, did you test
him again?
Speaker 21 (25:13):
Well, we did, and he ended up going to forty
five and he ended up getting eighteen reps and then
three in a quarter with the squad. He 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 more if
(25:36):
he really wanted to do more.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
He was motivated to do more.
Speaker 21 (25:41):
His strength levels were off the charts. Nobody could compare well.
The bottom line is that the guy was a freak.
He was very flexible, he was explosive. We did vertical jump.
He was forty four point five vertical straight up, you know,
no step in. When he stepped in, he was forty
(26:02):
eight to fifty. The power output was just exceptional, beyond
anything I've ever seen him in any sport.
Speaker 11 (26:10):
I love the dump.
Speaker 10 (26:11):
That's you know, that's basically some of my game right there,
just jumping and dunk.
Speaker 7 (26:14):
And I loved the dumb That's something.
Speaker 22 (26:16):
I did every since I was in junior high school,
and I just keep on doing it.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
It's not just one thing like the exceptional strength or
exceptional speed. It's a combination of all those things you
know develop a good athlete. It's like a chemist for
a chemistry set, you know, fortius and this, and he
mix them all together. Where he had all those chemicals,
you didn't have to like, Oh man, this guy will
be good if I can get him a little bit quicker,
(26:40):
a little bit faster.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
This he had it. Then he had it.
Speaker 11 (26:44):
ESPN basketball analyst Jay Billis played at Duke against Bias
for four years.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
By the time he became a sophomore and was, you know,
sort of the lead dog for Maryland.
Speaker 7 (26:57):
His his athleticism was off the track.
Speaker 11 (27:00):
Here's Bias. His teammate and classmate Jeff Baxter, another star
player out of the Washington DC area.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Ley coming out of high school was not in the
University of Maryland.
Speaker 19 (27:15):
But if you ever seen a player to stop it
blossom well and just growing and all.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Of a sudden talent started to come out from everywhere.
Speaker 11 (27:25):
It was Baxter recalls and played during one game that
was symbolic of the magical moves Bias could make.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I never forget.
Speaker 19 (27:35):
We were playing Georgia Tech and Lee was in the
baseline and he was shooting with his right hand. John
Sally came to block and he was near his right hand.
Lenny Swiss to his left hand on the baseline and
shot it great Armad took his hat off through it,
(27:56):
and they had to stop the game.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Because they weren't He was the most It was the
craziest thing. So would I remember that one move?
Speaker 19 (28:05):
No, But I do know he can shoot with 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 fout shot, he said,
hit him, hit a foust shot.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It's free.
Speaker 11 (28:26):
I mean, he was so like being able to do everything.
Speaker 19 (28:30):
You gotta be able to do everything as a ballplayer
to call yourself a total ballplayer.
Speaker 11 (28:34):
Ed Woods was a six foot seven inch walk on
forward from Maryland in nineteen eighty four. He was able
to witness Bias do things that few have ever seen.
Speaker 23 (28:45):
Len Bias would do something that you just like, I
just can't believe he 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 that out
of the air, and it's and you're just, you know,
everything kind of stops, and everybody's just like, holy macklem
(29:08):
he's just a man among children and toying with us,
and you know he gets something underneath, and it's you know,
the little hack a shack. I mean, that's that's your
only defense. And you know, because he's going to take
it up and dunk on you because just because he could.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You're listening to Limbias, the mixed Legacy on the eighth
Side Network.
Speaker 11 (29:41):
Bias inspired some players on the women's basketball team as well.
Vicky Bullet was an All American at Maryland and was
the first player allocated in the very beginning of the
WNBA draft in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 24 (29:54):
So we just start imitating. We'll go to his practices
and we'll watch and see what he does. We tried
in practice. He taught us in versatility. He goes, well,
who said you couldn't take anybody off the dribble from
the free throw line? Who said you couldn't shoot a
turner round jumper on the low block outside of the lague.
So I think he had that guard like mentality that
was just evolving and now today, if you watch him
(30:17):
his basketball, I mean, Giannis is bringing the ball up
the court. You didn't see that much from a big guy.
And I think then 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.
Speaker 11 (30:34):
Bias showed his improved mental and physical maturity throughout his
junior year. He was the ACC'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
Nowle said Bias had the potential to be one of
the best forwards to ever play the game. Many, including Bias,
(30:58):
thought he was indeed ready for the NBA, but one
prominent voice encouraged Bias to stay another year. Celtics president
Read Aarbach, 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.
Speaker 22 (31:19):
When I talked to mid our back last year when
I was deciding whether the stay school of go hardship,
just about talking to him, I could tell it I
would really like to play for him or play in
his organization.
Speaker 11 (31:30):
At a dinner with Bias and his parents after his
junior year, Arbak told Bias that if he waited a year,
it would have proved Bias's chances of being drafted by
the Celtics.
Speaker 25 (31:42):
My wife and I and his mother and father, Lenny
and his coach.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
We sat down.
Speaker 25 (31:46):
I said, the most important thing is get some maturity.
Stay in school. You go out now, you'll be drafted fifteenth. Wait,
wait that extra year, you'll surely be in the lottery.
Get your degree, and you'll achieve something in life.
Speaker 11 (32:05):
Bias decided to stay another year at Maryland. Few were
as pleased as Drizell, a devout Christian, that Bias was returning.
The two had grown closer, in part after Bias became
a born again Christian while at Maryland. Sue Tyler, an
assistant athletic director, recalls being told about Bias sitting alone
(32:28):
and cole Fieldhouse reading a Bible.
Speaker 26 (32:31):
He had a Bible for a long time. He carried
a Bible with him around the classes. It was interesting
that I recall seeing him more times than not. I
would see him having a Bible along with his books
if he had him visible.
Speaker 11 (32:46):
Miriam Lejay became good friends with Bias while she attended Maryland.
They met while she was a tutor for the basketball team.
Speaker 14 (32:55):
He specifically was very approachable.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
So we had the Stamp Union.
Speaker 27 (32:59):
You can walk down you know, the campus drive where
you can kind of walk in the back, and I
would kind of take a short cut to get in
my classes through the back, and he'd always be driving
and he'd say, hey, you know, jump the car, let's
go to McDonald's. I can remember this vividly, and I'd say,
you know, Lenny, I gotta get a class.
Speaker 19 (33:15):
You know, I don't have time.
Speaker 27 (33:16):
It's like, oh, come on, let's you know, let's just
go to McDonald's really quick. I'll take you back and
then we go to McDonald's.
Speaker 11 (33:22):
Their friendship grew stronger with their common interest in Christianity.
Speaker 27 (33:27):
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 God for having created you, sustaining you.
Where your blessings come from, You're clear that it comes
from God and not somewhere else. So as I spoke
(33:49):
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 of a spiritual language that was rooted in
the Bible.
Speaker 11 (34:03):
Drizell's connection with Bias at times transcended Christianity. He cherished
a common interaction between he and Bias before games. Drizzel
would often ask him, len are you ready, and Lean
would respond coach, I was born ready. Drizzell praised Bias's
(34:23):
work ethic in practice.
Speaker 15 (34:26):
Lefty Grisel 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. He was everything you
want in a player. He never got hurt, was never late,
(34:49):
always worked hard.
Speaker 11 (34:50):
Bias displayed an infectious personality throughout his career. Here's Vicky
bullet with more on that.
Speaker 24 (34:57):
We'd always have to and all our practices running suicides
while they were coming in. So I said, well, can
they stand in the tunnel until.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
We were done, So that was always a big thing.
Speaker 24 (35:09):
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.
Speaker 13 (35:20):
It was it was special.
Speaker 11 (35:22):
Bias could be spontaneous, silly and fun loving. John Johnson,
a freshman on Maryland's nineteen eighty sixteen, finally recalls his
recruiting trip to Maryland.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I remember, one of the biggest reasons why I came
was because the fact that when I got here, you know,
he and I were down there wrestling in the floor
for whatever.
Speaker 7 (35:43):
You know, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And I had no idea who Lynn Bias was when
I was at Senior Hospital.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
The time the time the moment I.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Hit the door, it was one of those things where
he's joking around, he and I and that horse playing
or whatever and wrestling in the flow and stuff like that,
just like he had known me all his life.
Speaker 11 (36:03):
You know. Jeff Baxter was Biased his roommate for four
years at Maryland for.
Speaker 19 (36:08):
A guy six for the basketball player, amazing dancers. We
would actually when we would have to have curfew, which
wasn't permitted. You're not for a game, and you couldn't
you could go out out, you couldn't go out the
apartment at all, couldn't leave it. You get bored. You're
(36:29):
getting 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 were fast. We would
just type, turn the music out. Then we would dance.
Be the funny myself and being it dancing. It's great,
not together, but just dancing. Say you go, okay, then
(36:53):
you go. It would be funny as I mean okay,
here I mean. And that's how it was just hilarious.
Speaker 11 (36:59):
Biases dancing interest at least once got him in trouble.
After a win against NC State in nineteen eighty six, Baxter,
Johnson and Bias attended a party in Raleigh with an
NC State player and returned past curfew.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I'll never forget it.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
The annual Freak Mama contest Lama, something they did every year.
I call you Chuckie Brown and all those guys and
guys from DC.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I think Baxter know him pretty well or whatever, but
we had him. I don't regret it at all.
Speaker 11 (37:32):
We had a great time.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Oh man, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 11 (37:38):
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 nineteen eighty four. Miriam Lejay,
a friend at Maryland, recalled Bias was not as happy
(37:58):
go lucky as he approached his senior season.
Speaker 27 (38:02):
I saw that he was weighted down. And as time
goes on, you can see I don't want to say
it's less joy, but you can you could you see
that his personality is still there, but you can feel
that he's he's weighted down, like there's something weighing on him.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Now.
Speaker 27 (38:18):
He wasn't specific with me about what it was. I
don't think he signed.
Speaker 22 (38:22):
Up for.
Speaker 27 (38:24):
The weight of you know, the weight of his of
his talent, the weight of you know, the weight of
his gift.
Speaker 11 (38:33):
During repeated visits Bias made to Wagner, his high school coach,
Wagner noticed Bias becoming more concerned about increased pressures during
his senior year. We would just we'd walk the halls.
Speaker 8 (38:46):
I wouldn't raise the issue used it walls at your
high school.
Speaker 17 (38:49):
It wasn't usually wasn't about basketball.
Speaker 8 (38:54):
I know at one point where media and other people
started to absorb more.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Of his time and attention than.
Speaker 17 (39:06):
The people that he came from.
Speaker 11 (39:08):
Walker Bias's mentor recalled that 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.
Speaker 19 (39:25):
I didn't see him feeling the pressure changes they have
for other changes. It's of him getting fatter, have probably
becoming more vocal. I could be vocal because we were
co captives, but he could be much more imposing, much.
Speaker 11 (39:43):
More imposing the suspension of Bias, Baxter and Johnson came
in a challenging time for Maryland. The win against NC
State 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 or a chance
to receive an NCAA bid. Maryland then faced top ranked
(40:05):
North Carolina and Chapel Hill. It would feature two plays
by Bias that defined his career. In a game where
he scored thirty five points.
Speaker 9 (40:14):
A crowded more than twenty two thousand, it's no hand
to watch the Tar Heels take on the Maryland Tarrelman.
Speaker 11 (40:20):
The signature play of Bias' career came with Maryland down
by nine with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.
Speaker 28 (40:27):
At the DVSN sent Bias from outside and he got it.
Speaker 9 (40:31):
It was Lenn Bias with twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
O one Stay on tail.
Speaker 11 (40:36):
What a play by Bias.
Speaker 10 (40:38):
Ho Lake Cow and I just stood there for a
little while. Kenny Smith had his back turned as soon
as he threw the ball, and I just came and
anticipated and smacked him down and then came right to
my hands and I was nowhere.
Speaker 11 (40:48):
I looked up, I was under the basket. I just
jumped up and regulation ended in a tie. At the
start of overtime, the television announcers felt the need to
acknowledge the effort of Bias so far.
Speaker 28 (41:00):
If you joined us late, you've missed one of the
great performances that I certainly I've seen all year.
Speaker 9 (41:05):
And I think Danviton Turley made.
Speaker 28 (41:06):
Winny Bias thirty three points. He's has been absolutely vegnave
since five rebounds. It's ree assist, couple of blocks in
the steel. I mean he has been abthing.
Speaker 11 (41:17):
Bias was not done with his heroics. With Maryland ahead
by one and fifteen seconds remaining in overtime, a defensive
play by Bias secured the win.
Speaker 20 (41:27):
Now to Kenny Smith.
Speaker 12 (41:27):
Scott Clucks down the ten game. Cluck is down to
hit Tame Smith one on one with Gatlin.
Speaker 9 (41:31):
Cutt fights throws it up.
Speaker 12 (41:33):
Pluck the way boxer comes down when it dribbles out
of topic to Bias. Quss Cork to Charles ten seconds
hamad in mine of course Cork.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
Custer bucks to.
Speaker 9 (41:41):
The tops one ups up number one Bock Carolina.
Speaker 11 (41:44):
Dan Bonner has been an analyst on college basketball broadcast
since nineteen eighty one. He worked that game and vividly
remembers that play.
Speaker 17 (41:53):
As he went up to block that shot, it was
down close to the basket.
Speaker 7 (41:57):
I distinctly heard in my year through.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
The mic that was trying to get effects. I heard
him say give me that.
Speaker 18 (42:08):
And I thought that that was in this particular situation
that sort of defined for me the type of game
he had.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
He basically told North Carolina throughout that entire game, even.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Though they trailed most of the game.
Speaker 15 (42:22):
Basically, his actions during the game were telling them give
me that.
Speaker 6 (42:26):
And you know, in those days and you don't do
it anymore, But when I was growing up.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
We didn't have AAU. That's what guys did all the time.
When they blocked your shot, they would yell, give me that.
And so it just impressed me that here in this situation.
Speaker 25 (42:40):
In this moment, and everybody knew it was a big
moment that this would holler out give me that.
Speaker 11 (42:47):
The performance by Bias and the win over North Carolina
wasn't even his most dominant game of the season. In
January that year, Bias scored Maryland's first ten points and
ended with forty. One game against Duke, he made fourteen
of twenty field goals in all thirteen of his free throws.
Jay Billis was a senior at Duke that year and
(43:09):
he remembers that game very well.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
The memory was, we couldn't stop him, and guys were
coming back to the bench saying, I'm trying to foul him.
Speaker 7 (43:16):
I can't even fowl him. We knew how good he was.
Speaker 6 (43:19):
Our players were ever in awe of anyone you know,
there were only a few players that I heard our
best players talk about with reverence back then.
Speaker 7 (43:32):
One was Jordan, the other was Bias.
Speaker 11 (43:36):
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, Olden
Polynice blocked a Bias shot. He then pointed at Bias
(43:57):
as he lay on the ground. Bias got his revenge
late in the first half, and the rematch on March first.
Speaker 9 (44:07):
Andrew Kennedy inside the Plony mister Shot got his own rebound.
Speaker 11 (44:12):
Kevin Shean, a sportscaster and the Washington DC area, attended
that game. He explained what happened on his podcast during
an interview with Dave Ungrady, a producer of this podcast series.
Speaker 12 (44:27):
And he played his final game at cole against Virginia.
Olden Polonies put up a shot and I was very close.
Speaker 15 (44:35):
To the crews.
Speaker 7 (44:37):
I want to play.
Speaker 12 (44:40):
Like that, And you heard Leonard go up in Snaggett
mid air and say get that shit out of here,
and he.
Speaker 7 (44:47):
Threw it into the fourth row, jo.
Speaker 9 (44:50):
Len Bias intimidate Polonies first shot and then block the
next one.
Speaker 11 (44:56):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 7 (44:56):
See Quinton Jones.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Cappy it off.
Speaker 11 (45:00):
Is letton Polonies.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Know who did it?
Speaker 11 (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 had let him do
that to me. Bias scored twenty two points in that game.
A week later, Maryland lost a sixth ranked Georgia Tech
(45:24):
in an ACC semifinal. In an NCAA 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 loss
to UNLV. Afterward, in an image that foretold his future,
(45:47):
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 to the boy.
Speaker 14 (46:02):
Next.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
On Lembia's a mixed Legacy Barnstormer and Boston.
Speaker 11 (46:07):
I was a big fan of Lenny Bise.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
I just loved his game.
Speaker 18 (46:11):
He was a great drawl because you know he was
just some SLAMA player.
Speaker 22 (46:17):
He said.
Speaker 17 (46:18):
He said, I'm not interested in he said, there's something
about him that concerns me.
Speaker 22 (46:24):
I really was hoping that it was Boston and my
dream came through.
Speaker 27 (46:28):
That was what our biggest 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.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
This podcast series is based on the book Born Ready,
a mixed Legacy of Lemba's, published by Go Grady Media.
The series is produced by Go Grady Media in partnership
with Octagon Entertainment. This segment was produced by Dave Ngrady
and Don Marcus. It was written by Dave Grady and
edited by Don Marcus. The narrator was Rich Daniel, with
additional narration Jamal Williams. Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment.
(47:03):
Production assistance was produced by Kevin mcnelty, Tino Quagliata, Lauren Ross,
Georgia Brown, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannox and Enzo
al Varrengo. Matt Doherst is providing the social media assistance
special thanks to the University of Maryland and American Universities
of providing insights. The Decision Education Foundation is a content
(47:25):
and promotional partner of this podcast series. More information go
to do gradymedia dot com. This has been a production
of Go grading Media and the Eighth Side Network
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