June 22, 2023 • 11 mins
As June 19th marks the anniversary of Len Bias's tragic death, we hear from Len's teammates and his mother Lonise Bias on their immediate reaction to hearing Len was in the hospital and that he had passed away.
More on the full story of the death of Len Bias and timeline of events surrounding the tragedy can be found in Ep 4 "His Final Hours" of this podcast series.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Len Bias A Mixed Legacy. The Interviews June nineteenth,
March thirty seven years from the death of former University
of Maryland basketball star Len Bias. He died of a
heart failure following a cocaine overdose. Born Ready A Mixed
Legacy is a sixteen episode podcast series that captures the
rich and compelling legacy of Bias, who many consider to
(00:26):
have been comparable to the superb talents of Michael Jordan.
In this episode of the Interviews, we relive the immediate
reaction of his death by some of those very close
to Bias. They include his mother, Lenise Bias, as well
as his teammates Jeff Baxter and Derrick Lewis. To start,
here's Lenise Bias.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's Ivan.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
If you won't believe us, But I never got to
see him before he died.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I didn't know I was.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Out, and when I had gotten back, and when I
had come back home.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
They said he had just laughed.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
And I's always teasing about long like.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I said that long like Rappel could have waited for me.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And then you know, we went on and you know
they said, well, he say he's going to be back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And you know, we're gonna do this, that and the other.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
We're laying there in bed on June nineteenth and a
call comes and I can What I remember clearly about
that morning is that the room was filled with so
much sunlight till it was almost like your eyes watered
when you opened your eyes.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
The sun was so bright. And uh. It was early
in the morning, about six thirty.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
The phone rang and it was someone saying that Lynn
was sick.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
He's at the hospital.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I said what, and so I told my husband he
said what, And we got up and we went to
the hospital.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
We got there and.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I saw the players outside crying and torn up, and
media all over the place.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And I was saying, well, what's going on. And when
we got in, they.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Said that Lenn had gotten sick, something that happened to him.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And I asked the the nurse.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
She said, we have him on life support. I said, well,
is he breathing on his own?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
She said no.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I said, is his heart beating? And she said no.
And it was one other thing I asked. I said, well,
he's gone and she said no, he's not gone. The
doctor isn't here yet. And in.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
My spirit.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I felt what I actually went through what I had
been thinking all of that time, what was in my spirit,
It wouldn't happen.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So it was almost a sense of a not a relief,
but a release.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
And he gave the official declaration, if you will, that
he's gone. And then everything fell, the pieces, everything, everything
went crazy. And we went in and we looked at
him and lying there and my husband, uh torn up,
(03:20):
just torn to pieces. And God had given me a
strength to stand there to look and to rub his
head and to get home. And then when we were done,
we got home, everybody was tore up from the floor.
I mean people were coming from everywhere crying. People could
not believe it. I mean when I got home, people
(03:43):
our little house was loaded with people in there, just everywhere.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
People couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I can remember seeing Adrian's branch, his dad on the
front porch when we got there.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
He was like, what is it true? Is true? Is
it true?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And then trying to get my children together, Jay and
Michelle and people in the house.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It was chaotic.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Here's Jeff Baxter. He begins recalling being woken up early
on June nineteenth by teammate David greg after Bias suffered
a seizure.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
He told me that some come come. Then he fell out.
Of course, I'm kind of delirious, not figuring out what
he's talking about.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So I go, look, he's in the liver room, laius
lazy living room. Was unconscious, Yeah, fawled out of the floor.
David was kind of like in the background. So he
really wasn't right there because I'm looking at him and
kneeled Dawn and I'm still looking at her, afraid to
(04:46):
touch him, afraid to lean listen to his heart, any
of that.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
Just like right there was he was he breathing at
I wasn't breathing as he was unconscious.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
My whole time when he was unconscious, I was thinking
that the necklace, the gold chain he had on his neck,
was the cause of it. So I reached and was
trying to move the necklace. And as I was actually
kind of trying to do that, the paramedics came. There's
(05:20):
the weirdest.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Thing, you know, Why would I think that at that point?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Who knows, but I was thinking of that that that's
what the cause was. So weird, yeah, man, because you know,
you think guy he was perfectly salty, so always big guns,
(05:46):
you know, just perfectly salty didn't need to get me
bigger at all, and it was strong, and how could
he be laying out on the floor dead. So what
I did I immediately once the paramedics. I couldn't find
(06:07):
the keys to my car to save my life. I
don't know where they were. Sometimes literally dropped my car.
I dropped his car, so I always do where his
keys were. That's it, hey, Finally, so I grabbed this keys,
I jumped in his car, and I ran every life.
But this is unknown me. This is what I didn't realize.
(06:30):
I ran a life to talk. Actually I got near
the hospital maybe about eight I don't even know how.
I don't know how I actually got there in the
sense of just reading the life. My mind was in
a whole different man. I get there. Everything's going on,
teammates there, Keith is in one corner.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Just fry. I mean, we're just we're losing. I can't
forget what's going on. Rugs.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
But I'm just saying he was my mindset. I've never
seen when he used the drugs, so my mind set
was run drugs. So I grabbed David Gregg six ten,
six nine, sixteen and I'm grabbed him by his jacket
and I pulled him to another part of the houspital
at the time, so I asked him he fell out?
Speaker 5 (07:26):
He found he fell out, He said why. I kept
asking what that?
Speaker 4 (07:30):
So I finally said it it was a drugs and
David started falling.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I mean he asked him. He screamed, screamed, what whaling
to squealing and at that point, I do drugs fall
But he never told you that. You just knew what from?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Yeah, he never he never he never really excited, never
really excited. He screamed out, but he never verbally sat
at all. At that point, I knew it was drugged.
And I was just actually dropped to the floor myself, crying,
(08:09):
just crying, just crying, trying.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
To figure this whole thing out.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
I do remember this biased though, coming out, kind of
hugging and consolant and just as calm. It's David Greg
just us just just hugging and it's gonna be all right, rubbing.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Everybody or a few or trying to get well.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I remember maybe a fear. I don't know if it's everybody.
I do know, I do know she was calm as hell. Yeah,
I'm very.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Knowing how you got to know her pretty well?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
What I did, I got to know her pretty well.
That surprised me, not because of her persona, but it's
surprised me because of the event that happened at that point.
I don't know how you can can be as calm
as she was. Again, not because of her personality. He
was like very yeah, a very strong woman. He was actually, uh,
(09:10):
you know, true Matrox out of the family. She controlled
that family without a doubt, without a doubt.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
She was she was the glue.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Here's Derek Lewis, a sophomore on the Maryland team. He
was walking to class that morning when he found out
something had happened to lend Bias.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
It was a seven maybe seven twenty seven, twenty five
and then someone chased me down.
Speaker 7 (09:33):
Across the chased me down across the small call me
to come back. I was like, man, I was like,
I believe you though I was studying all.
Speaker 8 (09:45):
Night for this test, I'm going to go past his
test and said now it was say something happened to Linny,
So you know, I went back and like, man, what's
what happened to his leg?
Speaker 6 (09:57):
Playing basketball? Is what I'm thinking? He said, no, he
say he's in the hospital. That wasn't in any hurry
to get there, like you know, you know how sprain
ankle was something. Oh, I'm gonna rust for that. So
I think I remember driving by myself, and when I
get there, you know, there's people walking around looking crazy
over over what I thought was a sprain or an
(10:20):
a c L tair or something like that.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Man his career is bestball bread and these people walking
around and I didn't. I didn't know him.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
So like that day, they said, well he's uh, he's
not he's not breathing, so he's not that.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
It's not meaning he's the he's laying down. He wouldn't
move when they brought him.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
In here, Jeff talking to Terry or David and saying,
you need to tell him, you need to tell him
what's wrong, Tell what happened.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Uh, because Jeff didn't. He said, you can tell them
what happened.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
You know, I'm still thinking of a c L for me,
And uh, yes, I just started to find out. They
said he was just unconscious, so I said that can't
be a need. I thought maybe had a harder type
of trouble, you know. Then his mom came out and
I was sitting in the room there and sparking.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
She said, he's.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Going len Bias A Mixed Legacy. The interviews was produced
by Davon Grady and Don Marcus. Clips of Lenise Bias
were provided by Howard University. Len Bias A Mixed Legacy
is distributed by the Eighth Side Network.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Just for Greatness and Laws, to let you known of
all other memories, remember me ho
Welcome to Len Bias A Mixed Legacy. The Interviews June nineteenth,
March thirty seven years from the death of former University
of Maryland basketball star Len Bias. He died of a
heart failure following a cocaine overdose. Born Ready A Mixed
Legacy is a sixteen episode podcast series that captures the
rich and compelling legacy of Bias, who many consider to
(00:26):
have been comparable to the superb talents of Michael Jordan.
In this episode of the Interviews, we relive the immediate
reaction of his death by some of those very close
to Bias. They include his mother, Lenise Bias, as well
as his teammates Jeff Baxter and Derrick Lewis. To start,
here's Lenise Bias.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's Ivan.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
If you won't believe us, But I never got to
see him before he died.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I didn't know I was.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Out, and when I had gotten back, and when I
had come back home.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
They said he had just laughed.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
And I's always teasing about long like.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I said that long like Rappel could have waited for me.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And then you know, we went on and you know
they said, well, he say he's going to be back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And you know, we're gonna do this, that and the other.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
We're laying there in bed on June nineteenth and a
call comes and I can What I remember clearly about
that morning is that the room was filled with so
much sunlight till it was almost like your eyes watered
when you opened your eyes.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
The sun was so bright. And uh. It was early
in the morning, about six thirty.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
The phone rang and it was someone saying that Lynn
was sick.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
He's at the hospital.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I said what, and so I told my husband he
said what, And we got up and we went to
the hospital.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
We got there and.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I saw the players outside crying and torn up, and
media all over the place.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And I was saying, well, what's going on. And when
we got in, they.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Said that Lenn had gotten sick, something that happened to him.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And I asked the the nurse.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
She said, we have him on life support. I said, well,
is he breathing on his own?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
She said no.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I said, is his heart beating? And she said no.
And it was one other thing I asked. I said, well,
he's gone and she said no, he's not gone. The
doctor isn't here yet. And in.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
My spirit.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
I felt what I actually went through what I had
been thinking all of that time, what was in my spirit,
It wouldn't happen.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So it was almost a sense of a not a relief,
but a release.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
And he gave the official declaration, if you will, that
he's gone. And then everything fell, the pieces, everything, everything
went crazy. And we went in and we looked at
him and lying there and my husband, uh torn up,
(03:20):
just torn to pieces. And God had given me a
strength to stand there to look and to rub his
head and to get home. And then when we were done,
we got home, everybody was tore up from the floor.
I mean people were coming from everywhere crying. People could
not believe it. I mean when I got home, people
(03:43):
our little house was loaded with people in there, just everywhere.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
People couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I can remember seeing Adrian's branch, his dad on the
front porch when we got there.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
He was like, what is it true? Is true? Is
it true?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And then trying to get my children together, Jay and
Michelle and people in the house.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It was chaotic.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Here's Jeff Baxter. He begins recalling being woken up early
on June nineteenth by teammate David greg after Bias suffered
a seizure.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
He told me that some come come. Then he fell out.
Of course, I'm kind of delirious, not figuring out what
he's talking about.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So I go, look, he's in the liver room, laius
lazy living room. Was unconscious, Yeah, fawled out of the floor.
David was kind of like in the background. So he
really wasn't right there because I'm looking at him and
kneeled Dawn and I'm still looking at her, afraid to
(04:46):
touch him, afraid to lean listen to his heart, any
of that.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
Just like right there was he was he breathing at
I wasn't breathing as he was unconscious.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
My whole time when he was unconscious, I was thinking
that the necklace, the gold chain he had on his neck,
was the cause of it. So I reached and was
trying to move the necklace. And as I was actually
kind of trying to do that, the paramedics came. There's
(05:20):
the weirdest.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Thing, you know, Why would I think that at that point?
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Who knows, but I was thinking of that that that's
what the cause was. So weird, yeah, man, because you know,
you think guy he was perfectly salty, so always big guns,
(05:46):
you know, just perfectly salty didn't need to get me
bigger at all, and it was strong, and how could
he be laying out on the floor dead. So what
I did I immediately once the paramedics. I couldn't find
(06:07):
the keys to my car to save my life. I
don't know where they were. Sometimes literally dropped my car.
I dropped his car, so I always do where his
keys were. That's it, hey, Finally, so I grabbed this keys,
I jumped in his car, and I ran every life.
But this is unknown me. This is what I didn't realize.
(06:30):
I ran a life to talk. Actually I got near
the hospital maybe about eight I don't even know how.
I don't know how I actually got there in the
sense of just reading the life. My mind was in
a whole different man. I get there. Everything's going on,
teammates there, Keith is in one corner.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Just fry. I mean, we're just we're losing. I can't
forget what's going on. Rugs.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
But I'm just saying he was my mindset. I've never
seen when he used the drugs, so my mind set
was run drugs. So I grabbed David Gregg six ten,
six nine, sixteen and I'm grabbed him by his jacket
and I pulled him to another part of the houspital
at the time, so I asked him he fell out?
Speaker 5 (07:26):
He found he fell out, He said why. I kept
asking what that?
Speaker 4 (07:30):
So I finally said it it was a drugs and
David started falling.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I mean he asked him. He screamed, screamed, what whaling
to squealing and at that point, I do drugs fall
But he never told you that. You just knew what from?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Yeah, he never he never he never really excited, never
really excited. He screamed out, but he never verbally sat
at all. At that point, I knew it was drugged.
And I was just actually dropped to the floor myself, crying,
(08:09):
just crying, just crying, trying.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
To figure this whole thing out.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
I do remember this biased though, coming out, kind of
hugging and consolant and just as calm. It's David Greg
just us just just hugging and it's gonna be all right, rubbing.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Everybody or a few or trying to get well.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I remember maybe a fear. I don't know if it's everybody.
I do know, I do know she was calm as hell. Yeah,
I'm very.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Knowing how you got to know her pretty well?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
What I did, I got to know her pretty well.
That surprised me, not because of her persona, but it's
surprised me because of the event that happened at that point.
I don't know how you can can be as calm
as she was. Again, not because of her personality. He
was like very yeah, a very strong woman. He was actually, uh,
(09:10):
you know, true Matrox out of the family. She controlled
that family without a doubt, without a doubt.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
She was she was the glue.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Here's Derek Lewis, a sophomore on the Maryland team. He
was walking to class that morning when he found out
something had happened to lend Bias.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
It was a seven maybe seven twenty seven, twenty five
and then someone chased me down.
Speaker 7 (09:33):
Across the chased me down across the small call me
to come back. I was like, man, I was like,
I believe you though I was studying all.
Speaker 8 (09:45):
Night for this test, I'm going to go past his
test and said now it was say something happened to Linny,
So you know, I went back and like, man, what's
what happened to his leg?
Speaker 6 (09:57):
Playing basketball? Is what I'm thinking? He said, no, he
say he's in the hospital. That wasn't in any hurry
to get there, like you know, you know how sprain
ankle was something. Oh, I'm gonna rust for that. So
I think I remember driving by myself, and when I
get there, you know, there's people walking around looking crazy
over over what I thought was a sprain or an
(10:20):
a c L tair or something like that.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Man his career is bestball bread and these people walking
around and I didn't. I didn't know him.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
So like that day, they said, well he's uh, he's
not he's not breathing, so he's not that.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
It's not meaning he's the he's laying down. He wouldn't
move when they brought him.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
In here, Jeff talking to Terry or David and saying,
you need to tell him, you need to tell him
what's wrong, Tell what happened.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Uh, because Jeff didn't. He said, you can tell them
what happened.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
You know, I'm still thinking of a c L for me,
And uh, yes, I just started to find out. They
said he was just unconscious, so I said that can't
be a need. I thought maybe had a harder type
of trouble, you know. Then his mom came out and
I was sitting in the room there and sparking.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
She said, he's.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Going len Bias A Mixed Legacy. The interviews was produced
by Davon Grady and Don Marcus. Clips of Lenise Bias
were provided by Howard University. Len Bias A Mixed Legacy
is distributed by the Eighth Side Network.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Just for Greatness and Laws, to let you known of
all other memories, remember me ho
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!