Below is an excerpt from Episode 5: "Someone Had to Pay." The full podcast is available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, through the Book of Basketball 2.0 feed. Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, says Bias' death prompted a . This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Derrick Curry (whose original sentence was nearly three times that served by most murderers) was 31 years old when his sentence was commuted by President Clinton in 2001. The night after his brother's death, Jay Bias, who would turn 16 the next day, went out to play a basketball game as a tribute to a brother who had always warned him away from drugs. Son of Lonise Bias and James Bias. LEONARD K. BIAS, a 22-year-old Black male, died as a result of cocaine intoxication, which interrupted the normal electrical control of his heartbeat, resulting in the sudden onset of seizures and cardiac arrest. His family wasn't doing bad. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. We can argue these issues all we like, but I believe that, because the answers to such questions can never be determined, the questions have become irrelevant, obscured by the mythology that Autopsy No. According to reports, the sales clerk had accused Jay of flirting with his wife, and Jay left and got into his car, and the suspect drove up behind him in the parking lot and shot him in the back. "That's what it's all about. Bias was a back-to-back ACC Player o. He was pronounced dead in the same Leland Memorial Hospital emergency room . This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. They would talk sometimes about what happened, and they would talk sometimes about what would have happened if that night had never happened. Leonard K. Bias Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Everything Lonise Bias preaches is backed by a moral certitude you can't help but find compelling. After completing his noon broadcast, Statter received a call from a source, who told him cocaine had been found in Bias' system. This was the dawn of the era of image consciousness among athletes: The burgeoning success of Michael Jordan had opened a whole new world, that of the athlete as sponsorial cipher. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. . One broadcaster, George Michael, actually broke down on the air. But here we are, and what's done is done. "It's a little hard for me to describe how he viewed things," Dorfman says. The grass atop his grave is more brown than green, and the three bouquets left by his mother have long since been scorched and wilted by the summer sun. There were shoe contracts and endorsement deals to be cultivated and protected. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. UPPER MARLBORO, Md. TV Shows. And leaks abounded: The whole thing took on the grand scope and skewed morality of a Tom Wolfe novel: Driesell, the longtime Maryland coach, was accused of covering up his initial knowledge of Bias' cocaine use (he testified in court and was never charged). A boy named Sam Montgomery, who is a star player on the football team, a Division I recruit, tells me Lonise Bias reminds him of his mother, a "strong black woman" with a resonant message. ", The Len Bias Morality Play began with a single bizarre phone call, placed from a dormitory on a college campus to a 911 dispatcher whose Baltimorese hammered flat the word "phone" and who, from his tone of voice, apparently assumed this whole thing was a put-on, a prank by a bunch of rowdy university kids with nothing better to do. He claims to have spent time in Len Bias' dorm room hours before his death, hanging out with David Gregg, another Northwestern graduate. OPINION: Tyler allegedly threatened Bias in the mall, then settled the matter outside with a 9mm semiautomatic. He phoned his supervisors at Channel 9 in Washington. COLLEGE PARK, Md. Then he got up to use the bathroom, and he stumbled, and he sat back down on the bed, and he lapsed into a seizure. A: That is possible, yes. Is 21-year-old Japanese phenom Yu Darvish worth it? His supervisors phoned the station's sports anchor, James Brown, and Statter went live on the air as the first reporter at Leland Memorial Hospital. But it was all part of the same narrative now. (AP) _ The younger brother of the late University of Maryland basketball star and cocaine overdose victim Len Bias was shot and killed while driving out of a shopping center Tuesday in what police called utter senseless violence.. "If it hadn't been Lenny, and it hadn't been right before the draft, and it hadn't been the Celtics, nobody would have noticed," says one longtime Maryland official who is still wary of speaking publicly about it. It looks like utter senseless violence, Polk said. The league was recovering from its cocaine '70s era . I think greed is healthy. Police said Tyler shot Bias twice in the back last Dec. 4 as Bias was being driven away from a Hyattsville shopping mall, shortly after the two men had an argument in a jewelry store. He speaks of the team's graduation rates during his tenure, which he insists were solid. Curry did not do drugs, and he insists he did not profit from drugs, but a man he considered a friend and a role model, Norman Brown (whose cocaine supplier, according to a 1994 Washington Post report, was Tribble), had asked Curry to run some errands for him. "It's not that I'm just some airhead that's just full of faith," Lonise Bias says. Len and Jay Bias, brothers who died less than five years apart, are literally now resting side by side. Former Maryland star Len Bias was No. And that's the thing: All of this is so admirable. But over time, Curry saw the way Len's death ate at Jay's own sense of identity and his own passion for the game. This was just the opposite. Also, it should be noted that we were in the heart of the Reagan era, at the midpoint of the second term of a president Time magazine put on its July 7 cover. As the news congealed, as police discovered several grams of cocaine under the seat of Bias' leased sports car, as the autopsy was issued, as it became clear cocaine was the cause of Bias' demise, as denial turned to anger, we began to widen the scope of our outrage. Menu. "I can remember speaking to this woman once before Len died, and she had said, 'Things are going to be so wonderful for you all,'" Lonise Bias says. On December 5, 1990, he was shot to death at age 20 following a dispute in the parking lot of Prince George's Plaza, a Hyattsville shopping mall located just a few miles . Where are the flaws in such a story? She has heard of the controversy over mandatory minimum sentences and the role of her son's death in the process, and she has heard of the continued corruption of college sports and of the Hall of Fame career of Lefty Driesell -- she still attends Maryland games with her grandchildren on occasion -- but these push-and-pulls over legislation and administration are not her greatest concerns. HYATTSVILLE, Md. "But sometimes people get into it so much that they can't get out of it. Over the years, we have come to expect the worst from our public figures, and there is little question, if Len Bias died today, the immediate speculation would have been unfettered. Eric Bias, Self: Len Bias. Leonard Kevin "Len" Bias (November 18, 1963 - June 19, 1986) was a first-team All-American college basketball forward at the University of Maryland. Bias leaps, tilting backward to grab the rebound, then lands, elbows out, his back to the hoop. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. At this point, only four people knew why, and one was dying and the other three were too freaked out to say anything. On Dec. 5, 1990, Bias' younger brother, Jay, was killed in a drive-by shooting. In December 1990, Jay Bias, the quiet kid I had interviewed about his big brother's death, was shot and killed in the parking lot of a shopping center in Hyattsville, Md., apparently because . cemeteries found in Suitland, Prince George's County, Maryland, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. There was an error deleting this problem. She opens her speeches by telling people she does not particularly care what they think of her, which permits her to bellow phrases like, "I AM THE LEGACY THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND!" He is working on a book about sports in the 1980s. Watch the 1986 "Nightline" report on drugs after Bias' death. Younger brother of Len Bias, All-American basketball player from Univ. On December 5, 1990, 20-year-old Jay Bias, Len's younger brother, was gunned down in a shopping mall parking lot, just a few miles from the University of Maryland. Try again later. Len Bias died just two days after his selection in the first round by the Boston Celtics. When she was in elementary school, and the faculty needed a child to speak loudly enough for a large group to hear, they chose her. Brother Jay Bias, weeping, is at top center. He comes across -- often on purpose -- as an unsophisticated hayseed, but he graduated from Duke. Certainly, academic standards have been raised at many schools, including Maryland, and athletic departments are much more tightly regulated and controlled than they were back then. 30 for 30 Actor. "If you put him with a bunch of bums, he'd be the best bum," his high school coach, Bob Wagner, once told a reporter. The NBA draft in New York City's Felt Forum was only 10 minutes old . He was allegedly pulled over for speeding on the Maryland campus as many as three times. Download: 320 kbps - Wayshare The legend of Len Bias. Overnight, America's "vulnerability" to drugs had become the seminal issue in Washington. HYATTSVILLE, Md. Failed to remove flower. There wasn't a happier young athlete in America than Len Bias on the afternoon of June 17. And Brian probably figured, 'Well, doggone, this is easy.' Anyone can read what you share. Join the conversation about "The Day Innocence Died.". All across the country, we began to question everything we thought we understood about drugs and athletes and our perceptions of modern celebrity. Maryland entered the game 10-1 and ranked fifth in the country . Failed to report flower. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Her concerns, and the mission she has been charged with, are more concrete, more personal. Movies. The Boston Celtics gave the family $10,000 . So she sits here, in a classroom in Greenwood, S.C., eating a fried-chicken salad, granting an exclusive audience to the members of the boys' and girls' basketball teams before she rides back to the airport. E-ticket writer Michael Weinreb discusses the lasting impact of Len Bias' death on "Outside the Lines: First Report.". It didn't matter that Bias had nothing to do with crack -- Bias was a major story, and crack was a major story, and to conflate them was simply a shortcut to political progress. Finally, Jay said, 'Man, I'm just tired.' "Curry needed what Brown's lifestyle offered: a casual acceptance of crime and danger; a casual defiance of the American power structure," Richard Leiby wrote in The Washington Post several years later. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? Ultimately, only seven of the 18 players chosen in the first round of the 1986 NBA draft had earned their degrees. I think conservatives deserve a higher bar for honest reporting! It made no sense, but what did make sense anymore? Bias' body was wheeled out of Leland Hospital, in front of TV cameramen and newspaper photographers, in front of onlookers and teammates who had gathered near the entrance to the emergency room. At North Carolina State, Chris Washburn was suspended for stealing a stereo. Headline: "Why Is This Man So Popular?" I do not know whether Len Bias was a martyr, or whether in death, as his mother often says, he has brought life. A moment earlier, we have since learned, Len Bias sat up on a bed, bent over a mirror, proclaimed himself "a horse" -- a nickname his teammates had used for him because of his on-court grace and physical presence -- and snorted one last line of cocaine. Jerry Samuel Tyler, 24, of Temple Hills was charged with first-degree murder in the case, according to police Lt. Alphonzo Hawkins. There was a problem getting your location. You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. Everything Sam says indicates he could not imagine poisoning his career with drugs. "I think if Brian was a real friend -- and I know personally that he loved Lenny, and I have seen Brian break down from talking about Lenny -- he wouldn't have let him do it," Curry says. He had two brothers, Eric and James III, and a sister, Michelle. Eiland knows his friend is upset, Foley said. This browser does not support getting your location. What are you doing that we don't know about?'". The violations were not just rampant, but blatant. At TCU: possible cash payments from boosters to football players. Self - Len Bias' Father. Heteronormativity, gender bias, and whitewashed notions of education threaten queer identities in K-12 educational spaces, specifically queer women educators of color seeking leadership . The law established mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders; it also decreed that possession or sale of 1/100th of an amount of crack cocaine as compared to powder cocaine (5 grams versus 500 grams) would trigger those mandatory minimum sentences. Unsophisticated hayseed, but he graduated from Duke of Len Bias on the Maryland as! As three times, Polk said Washburn was suspended for stealing a stereo the.! To report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive or abusive we... For stealing a stereo on Dec. 5, eric bias brother of len bias, Bias & # x27 ; 70s.. 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