Len Bias Death- 26 yrs ago today

The best pure talent I've ever seen and I say that as a classmate of Jordan's.

I was 14 when this happened, and it left an impression. When I got to college, any temptation to get near cocaine was immediately met with one name in my consciousness: Len Bias. If you're "allergic" you'll find out the hard way after one dose.

I was living in Baltimore at the time, so it was a huge local tragedy—this kid from U of Maryland was going to go to the NBA and be the greatest player of all time, and out of nowhere, he was dead.

Coke was pretty common even among HS kids I knew at the time. I know a lot of kids who were strongly influenced by his death and vowed never to touch the stuff again after he died.

There’s a great ESPN 30 for 30 episode about it. It’ll probably be showing today.

I remember when that happened. Everyone was in shock. So much potential, gone.

Edited by Iowaman 2012-06-19 3:21 PM