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Speaker 1: This podcast is based in large part of the book

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Speaker 1: Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of Limby's. Some quotes are

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Speaker 1: narrated by Davon Grady, a podcast producer and the author

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Speaker 1: of the book, from interviews done for the book. Recordings

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Speaker 1: for these comments were not available.

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Speaker 2: It's get it all from quick and he was so warriors.

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Speaker 3: Competitor and a warrior.

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Speaker 4: You know, he wasn't there yet, but you could see

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Speaker 4: the athletic ability, and you see the potential.

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Speaker 5: You know, God gave him a lot of talentedly gifted guy.

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Speaker 6: There were only a few players that I heard our

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Speaker 6: best players talk about with reverence about that.

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Speaker 7: One was Jordan's. The other was Biased. London would come by.

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Speaker 8: School and we would just walk the halls and talk.

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Speaker 8: Sometimes got it and usually not about basketball.

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Speaker 9: Mayas from outside and he got out bias with twenty

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Speaker 9: nine oh on Jawn, what a play Bias?

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Speaker 10: Howay cow throwing it for a little while. Kenny Smith

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Speaker 10: had his back turned as soon as he threw the ball,

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Speaker 10: and I just came and anticipated and smacked it down

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Speaker 10: and then came right into my hands.

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Speaker 11: And I was no where I looked up. I was

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Speaker 11: under the basket.

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Speaker 12: I just jumped up and court and he played his

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Speaker 12: final game at cole against Virginia Olden Polonies. Put up

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Speaker 12: a shot and I was very close to the floor,

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Speaker 12: and you heard Leonard go up in snagg it in

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Speaker 12: mid air and say get that shit out of here,

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Speaker 12: and he threw it into the fourth row.

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Speaker 1: Up next to Lumby's mixed legacy Born Ready like the gold,

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Speaker 1: chains and beaks.

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Speaker 11: At basketball practice one day in the winter of nineteen

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Speaker 11: seventy nine and Landover, Maryland, some kid kept peeking through

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Speaker 11: the doors to the gym at the Columbia Recreation Center,

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Speaker 11: also known as the Wreck. He was yelling to a

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Speaker 11: friend inside the gym. Johnny Walker, a coach leading the practice,

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Speaker 11: told the boy to ignore the interloper and to pay attention.

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Speaker 11: The curious boy finally gave up and walked away. That

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Speaker 11: boy was Lambias. A few months later, Walker spotted Bias

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Speaker 11: riding his bike a few blocks from the gym. Walker

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Speaker 11: started talking to him. Bias was in the ninth grade

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Speaker 11: and said he was a good player. His parents, he said,

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Speaker 11: did not let him leave the streets without their supervision.

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Speaker 11: Walker offered to talk to his parents about walking Bias

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Speaker 11: from his house to the wreck so he could play

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Speaker 11: with the other boys there. His parents agreed, but not

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Speaker 11: without some reservation. James Bias did stop by the wreck

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Speaker 11: at times to check on his son. Derek Wittenberg, was

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Speaker 11: a star at the Matha High School in North Carolina State.

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Speaker 11: He grew up playing on the outdoor courts at the

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Speaker 11: wreck and remembers seeing Lynn play on those courts.

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Speaker 4: And Lynn was kind of like one of those kids

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Speaker 4: that you know, you could see the potential, but he,

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Speaker 4: you know, he wasn't there yet in high school, but

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Speaker 4: you could definitely see the potential.

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Speaker 11: Lee Matkins was the director of and a coach at

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Speaker 11: the wreck. He saw Bias developed quickly.

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Speaker 3: At first, kid he used to laugh at him, you know,

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Speaker 3: cause he was very awkward, you know, but he.

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Speaker 13: Kept playing playing, and then like every day he was

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Speaker 13: up there, like seven days a week, and he developed

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Speaker 13: one of the basketball players I had.

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Speaker 11: Bias had been cut from his junior high school team

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Speaker 11: in both the seventh and eighth grades. He prayed to

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Speaker 11: get better, and he would with Walker's help. Brian Waller

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Speaker 11: was a year older than Bias and was already being

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Speaker 11: coached by Walker at the wreck. He later was a

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Speaker 11: high school teammate of Bias.

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Speaker 14: Waller told me Len was tall, lanky, and raw.

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Speaker 15: He could shoot, was a very good athlete, but he

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Speaker 15: was a bit of a baby.

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Speaker 14: Wasn't tough.

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Speaker 11: It was tough at the beginning for Bias. During workouts

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Speaker 11: at the Wreck, Walker treated Bias like any other player

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Speaker 11: in the group. He roughed him up, pushed him. After

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Speaker 11: he took a shot, Walker hit Bias with elbows and

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Speaker 11: muscled him away from the basket. Slowly, Bias was turning

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Speaker 11: into a physical force that fans at Maryland and the

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Speaker 11: ACC would see years later.

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Speaker 15: Waller told me Walker would give us everything that wasn't

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Speaker 15: in the rule book. People were felling Bias all the time.

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Speaker 15: No matter how much you whined, Johnny was still killing him.

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Speaker 15: You're either step up or you don't.

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Speaker 11: Bias adapted to the physical play, and he became the

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Speaker 11: intimidator on Columbia Park sixteen and under traveling team. To

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Speaker 11: set the tone. At the beginning of game, Columbia Park

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Speaker 11: let opponents win the opening tip so Bias could block

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Speaker 11: or goaltend their first shot. Waller recalls winning every game

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Speaker 11: that summer. Columbia Park felt so confident that players on

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Speaker 11: the bench would read the newspaper. Toward the end of

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Speaker 11: Runaway Games. The workouts Walker designed for Bias and Waller

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Speaker 11: inspired younger players at the Wreck, most notably Lenn's younger

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Speaker 11: brother Jay and Clinton Vennible, later a high school teammate

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Speaker 11: of Jays.

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Speaker 16: When Lennard and Ryan Ice and Johnny them guys used

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Speaker 16: to work out, they used to let Jay and myself

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Speaker 16: and Henry never got to play with us hang out

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Speaker 16: with them. We just get so excited, like it was

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Speaker 16: like Christmas, and He's like, you know, be quiet, you know,

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Speaker 16: don't do this, don't do that, And we just wanted

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Speaker 16: to hang out with these guys. But they teaching us

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Speaker 16: to know little tricks and watching those guys, you know,

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Speaker 16: how to pass.

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Speaker 11: Ball workouts helped Bias develop into a different player. Waller

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Speaker 11: says it was like night and day. When Bias entered

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Speaker 11: Northwestern High School. The school's coach, Bob Wagner, considered Bias

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Speaker 11: a work in progress. A problem was lens heightened emotions.

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Speaker 17: The jumping abiltie was there, the competitiveness was there, shutting

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Speaker 17: the mouth down. And what I would basically do there

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Speaker 17: I let him play in some men's leagues with guys

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Speaker 17: that I knew it. Wo brough him up a little bit,

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Speaker 17: but they would also talk to him and not physically

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Speaker 17: hurt him or injure him.

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Speaker 7: He'd heard him, and.

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Speaker 17: You've got to get the mouth shut so the mind

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Speaker 17: can functions of the body can play.

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Speaker 11: After his sophomore year, Bias attended the Five Star Basketball Camp. There,

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Speaker 11: the top high school basketball players in the nation gathered

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Speaker 11: annually to learn from NBA or college players. Top coaches

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Speaker 11: included such legends as Bobby Knight, Chuck Daily at QB Brown.

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Speaker 11: College coaches scouted the top high school talent in the country.

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Speaker 11: The best players received free tuition at the camp, but

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Speaker 11: worked off their fee as waiters. That first year, Bias

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Speaker 11: paid his own way. Waller also attended the camp with

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Speaker 11: Bias and saw his friend transformed as a player.

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Speaker 15: Waller told me he either outplayed the other guys or

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Speaker 15: played them evenly. His confidence changed after that Five Star camp.

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Speaker 15: After that, there was no looking back.

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Speaker 11: Buzz Peterson first saw Bias play at the Five Star Camp.

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Speaker 11: Peterson was a top high school player from North Carolina

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Speaker 11: and was later Michael Jordan's teammate at the University of

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Speaker 11: North Carolina.

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Speaker 14: You could you could see that.

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Speaker 18: I mean, are's tons of athleticability, you know, more of

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Speaker 18: a two foot jumper than could really explode and get

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Speaker 18: up in the air.

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Speaker 7: It just it just it was unlimited. And he had

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Speaker 7: this kind of a.

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Speaker 18: Personality that you know, he was he would soap things

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Speaker 18: in and and he was this easy to approach.

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Speaker 11: Was this one of.

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Speaker 18: These guys the smile, you know, put his arm around you,

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Speaker 18: you know, poke you here and there. But when he's

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Speaker 18: on a court, boy, he was pretty Dagham good.

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Speaker 11: At the camp, Bias and Waller were introduced by Larry

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Speaker 11: Spriggs to another rising star. Spriggs, a camp counselor, played

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Speaker 11: for Northwestern High School and later played five seasons in

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Speaker 11: the NBA.

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Speaker 15: Waller told me we saw Jordan sitting on a bench

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Speaker 15: and Larry said he wanted to introduce him to his

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Speaker 15: home boys. Larry introduced me as my nickname Ice. Jordan said,

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Speaker 15: they call me Black Ice.

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Speaker 11: Waller, Peterson, Bias, and Jordan's spent nights at the camp

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Speaker 11: talking about their basketball dreams. The following year, Waller and

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Speaker 11: Bias played a pickup game in Colefield House on the

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Speaker 11: Maryland campus against Jordan and a friend they had seen

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Speaker 11: each other at a Maryland football game. Waller claims he

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Speaker 11: and Bias won the game. Bias also met John Sally

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Speaker 11: at the five Star camp. Sally played four years at

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Speaker 11: Georgia Tech against Bias. He was later the number twelve

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Speaker 11: selection in the nineteen eighty six NBA draft. Sally recalls

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Speaker 11: Bias embracing the chance to play against Billy Thompson, the

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Speaker 11: number one high school player in the country who played

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Speaker 11: at Louisville and Len.

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Speaker 19: Bias said, I'm going against Billy today and I'm going

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Speaker 19: to destroy him. Lenny Bias was busted and Billy Thompson's

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Speaker 19: but so bad that Billy pump Fake Billy went the

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Speaker 19: air and he cut Lenny's head. Lenny had to go

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Speaker 19: get stitches. I said, did you go into town to

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Speaker 19: get those stitches? He said, not before I took Billy

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Speaker 19: t the town. Every scout's going to realize why Now,

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Speaker 19: That's exactly what his mentality was.

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Speaker 11: Growing up some ten miles from the Maryland campus, Bias

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Speaker 11: found it easy to spend time there. While in high school,

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Speaker 11: he worked as a popcorn vendor at Maryland basketball games.

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Speaker 11: During the summers, he attended camps operated by Maryland coach

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Speaker 11: left to Grisel. Bias and Waller often walked from Northwestern

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Speaker 11: High School to the Maryland campus, a distance of about

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Speaker 11: one mile. There, they dreamed about being basketball stars at

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Speaker 11: the school and spent time with Ernie Graham, one of

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Speaker 11: Maryland's top players at the time. They lifted weights in

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Speaker 11: cole Fieldhouse and played pickup games with Graham and other

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Speaker 11: Maryland players.

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Speaker 15: Waller told me, we go to his room, We go

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Speaker 15: to with Jim and play ball. We were so blessed,

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Speaker 15: we were so happy.

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Speaker 11: Graham remembers Bias as a nice, enthusiastic kid who smiled

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Speaker 11: and joked around a lot.

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Speaker 15: Graham told me he would just show up and stand

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Speaker 15: there at the door. He wouldn't want anything or say anything.

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Speaker 15: He says, I'm doing whatever you're doing. He always had

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Speaker 15: that smile, always had a joke or something funny to say.

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Speaker 14: He kept everybody laughing.

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Speaker 11: At Northwestern, Bias was developing into a top college prospect.

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Speaker 11: He matched up well with some of the best high

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Speaker 11: school players in the area. They included Johnny Dawkins, later

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Speaker 11: an ACC Player of the Year at Duke.

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Speaker 13: And I just always respected guys who really worked on

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Speaker 13: the craft. I mean, you know, when you love the

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Speaker 13: game and you're passionate about it, you know you're gonna

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Speaker 13: put whatever time it takes to become great at it.

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Speaker 13: And I could tell he was doing that because there

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Speaker 13: wasn't a time I didn't seehim getting better and better.

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Speaker 11: After his junior year, Bias returned to five star. He

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Speaker 11: had reached the heralded status of waiter, giving him free tuition.

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Speaker 11: Bias won the Most Outstanding Player award that year over

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Speaker 11: such future NBA player Dawkins and Billy Thompson, who helped

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Speaker 11: Louisville win a national title in nineteen eighty six. Howard

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Speaker 11: Garfinkel started the camp in nineteen sixty six and ran

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Speaker 11: it for forty two years.

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Speaker 15: Garfinkel told me he was one of the top ten

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Speaker 15: or fifteen best ever at our camp. He was an

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Speaker 15: extraterrestrial athlete and a great scorer, and he was a

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Speaker 15: great person, very likable.

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Speaker 11: Bias' senior year at Northwestern started slowly. The team lost

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Speaker 11: four of its first five games. A lot had to

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Speaker 11: do with Bias' suspension earlier in the year.

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Speaker 8: His senior year, I sat Leonard down for two weeks. Now,

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Speaker 8: people don't under it was academic reasons. He had a

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Speaker 8: couple of season classes. He was a smart kid. We

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Speaker 8: want to make sure he was going to get his

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Speaker 8: golfline scores to go to school. He's definitely better than

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Speaker 8: a C student any subject.

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Speaker 11: On the court. Wagner was trying to develop a well

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Speaker 11: rounded warrior. He made sure Bias understood you had to

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Speaker 11: stand up for yourself, all the while making sure you

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Speaker 11: had the talent to back it up.

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Speaker 8: Leonard was a warrior's a compeditor and a warrior. So

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Speaker 8: if I had told him, you know, never defend yourself,

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Speaker 8: never retaliate, he wouldn't have bought into He think I'm

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Speaker 8: going to get him hurt or something. I remember we

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Speaker 8: were up in Boston in a tournament, AAU tournament. Guys

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Speaker 8: are just warming. I mean just like his senior year.

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Speaker 8: I mean people, the referees, they physically he took a beating,

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Speaker 8: but that started in high school. He was prepared for

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Speaker 8: that in Maryland. And these kids, small Catholic, white school,

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Speaker 8: they're just bounding, cheap shot man. And in the beginning

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Speaker 8: of the second half, I see a kid double over

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Speaker 8: coming down the court and going out of the game.

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Speaker 8: So the rule was you could never retaliate because referees

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Speaker 8: always see the second.

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Speaker 3: Thing that occurred.

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Speaker 8: But you could, yeah, what a warrior does and on

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Speaker 8: the play, it's from the play.

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Speaker 3: Now you might.

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Speaker 8: Found me real hard. I don't value back right away.

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Speaker 8: I wait till later on or a game later and

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Speaker 8: you're just going to relax or going for a layup,

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Speaker 8: and you know, all of a sudden, you know you're

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Speaker 8: laid out.

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Speaker 7: On the ground.

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Speaker 3: It's so sad.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Lembias the Mixed Legacy on the Eighth

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Speaker 1: Side Network.

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Speaker 11: With Bias back on the team, Northwestern won nineteen consecutive

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Speaker 11: games and advanced to the state championship game. There, they

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Speaker 11: lost by a point. At the Buzzer. Bias scored eighteen

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Speaker 11: points and had thirteen rebounds. Bias later joined Dawkins on

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Speaker 11: a DC area All Star team that beat a team

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Speaker 11: of US All Americans in the Capitol Classic. The game

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Speaker 11: was then the premier high school all star tournament in

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Speaker 11: the country. Dawkins had nineteen points and Bias eighteen against

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Speaker 11: a team that featured future NBA stars Brad Doherty and

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Speaker 11: Del Curry.

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Speaker 13: They had that kind of performance on that stage. You know,

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Speaker 13: told him everything I need to know about him and

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Speaker 13: how good he could become, and so of course to

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Speaker 13: win that game against all the all Americas small over

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Speaker 13: the country's.

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Speaker 7: A big deal in our city.

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Speaker 13: And we were able to win that game and we

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Speaker 13: shared d MVP.

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Speaker 11: Bias considered a few other colleges besides Maryland. On a

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Speaker 11: trip to Oregon State, Bias was led around campus by

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Speaker 11: Ac Green, who later played seventeen seasons in the NBA.

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Speaker 11: Waller says that Bias came home and pressed that Green

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Speaker 11: drove a Lincoln town Car. While visiting the University of

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Speaker 11: San Francisco, Bias watched Quinton Daily play against Dominique Wilkins

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Speaker 11: of Georgia. He came away impressed by the jumping ability

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Speaker 11: of Wilkins, who became a nine time NBA All Star,

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Speaker 11: as well as his dunks, and he was inspired to

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Speaker 11: get stronger.

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Speaker 15: Waller told me, all of a sudden, he started lifting

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Speaker 15: weights with his legs, and.

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Speaker 11: Then there was NC State. The last thing Bias told

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Speaker 11: head coach Jim Valvano after a visit to the school

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Speaker 11: was that he would attend NC State. If it had

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Speaker 11: been up to Bias alone, he may very well have

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Speaker 11: done that. Johnny Walker claims that NC State was Bias'

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Speaker 11: first choice, based in part on an enjoyable campus visit.

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Speaker 15: Walker told me NC State did a lot of things

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Speaker 15: down there for him.

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Speaker 14: He had a good time. They lived well down there.

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Speaker 11: Wittenberg, who was finishing his junior year at NC State

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Speaker 11: when Bias took his visit, says that he was struck

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Speaker 11: at how introverted Bias was at the time. And he

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Speaker 11: had a.

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Speaker 4: Wonderful person out that dikes a smile.

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Speaker 3: But I don't think he.

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Speaker 4: Was just outgoing guy that you would say, Lenny, it's

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Speaker 4: over here, Lenny's over there.

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Speaker 7: I didn't see that, and.

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Speaker 3: It's certainly been on the business.

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Speaker 4: He was one of the few guys I could see

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Speaker 4: just comfortable stay at home. I think because he didn't

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Speaker 4: know anything else. I think he was close to his

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Speaker 4: brother and his family and friends around Northwest, and I

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Speaker 4: think that he was very comfortable standing at home.

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Speaker 11: The influence of Bias's father, James, was stronger than the

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Speaker 11: appeal of NC State. That, combined with Bias's passion for Maryland,

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Speaker 11: convinced lend to stay close to home. During their summers

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Speaker 11: together at Five Star, Sally Dawkins and Bias talked about

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Speaker 11: playing together in college. It was apparent to them that

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Speaker 11: Bias was going to Maryland, and for a time, Sally said,

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Speaker 11: he and Dawkins considered it too.

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Speaker 3: We were going to go to Maryland and be.

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Speaker 19: Him, Johnny Dawkins were going to be the big three

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Speaker 19: before Lebron even knew you could do that.

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Speaker 3: But left to Giselle.

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Speaker 19: He told me that I would I would have to

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Speaker 19: play behind Ben Coleman, and I didn't like that. Johnny

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Speaker 19: Dawkins said, well, I heard I could start at Duke,

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Speaker 19: so we all agreed. You know, hey, lady, you stay

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Speaker 19: in and Johnny Dalks I didn't want to stay home.

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Speaker 19: It's too much pressure, too many tickets, too much stuff.

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Speaker 19: So we all picked different places to be.

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Speaker 3: A acc.

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Speaker 11: Dawkins was an immediate star for Duke as a freshman,

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Speaker 11: leading the Blue Devils in scoring and minutes played. Sally

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Speaker 11: started every game and averaged more than thirty minutes a

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Speaker 11: night for Georgia Tech. Bias did not make his first

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Speaker 11: start for Maryland until after the new year. He struggled

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Speaker 11: as coach Drizzell altered his shooting style, getting Bias to

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Speaker 11: release the ball at the height of his jump. Bias

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Speaker 11: would later say he was not comfortable with the change

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Speaker 11: until his junior year, but Bias did not relish his

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Speaker 11: first year at Maryland. He felt that Drizzell wanted him

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Speaker 11: to focus too much on defense. Drizzel matched him against

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Speaker 11: such top players as Ralph Sampson, a three time College

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Speaker 11: Player of the Year, and Clyde Drexler, later at ten

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Speaker 11: time NBA All Star. Johnny Walker remembers Bias asking him

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Speaker 11: during the season to contact NC State about transferring there

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Speaker 11: the next year.

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Speaker 15: Walker told me he would say that they're trying to

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Speaker 15: change a shot, and that every time he tried to

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Speaker 15: shoot the ball, they have something to say to him

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Speaker 15: and they take him out of the game.

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Speaker 14: He finally got tired of it. Here's a guy who's.

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Speaker 15: Been a scorer, and you're asking him to not shoot

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Speaker 15: the ball. Scoring is all he's done, and now you

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Speaker 15: don't do that.

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Speaker 11: Here's Bias's teammate, Jeff Baxter.

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Speaker 3: Glenn actually asked Johnny to reach out to n State.

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Speaker 3: I do know that State was ready for him. We

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Speaker 3: were ready to take for now.

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Speaker 11: I do know that this year, a meeting before the

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Speaker 11: end of the season between Bias and Drizzell resolved their differences.

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Speaker 11: And after his first year, Bias worked on his dribbling skills,

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Speaker 11: considered his main weakness. He wore special glasses that did

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Speaker 11: not allow him to see the basketball when he looked down.

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Speaker 11: During his sophomore year, Maryland was ten and one when

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Speaker 11: they hosted North Carolina on January twelfth, nineteen eighty four.

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Speaker 9: This is cole Field House overflowing the fans to watch

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Speaker 9: what could be the game of the year with number

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Speaker 9: one North Carolina against fifth rank Maryland.

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Speaker 11: It would be Michael Jordan's last year with Carolina, setting

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Speaker 11: up a classic clash between Jordan and Bias. Bias scored

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Speaker 11: twenty four in the game and Jordan had twenty one,

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Speaker 11: leading Carolina to a twelve point win. It was a

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Speaker 11: game that plays Bias within the national conversation of top

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Speaker 11: college players. Bias was the second leading scorer that season

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Speaker 11: for Maryland, which finished second in the ACC, but Bias

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Speaker 11: was not selected to the All ACC team. That prompted

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Speaker 11: Bias to make a bold proclamation. Walder remembers receiving a

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Speaker 11: phone call from Bias about that.

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Speaker 15: Waller told me, you see the paper today, I didn't

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Speaker 15: even make the second team. That's all right, I'm gonna

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Speaker 15: go down to the ACC and win the MVP of

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Speaker 15: the tournament.

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Speaker 11: He did, leading Maryland to its first ACC Conference title

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Speaker 11: since nineteen fifty eight, and the final against Duke, Bias

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Speaker 11: scored twenty six points.

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Speaker 9: Pigs all his block twenty one seconds away from the victory,

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Speaker 9: leading by eleven.

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Speaker 20: Right here the time out was Magan Bye do and

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Speaker 20: the Maryland people celebrate him. Ben Bullman flapping his coach

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Speaker 20: on the back of hands, laps all a round the.

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Speaker 11: Maryl Aventure Johnny Dawkins was a sophomore on Duke's team

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Speaker 11: that year.

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Speaker 13: He was terrific. Again, you know, he stalled just making

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Speaker 13: clay after play. I just, like I said, it was

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Speaker 13: very difficult to guard because he did so many things,

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Speaker 13: whether it's shooting the ball from the perimeter, whether it's

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Speaker 13: you know, finishing around the basket, offensive rebounds, getting out

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Speaker 13: in the lane and running. I mean, he just was

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Speaker 13: like I say he was. He was so well rounded

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Speaker 13: as a player and can't find too many faults in

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Speaker 13: his game. And those guys are the hardest ones to defend.

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Speaker 11: As a freshman, Bias was a stubborn student. Ben Coleman,

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Speaker 11: a senior center on the ACC title team said Bias

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Speaker 11: did not take criticism well as a freshman, that it

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Speaker 11: was difficult to talk to him, but that changed his

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Speaker 11: sophomore year. After his sophomore season, Bias stressed increasing his strength.

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Speaker 11: Feral Edmunds, an All American tight end at Maryland, remembers

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Speaker 11: Bias working out with Maryland players that summer.

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Speaker 15: Feral Edmunds told me he would do a lot of reps,

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Speaker 15: not a lot of weight to endurance. It was far

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Speaker 15: and then to see a basket ball player working out

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Speaker 15: with the football players.

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Speaker 14: He would challenge us.

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Speaker 15: If you did fifteen reps and he thought he could

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Speaker 15: do it, he'd try and beat you.

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Speaker 14: He loved competition. He was challenged by everybody.

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Speaker 11: Frank Costello was Maryland's strength coach at the time. He

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Speaker 11: compares Bias to another athlete from Maryland, Rinaldo Nehemiah. He

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Speaker 11: set world records in the hurdles at Maryland in the

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Speaker 11: late seventies when Costello was the school's track coach.

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Speaker 5: You know, God gave him a lot of talent. He's

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Speaker 5: a genetically gifted guy. He has a high level of

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Speaker 5: fast swooch muscle fibers and he knows how to use them.

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Speaker 5: People talk about athletic ability, we're talking about the smoothness

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Speaker 5: of coordination, how to control his power, how to control

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Speaker 5: all his strength, and he could do it exceptionally well,

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Speaker 5: and he could do it and make it look easy.

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Speaker 11: John Philbin worked with Costello as the head strength coach

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Speaker 11: for men's basketball during bias freshman year. Over the course

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Speaker 11: of three decades, Philbin later was a US Olympic head

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Speaker 11: Bob sled coach, and a conditioning coach in the NFL

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Speaker 11: as well as Major League Baseball.

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Speaker 21: His physique was probably like no other athlete I've ever

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Speaker 21: worked with. The only one that might compare would be

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Speaker 21: probably Herscha Walker. He was just naturally strong. We ended

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Speaker 21: up doing some bench tests and some squad testing. Lenny

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Speaker 21: had never really done any formal strength training. He did

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Speaker 21: fifteen good rips with two hundred and twenty five pounds

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Speaker 21: and that wasn't bouncing off the chest and doing them

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Speaker 21: really quickly. That was just bro He had not done

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Speaker 21: a program up to that point. And then we did

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Speaker 21: the squads with ended up being two seventy five and

440
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,359
Speaker 21: he did. He ended up doing fifteen reps with those.

441
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 21: To give you an idea the level of power and

442
00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:09,440
Speaker 21: strength that he naturally had.

443
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,000
Speaker 15: By the time you finished that year, did you test

444
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 15: him again?

445
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 21: Well, we did, and he ended up going to forty

446
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 21: five and he ended up getting eighteen reps and then

447
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,200
Speaker 21: three in a quarter with the squad. He ended up

448
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 21: doing fourteen something of that nature, somewhere between twelve and fourteen,

449
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,440
Speaker 21: and boy was it was amazing. I think he obviously

450
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,080
Speaker 21: in that situation he probably could have done more if

451
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 21: he really wanted to do more.

452
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,280
Speaker 7: He was motivated to do more.

453
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,160
Speaker 21: His strength levels were off the charts. Nobody could compare well.

454
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 21: The bottom line is that the guy was a freak.

455
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:55,160
Speaker 21: He was very flexible, he was explosive. We did vertical jump.

456
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 21: He was forty four point five vertical straight up, you know,

457
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 21: no step in. When he stepped in, he was forty

458
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:06,879
Speaker 21: eight to fifty. The power output was just exceptional, beyond

459
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 21: anything I've ever seen him in any sport.

460
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 11: I love the dump.

461
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 10: That's you know, that's basically some of my game right there,

462
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 10: just jumping and dunk.

463
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 7: And I loved the dumb That's something.

464
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,359
Speaker 22: I did every since I was in junior high school,

465
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 22: and I just keep on doing it.

466
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 5: It's not just one thing like the exceptional strength or

467
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 5: exceptional speed. It's a combination of all those things you

468
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 5: know develop a good athlete. It's like a chemist for

469
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,879
Speaker 5: a chemistry set, you know, fortius and this, and he

470
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 5: mix them all together. Where he had all those chemicals,

471
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,960
Speaker 5: you didn't have to like, Oh man, this guy will

472
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 5: be good if I can get him a little bit quicker,

473
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 5: a little bit faster.

474
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,239
Speaker 3: This he had it. Then he had it.

475
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 11: ESPN basketball analyst Jay Billis played at Duke against Bias

476
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 11: for four years.

477
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,359
Speaker 6: By the time he became a sophomore and was, you know,

478
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,160
Speaker 6: sort of the lead dog for Maryland.

479
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 7: His his athleticism was off the track.

480
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,920
Speaker 11: Here's Bias. His teammate and classmate Jeff Baxter, another star

481
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 11: player out of the Washington DC area.

482
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 3: Ley coming out of high school was not in the

483
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 3: University of Maryland.

484
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 19: But if you ever seen a player to stop it

485
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,720
Speaker 19: blossom well and just growing and all.

486
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,680
Speaker 3: Of a sudden talent started to come out from everywhere.

487
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 11: It was Baxter recalls and played during one game that

488
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 11: was symbolic of the magical moves Bias could make.

489
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 3: I never forget.

490
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 19: We were playing Georgia Tech and Lee was in the

491
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,400
Speaker 19: baseline and he was shooting with his right hand. John

492
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:46,960
Speaker 19: Sally came to block and he was near his right hand.

493
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 19: Lenny Swiss to his left hand on the baseline and

494
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 19: shot it great Armad took his hat off through it,

495
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:57,399
Speaker 19: and they had to stop the game.

496
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,239
Speaker 3: Because they weren't He was the most It was the

497
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 3: craziest thing. So would I remember that one move?

498
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 19: No, But I do know he can shoot with He

499
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,399
Speaker 19: was able to shoot with both hands and that was

500
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 19: important to him to not be stopped. Lenny would talk

501
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:19,360
Speaker 19: about being able to use both hands, being able to drink, dribble,

502
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 19: play defense, jump shoot, hit a fout shot, he said,

503
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,480
Speaker 19: hit him, hit a foust shot.

504
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:26,119
Speaker 3: It's free.

505
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,360
Speaker 11: I mean, he was so like being able to do everything.

506
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,400
Speaker 19: You gotta be able to do everything as a ballplayer

507
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,159
Speaker 19: to call yourself a total ballplayer.

508
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 11: Ed Woods was a six foot seven inch walk on

509
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 11: forward from Maryland in nineteen eighty four. He was able

510
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 11: to witness Bias do things that few have ever seen.

511
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 23: Len Bias would do something that you just like, I

512
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:53,760
Speaker 23: just can't believe he did that. Like he would block

513
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 23: a jump shot from the wing. So he's halfway between

514
00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,880
Speaker 23: the basket and the wing and he takes that out

515
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 23: of the air, and it's and you're just, you know,

516
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 23: everything kind of stops, and everybody's just like, holy macklem

517
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 23: he's just a man among children and toying with us,

518
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 23: and you know he gets something underneath, and it's you know,

519
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 23: the little hack a shack. I mean, that's that's your

520
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 23: only defense. And you know, because he's going to take

521
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 23: it up and dunk on you because just because he could.

522
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,000
Speaker 1: You're listening to Limbias, the mixed Legacy on the eighth

523
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 1: Side Network.

524
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,520
Speaker 11: Bias inspired some players on the women's basketball team as well.

525
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 11: Vicky Bullet was an All American at Maryland and was

526
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 11: the first player allocated in the very beginning of the

527
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 11: WNBA draft in nineteen ninety seven.

528
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 24: So we just start imitating. We'll go to his practices

529
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 24: and we'll watch and see what he does. We tried

530
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 24: in practice. He taught us in versatility. He goes, well,

531
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 24: who said you couldn't take anybody off the dribble from

532
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 24: the free throw line? Who said you couldn't shoot a

533
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 24: turner round jumper on the low block outside of the lague.

534
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 24: So I think he had that guard like mentality that

535
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 24: was just evolving and now today, if you watch him

536
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,040
Speaker 24: his basketball, I mean, Giannis is bringing the ball up

537
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 24: the court. You didn't see that much from a big guy.

538
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 24: And I think then was that player that said could

539
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 24: have set that tone for that type of player. And

540
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 24: you know, as my career went on, I learned to

541
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 24: be versatile, and you know, those words meant a lot.

542
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,800
Speaker 11: Bias showed his improved mental and physical maturity throughout his

543
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 11: junior year. He was the ACC's top scorer, averaging nineteen

544
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,120
Speaker 11: points a game. He was voted Conference Player of the Year.

545
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 11: He made third team All American. Indiana Pacers scout Tom

546
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 11: Nowle said Bias had the potential to be one of

547
00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 11: the best forwards to ever play the game. Many, including Bias,

548
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 11: thought he was indeed ready for the NBA, but one

549
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 11: prominent voice encouraged Bias to stay another year. Celtics president

550
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,640
Speaker 11: Read Aarbach, a good friend of Lefty Grizel, had told

551
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 11: Bias the previous summer he would do everything he could

552
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 11: to draft him, and Bias had no problem with that.

553
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 22: When I talked to mid our back last year when

554
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,240
Speaker 22: I was deciding whether the stay school of go hardship,

555
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 22: just about talking to him, I could tell it I

556
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 22: would really like to play for him or play in

557
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 22: his organization.

558
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 11: At a dinner with Bias and his parents after his

559
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 11: junior year, Arbak told Bias that if he waited a year,

560
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,560
Speaker 11: it would have proved Bias's chances of being drafted by

561
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 11: the Celtics.

562
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,920
Speaker 25: My wife and I and his mother and father, Lenny

563
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 25: and his coach.

564
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 1: We sat down.

565
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 25: I said, the most important thing is get some maturity.

566
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 25: Stay in school. You go out now, you'll be drafted fifteenth. Wait,

567
00:31:55,920 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 25: wait that extra year, you'll surely be in the lottery.

568
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 25: Get your degree, and you'll achieve something in life.

569
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 11: Bias decided to stay another year at Maryland. Few were

570
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 11: as pleased as Drizell, a devout Christian, that Bias was returning.

571
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 11: The two had grown closer, in part after Bias became

572
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:22,959
Speaker 11: a born again Christian while at Maryland. Sue Tyler, an

573
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 11: assistant athletic director, recalls being told about Bias sitting alone

574
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 11: and cole Fieldhouse reading a Bible.

575
00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 26: He had a Bible for a long time. He carried

576
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 26: a Bible with him around the classes. It was interesting

577
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 26: that I recall seeing him more times than not. I

578
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 26: would see him having a Bible along with his books

579
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 26: if he had him visible.

580
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,720
Speaker 11: Miriam Lejay became good friends with Bias while she attended Maryland.

581
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,560
Speaker 11: They met while she was a tutor for the basketball team.

582
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 14: He specifically was very approachable.

583
00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:58,600
Speaker 3: So we had the Stamp Union.

584
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 27: You can walk down you know, the campus drive where

585
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,800
Speaker 27: you can kind of walk in the back, and I

586
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 27: would kind of take a short cut to get in

587
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,000
Speaker 27: my classes through the back, and he'd always be driving

588
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,040
Speaker 27: and he'd say, hey, you know, jump the car, let's

589
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,120
Speaker 27: go to McDonald's. I can remember this vividly, and I'd say,

590
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:15,480
Speaker 27: you know, Lenny, I gotta get a class.

591
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 19: You know, I don't have time.

592
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 27: It's like, oh, come on, let's you know, let's just

593
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 27: go to McDonald's really quick. I'll take you back and

594
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:22,480
Speaker 27: then we go to McDonald's.

595
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 11: Their friendship grew stronger with their common interest in Christianity.

596
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 27: This is somebody who had a prayer life. There was

597
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 27: no question, you know, he told me that he prayed regularly.

598
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 27: So when I mean a spiritual life with consistency, you

599
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 27: you know, you credit God for having created you, sustaining you.

600
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 27: Where your blessings come from, You're clear that it comes

601
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,480
Speaker 27: from God and not somewhere else. So as I spoke

602
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 27: to him, and interestingly enough a lot of the other

603
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:55,400
Speaker 27: guys on the team from time to time, it was

604
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 27: clear in their language that we spoke the same language,

605
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 27: in terms of a spiritual language that was rooted in

606
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:02,479
Speaker 27: the Bible.

607
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:08,720
Speaker 11: Drizell's connection with Bias at times transcended Christianity. He cherished

608
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:13,800
Speaker 11: a common interaction between he and Bias before games. Drizzel

609
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 11: would often ask him, len are you ready, and Lean

610
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:23,719
Speaker 11: would respond coach, I was born ready. Drizzell praised Bias's

611
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:25,759
Speaker 11: work ethic in practice.

612
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 15: Lefty Grisel told me I used to have to take

613
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 15: him out of practices because he would dominate score all

614
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,239
Speaker 15: the time and get all the rebounds. I had to

615
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 15: ask him, sit down, will you. He was a great

616
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:42,200
Speaker 15: kid to coach, very coachable. When I recruited him, I

617
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,000
Speaker 15: didn't think he'd be that good. He was everything you

618
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,439
Speaker 15: want in a player. He never got hurt, was never late,

619
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:49,919
Speaker 15: always worked hard.

620
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:55,440
Speaker 11: Bias displayed an infectious personality throughout his career. Here's Vicky

621
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 11: bullet with more on that.

622
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 24: We'd always have to and all our practices running suicides

623
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 24: while they were coming in. So I said, well, can

624
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 24: they stand in the tunnel until.

625
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:08,719
Speaker 3: We were done, So that was always a big thing.

626
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 24: But they were they cheered for us, and you know

627
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,399
Speaker 24: Lenny was a part of that. You know, we had

628
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,440
Speaker 24: the time to make those suicides and you know, having

629
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 24: him clapping his hands for us, and.

630
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:21,880
Speaker 13: It was it was special.

631
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 11: Bias could be spontaneous, silly and fun loving. John Johnson,

632
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:31,359
Speaker 11: a freshman on Maryland's nineteen eighty sixteen, finally recalls his

633
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 11: recruiting trip to Maryland.

634
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 2: I remember, one of the biggest reasons why I came

635
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 2: was because the fact that when I got here, you know,

636
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,160
Speaker 2: he and I were down there wrestling in the floor

637
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:42,880
Speaker 2: for whatever.

638
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 7: You know, I'll never forget that.

639
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,319
Speaker 2: And I had no idea who Lynn Bias was when

640
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 2: I was at Senior Hospital.

641
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 3: The time the time the moment I.

642
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 2: Hit the door, it was one of those things where

643
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 2: he's joking around, he and I and that horse playing

644
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 2: or whatever and wrestling in the flow and stuff like that,

645
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:02,920
Speaker 2: just like he had known me all his life.

646
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,439
Speaker 11: You know. Jeff Baxter was Biased his roommate for four

647
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:07,960
Speaker 11: years at Maryland for.

648
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 19: A guy six for the basketball player, amazing dancers. We

649
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 19: would actually when we would have to have curfew, which

650
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:23,040
Speaker 19: wasn't permitted. You're not for a game, and you couldn't

651
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 19: you could go out out, you couldn't go out the

652
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 19: apartment at all, couldn't leave it. You get bored. You're

653
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,320
Speaker 19: getting bored. Stuff you've done. The game is not until

654
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,239
Speaker 19: nine o'clock the next night, and you know it could

655
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:39,239
Speaker 19: be a Friday night. So we were fast. We would

656
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,480
Speaker 19: just type, turn the music out. Then we would dance.

657
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:48,719
Speaker 19: Be the funny myself and being it dancing. It's great,

658
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,960
Speaker 19: not together, but just dancing. Say you go, okay, then

659
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,239
Speaker 19: you go. It would be funny as I mean okay,

660
00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,360
Speaker 19: here I mean. And that's how it was just hilarious.

661
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 11: Biases dancing interest at least once got him in trouble.

662
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 11: After a win against NC State in nineteen eighty six, Baxter,

663
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,920
Speaker 11: Johnson and Bias attended a party in Raleigh with an

664
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,080
Speaker 11: NC State player and returned past curfew.

665
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:15,960
Speaker 3: I'll never forget it.

666
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 2: The annual Freak Mama contest Lama, something they did every year.

667
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,799
Speaker 2: I call you Chuckie Brown and all those guys and

668
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:25,200
Speaker 2: guys from DC.

669
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,440
Speaker 3: I think Baxter know him pretty well or whatever, but

670
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,040
Speaker 3: we had him. I don't regret it at all.

671
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:33,760
Speaker 11: We had a great time.

672
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 3: Oh man, I'll never forget that.

673
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,239
Speaker 11: The three were suspended for the following game. By this time,

674
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,600
Speaker 11: Bias showed signs of struggling with the pressure of his

675
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 11: senior season. Teammate Terry Long would later reveal publicly that

676
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 11: Bias introduced him to cocaine. In nineteen eighty four. Miriam Lejay,

677
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,640
Speaker 11: a friend at Maryland, recalled Bias was not as happy

678
00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 11: go lucky as he approached his senior season.

679
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,600
Speaker 27: I saw that he was weighted down. And as time

680
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,879
Speaker 27: goes on, you can see I don't want to say

681
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,080
Speaker 27: it's less joy, but you can you could you see

682
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,040
Speaker 27: that his personality is still there, but you can feel

683
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,480
Speaker 27: that he's he's weighted down, like there's something weighing on him.

684
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:18,080
Speaker 3: Now.

685
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,960
Speaker 27: He wasn't specific with me about what it was. I

686
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:22,400
Speaker 27: don't think he signed.

687
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 22: Up for.

688
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 27: The weight of you know, the weight of his of

689
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,080
Speaker 27: his talent, the weight of you know, the weight of

690
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 27: his gift.

691
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:37,240
Speaker 11: During repeated visits Bias made to Wagner, his high school coach,

692
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:42,400
Speaker 11: Wagner noticed Bias becoming more concerned about increased pressures during

693
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,360
Speaker 11: his senior year. We would just we'd walk the halls.

694
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:48,239
Speaker 8: I wouldn't raise the issue used it walls at your

695
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:48,800
Speaker 8: high school.

696
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,520
Speaker 17: It wasn't usually wasn't about basketball.

697
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 8: I know at one point where media and other people

698
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:01,680
Speaker 8: started to absorb more.

699
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 3: Of his time and attention than.

700
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,080
Speaker 17: The people that he came from.

701
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:13,720
Speaker 11: Walker Bias's mentor recalled that Bias struggled to find joy

702
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:17,560
Speaker 11: during his senior season due in part to some interest

703
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:21,920
Speaker 11: in turning pro after his junior year. Here's Jeff Baxter

704
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,040
Speaker 11: with a different view about Bias during his senior year.

705
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 19: I didn't see him feeling the pressure changes they have

706
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 19: for other changes. It's of him getting fatter, have probably

707
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 19: becoming more vocal. I could be vocal because we were

708
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:43,360
Speaker 19: co captives, but he could be much more imposing, much.

709
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:47,399
Speaker 11: More imposing the suspension of Bias, Baxter and Johnson came

710
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 11: in a challenging time for Maryland. The win against NC

711
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 11: State but Maryland at three and six in the conference

712
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 11: after a loss to Clemson. Maryland needed to win three

713
00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:00,520
Speaker 11: of its last four conference games for or a chance

714
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:05,720
Speaker 11: to receive an NCAA bid. Maryland then faced top ranked

715
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 11: North Carolina and Chapel Hill. It would feature two plays

716
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 11: by Bias that defined his career. In a game where

717
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 11: he scored thirty five points.

718
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:17,359
Speaker 9: A crowded more than twenty two thousand, it's no hand

719
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,400
Speaker 9: to watch the Tar Heels take on the Maryland Tarrelman.

720
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:23,799
Speaker 11: The signature play of Bias' career came with Maryland down

721
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,680
Speaker 11: by nine with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.

722
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:31,680
Speaker 28: At the DVSN sent Bias from outside and he got it.

723
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 9: It was Lenn Bias with twenty nine.

724
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,160
Speaker 2: O one Stay on tail.

725
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:38,040
Speaker 11: What a play by Bias.

726
00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:40,880
Speaker 10: Ho Lake Cow and I just stood there for a

727
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 10: little while. Kenny Smith had his back turned as soon

728
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:44,520
Speaker 10: as he threw the ball, and I just came and

729
00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:46,800
Speaker 10: anticipated and smacked him down and then came right to

730
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 10: my hands and I was nowhere.

731
00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 11: I looked up, I was under the basket. I just

732
00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 11: jumped up and regulation ended in a tie. At the

733
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 11: start of overtime, the television announcers felt the need to

734
00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,319
Speaker 11: acknowledge the effort of Bias so far.

735
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 28: If you joined us late, you've missed one of the

736
00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 28: great performances that I certainly I've seen all year.

737
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:06,600
Speaker 9: And I think Danviton Turley made.

738
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:10,600
Speaker 28: Winny Bias thirty three points. He's has been absolutely vegnave

739
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:13,680
Speaker 28: since five rebounds. It's ree assist, couple of blocks in

740
00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:16,040
Speaker 28: the steel. I mean he has been abthing.

741
00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:20,960
Speaker 11: Bias was not done with his heroics. With Maryland ahead

742
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:25,160
Speaker 11: by one and fifteen seconds remaining in overtime, a defensive

743
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:26,960
Speaker 11: play by Bias secured the win.

744
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:27,920
Speaker 20: Now to Kenny Smith.

745
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 12: Scott Clucks down the ten game. Cluck is down to

746
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:31,800
Speaker 12: hit Tame Smith one on one with Gatlin.

747
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 9: Cutt fights throws it up.

748
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:35,839
Speaker 12: Pluck the way boxer comes down when it dribbles out

749
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 12: of topic to Bias. Quss Cork to Charles ten seconds

750
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:40,759
Speaker 12: hamad in mine of course Cork.

751
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:41,560
Speaker 6: Custer bucks to.

752
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:44,239
Speaker 9: The tops one ups up number one Bock Carolina.

753
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 11: Dan Bonner has been an analyst on college basketball broadcast

754
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 11: since nineteen eighty one. He worked that game and vividly

755
00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:52,800
Speaker 11: remembers that play.

756
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:55,759
Speaker 17: As he went up to block that shot, it was

757
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 17: down close to the basket.

758
00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 7: I distinctly heard in my year through.

759
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:05,399
Speaker 3: The mic that was trying to get effects. I heard

760
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 3: him say give me that.

761
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 18: And I thought that that was in this particular situation

762
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:15,080
Speaker 18: that sort of defined for me the type of game

763
00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:15,760
Speaker 18: he had.

764
00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:20,360
Speaker 1: He basically told North Carolina throughout that entire game, even.

765
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 3: Though they trailed most of the game.

766
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:25,279
Speaker 15: Basically, his actions during the game were telling them give

767
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 15: me that.

768
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:29,200
Speaker 6: And you know, in those days and you don't do

769
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 6: it anymore, But when I was growing up.

770
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,239
Speaker 3: We didn't have AAU. That's what guys did all the time.

771
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 3: When they blocked your shot, they would yell, give me that.

772
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:41,399
Speaker 3: And so it just impressed me that here in this situation.

773
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:43,000
Speaker 25: In this moment, and everybody knew it was a big

774
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 25: moment that this would holler out give me that.

775
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,680
Speaker 11: The performance by Bias and the win over North Carolina

776
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:54,080
Speaker 11: wasn't even his most dominant game of the season. In

777
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:58,359
Speaker 11: January that year, Bias scored Maryland's first ten points and

778
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:02,400
Speaker 11: ended with forty. One game against Duke, he made fourteen

779
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:05,800
Speaker 11: of twenty field goals in all thirteen of his free throws.

780
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:09,080
Speaker 11: Jay Billis was a senior at Duke that year and

781
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 11: he remembers that game very well.

782
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:14,799
Speaker 6: The memory was, we couldn't stop him, and guys were

783
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 6: coming back to the bench saying, I'm trying to foul him.

784
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:19,600
Speaker 7: I can't even fowl him. We knew how good he was.

785
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:23,640
Speaker 6: Our players were ever in awe of anyone you know,

786
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,960
Speaker 6: there were only a few players that I heard our

787
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,520
Speaker 6: best players talk about with reverence back then.

788
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:35,759
Speaker 7: One was Jordan, the other was Bias.

789
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,080
Speaker 11: After Maryland beat Virginia at home, when the last game

790
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 11: of the regular season, Virginia coach Terry Holland called it

791
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:48,400
Speaker 11: Lenny Bias Knight. Bias had extra motivation in the game.

792
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,800
Speaker 11: In the game against Virginia earlier in the season, Olden

793
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,200
Speaker 11: Polynice blocked a Bias shot. He then pointed at Bias

794
00:43:57,239 --> 00:44:00,719
Speaker 11: as he lay on the ground. Bias got his revenge

795
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:08,600
Speaker 11: late in the first half, and the rematch on March first.

796
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:11,800
Speaker 9: Andrew Kennedy inside the Plony mister Shot got his own rebound.

797
00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:17,360
Speaker 11: Kevin Shean, a sportscaster and the Washington DC area, attended

798
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:22,399
Speaker 11: that game. He explained what happened on his podcast during

799
00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:27,120
Speaker 11: an interview with Dave Ungrady, a producer of this podcast series.

800
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 12: And he played his final game at cole against Virginia.

801
00:44:31,400 --> 00:44:35,640
Speaker 12: Olden Polonies put up a shot and I was very close.

802
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:36,200
Speaker 15: To the crews.

803
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:38,719
Speaker 7: I want to play.

804
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:44,319
Speaker 12: Like that, And you heard Leonard go up in Snaggett

805
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,919
Speaker 12: mid air and say get that shit out of here,

806
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:47,760
Speaker 12: and he.

807
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,120
Speaker 7: Threw it into the fourth row, jo.

808
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:54,840
Speaker 9: Len Bias intimidate Polonies first shot and then block the

809
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:55,359
Speaker 9: next one.

810
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:56,760
Speaker 11: Unbelievable.

811
00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:57,880
Speaker 7: See Quinton Jones.

812
00:44:57,920 --> 00:44:58,800
Speaker 3: Cappy it off.

813
00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 11: Is letton Polonies.

814
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:02,880
Speaker 3: Know who did it?

815
00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:06,759
Speaker 11: Said Bias after the game, I had to block his

816
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:10,879
Speaker 11: shot and put it in his face. After the last game,

817
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:13,600
Speaker 11: everybody had asked me why I had let him do

818
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:18,640
Speaker 11: that to me. Bias scored twenty two points in that game.

819
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:23,600
Speaker 11: A week later, Maryland lost a sixth ranked Georgia Tech

820
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 11: in an ACC semifinal. In an NCAA tournament first round

821
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 11: win over Pepperdine, Bias scored twenty six points, breaking Maryland's

822
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:37,919
Speaker 11: season scoring record that he had set the prior year.

823
00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 11: Bias scored thirty one points in a second round loss

824
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:47,120
Speaker 11: to UNLV. Afterward, in an image that foretold his future,

825
00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:51,120
Speaker 11: he sat in his locker, towel over his head, his

826
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:55,680
Speaker 11: face buried in his hands. I felt we could have

827
00:45:55,760 --> 00:46:00,760
Speaker 11: gone a lot further, he said to the boy.

828
00:46:02,719 --> 00:46:02,959
Speaker 14: Next.

829
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:06,200
Speaker 1: On Lembia's a mixed Legacy Barnstormer and Boston.

830
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:08,640
Speaker 11: I was a big fan of Lenny Bise.

831
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:10,560
Speaker 3: I just loved his game.

832
00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:14,440
Speaker 18: He was a great drawl because you know he was

833
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:15,879
Speaker 18: just some SLAMA player.

834
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:17,399
Speaker 22: He said.

835
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:21,040
Speaker 17: He said, I'm not interested in he said, there's something

836
00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:23,360
Speaker 17: about him that concerns me.

837
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:26,960
Speaker 22: I really was hoping that it was Boston and my

838
00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:27,759
Speaker 22: dream came through.

839
00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 27: That was what our biggest part of the pitch was

840
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:35,360
Speaker 27: that he would be our guy. Really and then he

841
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:37,120
Speaker 27: just said, yeah, I can't. I wish my mom was

842
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:38,600
Speaker 27: part of this, Like I can't wait to get home

843
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:40,160
Speaker 27: and see my mom.

844
00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:42,760
Speaker 1: This podcast series is based on the book Born Ready,

845
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:45,960
Speaker 1: a mixed Legacy of Lemba's, published by Go Grady Media.

846
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:48,880
Speaker 1: The series is produced by Go Grady Media in partnership

847
00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:52,680
Speaker 1: with Octagon Entertainment. This segment was produced by Dave Ngrady

848
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 1: and Don Marcus. It was written by Dave Grady and

849
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:58,880
Speaker 1: edited by Don Marcus. The narrator was Rich Daniel, with

850
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:03,600
Speaker 1: additional narration Jamal Williams. Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment.

851
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 1: Production assistance was produced by Kevin mcnelty, Tino Quagliata, Lauren Ross,

852
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:13,799
Speaker 1: Georgia Brown, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannox and Enzo

853
00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 1: al Varrengo. Matt Doherst is providing the social media assistance

854
00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:22,000
Speaker 1: special thanks to the University of Maryland and American Universities

855
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: of providing insights. The Decision Education Foundation is a content

856
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:29,799
Speaker 1: and promotional partner of this podcast series. More information go

857
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:36,880
Speaker 1: to do gradymedia dot com. This has been a production

858
00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:39,000
Speaker 1: of Go grading Media and the Eighth Side Network