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Speaker 1: Legendary Maryland basketball coach Lefty Drizzel died recently at the

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Speaker 1: age of ninety two, and this week on March four,

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Speaker 1: a memorial service was held for Drizzel. Drizzel leaves behind

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Speaker 1: a complex and complicated legacy as a basketball coach. He

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Speaker 1: was a head coach at four Division one colleges, most

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Speaker 1: notably at the University of Maryland. He started there in

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine and through nineteen eighty six. Drezell built

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Speaker 1: the team into a prominent national program. When he began

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Speaker 1: as Maryland's coach, Drizzel famously stated that he would make

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Speaker 1: the Terps the UCLA of the East, a reference to

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Speaker 1: what was then the most dominant college men's program. Drizzel

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Speaker 1: departed Maryland more dramatically than when he started. He was

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Speaker 1: removed as coach as a result of his actions following

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Speaker 1: the drug related death of Maryland Starleine Bias. Still, Drizzel

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Speaker 1: was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

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Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. This is Dave Ungrady, author of the

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Speaker 1: book Born Ready The Mixed Legacy of len Bias. From

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Speaker 1: the book, we have produced a sixteen episode podcast series

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Speaker 1: titled Len Bias a Mixed Legacy. Coach Drizzel played a

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Speaker 1: major role in Len's legacy and is featured prominently throughout

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Speaker 1: the series. True recognized Rorizzel's legacy related to Bias. We

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Speaker 1: present here a compilation of content about the coach as

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Speaker 1: it is presented in the series.

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Speaker 2: In April nineteen eighty six, the life of Len Bias

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Speaker 2: was in transition. He expected to be a top pick

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Speaker 2: in the NBA draft. Two months later, Lenz said he

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Speaker 2: wanted to complete his degree, that he wanted people to

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Speaker 2: know that he had graduated from the University of Maryland.

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Speaker 2: He would consider it and accomplish, he said. But an

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Speaker 2: academic advisor told his coach, Lefty Drizzl that Lenn was

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Speaker 2: struggling that semester. Drizzell said Bias should consider dropping some

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Speaker 2: courses to avoid failing grades.

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Speaker 3: Listen, if he had passed, He's fifteen and I might

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Speaker 3: have been taking eighteen the last semester, right, he would

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Speaker 3: have been six credits short. Told him, I said, Linda,

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Speaker 3: you ought to drop drop all the courses or take incomplete,

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Speaker 3: but don't fail.

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Speaker 2: Bias said no, he wanted to pass them.

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Speaker 3: He said, well, I'll fast coach. I know all these professors,

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Speaker 3: they'll pass me. I know I've been missing a lot

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Speaker 3: of plans. And he flunked the ball. Do you know

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Speaker 3: that he was paying his way to go to summer

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Speaker 3: school because I had a rule a couple of years

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Speaker 3: before because a lot of my players were flunking a

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Speaker 3: course or one, you know, one course or something, so

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Speaker 3: they would have to go to summer school to get

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Speaker 3: their degree. And I said, look, if you flunk a

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Speaker 3: course because you uh and went to class and took

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Speaker 3: a jam and everything and you still flow, I'll pay

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Speaker 3: your way to summer school. But if I called to

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Speaker 3: the professor and he said the guy didn't come to

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Speaker 3: Clay and take the exam, I'm not paying your way

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Speaker 3: and go to summer school. He just didn't go to class.

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Speaker 4: Football was fun for Maryland fans in the early nineteen eighties.

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Speaker 4: That's when Bobby Ross led the Turps to three straight

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Speaker 4: ACC titles and the women's basketball team went to its

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Speaker 4: first Final Four in nineteen eighty two. With all that,

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Speaker 4: in the context of Maryland athletics, basketball was king. It

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Speaker 4: started when Laftigerzell became head coach in nineteen sixty nine.

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Speaker 4: He led the Terps the ACC Tournament championship game five

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Speaker 4: times before finally winning it in nineteen eighty four. The

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Speaker 4: MVP of that tournament team was a rising sophomore star

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Speaker 4: named Lun Bias. Molly Glassman covered Bias his entire college

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Speaker 4: career for the Baltimore Evening Sun.

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Speaker 5: SER's and he carried them to the ACC Championship. And

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Speaker 5: of course it was Lefty's huge accomplishment after all those

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Speaker 5: years of not winning the ACC. And you know Lefty

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Speaker 5: bragging after the game that he was going to take

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Speaker 5: the trophy and stick it on the hood of his

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Speaker 5: car and drive through North Carolina, drive across Tobacco Road

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Speaker 5: one end to the other, thinking at the time, well,

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Speaker 5: what he really should do is put Leonard out in

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Speaker 5: front of his car and drive Leonard from one end

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Speaker 5: of the of the Tobacco Road to the other. Because

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Speaker 5: Leonard Bias earned Lefty that trophy that year.

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Speaker 4: Two years later, Driselle was no longer Maryland's head coach.

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Speaker 4: Ross was gone too, so was the school's athletic director,

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Speaker 4: Dave Dole, and one Bias was dead. The next decade

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Speaker 4: or so was the darkest in the history of Maryland athletics.

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Speaker 4: Bob Nelligan was the women's gymnastics coach at Maryland from

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Speaker 4: nineteen seventy nine to two thousand and nine.

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Speaker 6: We were all.

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Speaker 7: Just numb from the fact that how could somebody who

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Speaker 7: was an absolute specimen, incredible athlete with God given abilities?

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Speaker 8: And I think it really took everybody, but like, how

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Speaker 8: could this happen? So the initial phase was this isn't happening,

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Speaker 8: And then as the reality started to set in, he

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Speaker 8: had all.

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Speaker 7: The finger pointing where did this go wrong?

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Speaker 1: Well, Lefty, should you have known this?

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Speaker 7: You know those are your boys?

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Speaker 9: Uh It.

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Speaker 7: It was like a house of cards that were crumbling

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Speaker 7: and there was no way to stop it.

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Speaker 4: Molly Glassman covered the death of Bias for the Baltimore Sun.

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Speaker 4: She recalled suspicions about the cause of Bias's death changed

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Speaker 4: during a press conference by Maryland coach Lefty Grisell.

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Speaker 10: No, I don't think there was any suspicion at that point,

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Speaker 10: but that day we were talking to a reporter from

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Speaker 10: Boston who had gone to Lefty's press conference, and Lefty

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Speaker 10: and Lefty sort of danced around a lot of things

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Speaker 10: in the press conference. Yes, and that's where he became suspicious.

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Speaker 10: Is that when you started to think, Okay.

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Speaker 5: They're finding something. I didn't know what it was, but

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Speaker 5: that's when the first thought of drugs comes to your mind.

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Speaker 5: They're not saying you know, well, the doctor say you

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Speaker 5: know that. You know he was he had these issues,

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Speaker 5: not being specific about anything. You're right, he danced around

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Speaker 5: a lot of things.

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Speaker 11: There was just an edge to everything.

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Speaker 5: You know. They weren't, especially the seniors. It was like,

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Speaker 5: what are they avoiding talking about that day? I recall

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Speaker 5: that evening especially we went to bias house and kind

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Speaker 5: of staked it out, and it was just incredibly guarded.

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Speaker 11: Thing. It wasn't as if somebody Lenny had had passed

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Speaker 11: from natural causes.

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Speaker 4: Marilynd Coach left to Gerselle held a press conference shortly

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Speaker 4: after the death of Bias.

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Speaker 9: I really don't know if I'm up to this, but

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Speaker 9: I guess leona of a woman to say something. You know,

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Speaker 9: he's a I've known Lena since you was in about

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Speaker 9: the sixth grade, and he's like a son to me.

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Speaker 9: So I think you can the difficulty the way I

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Speaker 9: feel right now.

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Speaker 2: Here's Lefty Drizzelle speaking a day after Bias died about

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Speaker 2: his drug use.

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Speaker 12: Well, I would be very, very surprised because Leonard just

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Speaker 12: had an examination by the Boston Celtics and the Golden

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Speaker 12: State Warriors and the New York Nicks, and you know,

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Speaker 12: I'm positive there were no drugs in those examinations, and

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Speaker 12: he's completely out of character for him to do anything

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Speaker 12: like that. That's one thing that I told Rid and

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Speaker 12: all the teams that were interested in him, they didn't

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Speaker 12: have to worry about him with drugs or alcohol. He

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Speaker 12: was born again Christian and a great person.

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Speaker 13: In the immediate months after the death of his oldest son, Lynn,

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Speaker 13: James Bias acted like any father would, with a mix

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Speaker 13: of grief, anger, confusion, and resolve. During a memorial service

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Speaker 13: for Len a few days after he died, James spotted

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Speaker 13: Len's two most prominent coaches, while Wagner from high school

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Speaker 13: and left you yourself from college. Here's Wagner recalling the.

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Speaker 14: Incident at the wake. I was deeply hurt by this.

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Speaker 14: At the wake, I rode down with Lefty because we

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Speaker 14: didn't know where we were going. We come into the

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Speaker 14: church and I know mister Bias was still hurt and upset,

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Speaker 14: but Lefty walks over to give his condolences, and mister

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Speaker 14: Bias says something like to Lefty like, you stay away

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Speaker 14: from me.

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Speaker 2: You killed mich saw this.

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Speaker 14: Oh I'm staying right and you too, and pointed to me.

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Speaker 14: I just took that very personally. I never said anything

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Speaker 14: to him. I thought there were times when I thought

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Speaker 14: about just driving through Columbia Park and maybe talking to

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Speaker 14: mister Bias and seeing you know, like you know, I'm

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Speaker 14: sorry about what happened.

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Speaker 4: Throughout the Bias fallout, coach Lefty Griselle maintained that he

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Speaker 4: had done nothing wrong. He claimed his athletes were good students.

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Speaker 4: He claimed he was not aware of drug use on

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Speaker 4: the team. He spoke publicly again and again after Bias died,

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Speaker 4: defending his in the team's honor that ultimately led to

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Speaker 4: the end of his Maryland career. Slaughter wanted to resid

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Speaker 4: out as coach because he felt Drizzel did not provide

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Speaker 4: the leadership needed by the team.

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Speaker 1: At the time, John Slaughter told me, my conclusion was

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Speaker 1: we were not going to turn that around unless a

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Speaker 1: change was made. I thought we needed to change coaches

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Speaker 1: for a variety of reasons. I could come up with

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Speaker 1: a whole lot of reasons but I consider that a

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Speaker 1: closed chapter. I don't want to open it anymore. I

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Speaker 1: like Lefty a great deal. I'm not sure it's reciprocated

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Speaker 1: at the moment. When asked about his feelings towards Slaughter,

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Speaker 1: Drizzell told me no comment. I have a lot of

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Speaker 1: feelings about Slaughter, but I'd rather not say.

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Speaker 4: Tom McMillan was an All American at Maryland and was

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Speaker 4: coached by Drizzel in the early nineteen seventies. He has

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Speaker 4: been heavily involved with the university ever since, serving for

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Speaker 4: a term on the Board of Regents. He feels Slaughter

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Speaker 4: made Lefty the fall guy for Bias' death.

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Speaker 12: It was.

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Speaker 15: Horrific. It was probably the worst brand destroyer ever.

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Speaker 4: Others also believed Drizzell was made a scapegoat for the

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Speaker 4: death of Bias. Here's Derek Lewis, a Marilyn sophomore when

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Speaker 4: Bias died.

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Speaker 16: And they see him walk out of Colchree House that

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Speaker 16: day after announcing he was giving a retired stepping down.

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Speaker 17: That was good.

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Speaker 16: That was that was past. That that that more than anything,

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Speaker 16: pissed you off. You know, you you're mad about the

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Speaker 16: about many and what happened, But that that was Nothing's

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Speaker 16: supposed to do?

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Speaker 18: What was it was?

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Speaker 16: Nothing supposed to be there and did do him at

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Speaker 16: two in the morning. Was supposed to be watching me

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Speaker 16: see what I was doing across the hall. Was supposed

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Speaker 16: to be in a jets room. I mean, you can't

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Speaker 16: you can't be heavy with it. So I had a

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Speaker 16: big I had a big pob with that.

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Speaker 4: Here's JJ Bush, an athletic trainer with Drizzel in the

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Speaker 4: nineteen seventies.

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Speaker 19: Left he didn't put the cocaine in Lenny's nose. He

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Speaker 19: didn't buy the cocaine for Lenny or any of that stuff. Lenny,

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Speaker 19: you know, was over the age of consent. He was

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Speaker 19: an adult, and he did that on his own accord.

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Speaker 19: But Lefty caught the fall out.

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Speaker 1: Payne gave Greg a ride to the house of coach

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Speaker 1: Lefty Brizel.

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Speaker 20: You know, Lefty let me in just like I was

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Speaker 20: a part of the team, and so we were we

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Speaker 20: were just sitting there and you know, Lefty came in

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Speaker 20: and he started talking. He started talking to the team

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Speaker 20: and telling them about you know how you know tragic

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Speaker 20: this is, but you know Lynn was ready. You know,

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Speaker 20: Lynn was a good, good guy. He's a Christian, He's

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Speaker 20: he's okay, and you know, we know that this is

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Speaker 20: going This is is very shocking and hard to deal with.

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Speaker 20: You know, we're going to have people for you guys

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Speaker 20: to talk to if you need it. Just going kind

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Speaker 20: of back and forth because you know, at this point

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Speaker 20: Lefty doesn't know the story. He doesn't really know what's

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Speaker 20: happened himself.

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Speaker 1: After Bias died, Lewis struggled largely with the blame given

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Speaker 1: US coach Lefty Brazil for the death of Bias with.

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Speaker 16: Because they were they were blaming with eVisa.

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Speaker 18: It was his fault in that control one left.

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Speaker 16: It can't be with us twenty hours a day, sure,

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Speaker 16: and as twelve was, and it's ridiculous and.

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Speaker 7: They made a mistake.

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Speaker 15: Goes you know, thiss day.

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Speaker 10: I'll understand when he did that.

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Speaker 15: And that's what gives me all the motion.

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Speaker 10: It would take decades for Maryland Athletics collectively to finally

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Speaker 10: accept the legacy of Bias. He was not inducted into

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Speaker 10: Maryland's Athletics Hall of Fame until twenty fourteen. Left to Grizzel,

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Speaker 10: Maryland's coach when Bias died, finally earned his Maryland Athletics

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Speaker 10: Hall of Fame honor in two thousand and two. That

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Speaker 10: was sixteen years after he left the program.

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Speaker 2: Lefty Drizzel came to Maryland in nineteen sixty nine. He

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Speaker 2: turned a team that had a pension for losing and

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Speaker 2: made them a national power where they were always winning.

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Speaker 9: Maryland he had nothing for why I got you. I'm

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Speaker 9: called right, absolutely nothing.

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Speaker 1: That's a clip from a video about former Maryland head

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Speaker 1: coach left to Drizzl, produced by a Washington, DC area

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Speaker 1: television news station in nineteen eighty six. Perhaps it's a

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Speaker 1: bit of hyperbole to say Maryland basketball had nothing before

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Speaker 1: Drizzel became the school's basketball coach, but there was not

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Speaker 1: a whole lot to Bragabelle. Maryland had only four winning

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Speaker 1: seasons in the nineteen sixties, along with no national rankings.

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Speaker 1: By the early nineteen eighties, Trizzel had built a well

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Speaker 1: deserved reputation as a pioneer and a pretty good self

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Speaker 1: promoter among college basketball coaches.

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Speaker 21: One of the winningest coaches in ACC and NCAA history

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Speaker 21: is our next legend from Maryland, with seven hundred and

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Speaker 21: eighty six career wins, Arriving in College Park in nineteen seventy.

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Speaker 21: He built the Terrafins into a national power and twice

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Speaker 21: was named ACC Coach of the Year. His nineteen seventy

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Speaker 21: four Terrafins played NC State in the ACC Championship Game,

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Speaker 21: which even today many consider the greatest game in conference.

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Speaker 1: His that clip came from an Atlantic Coast Conference Legends

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Speaker 1: brunch in two thousand and eight. In another video released

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Speaker 1: shortly after he resigned as Maryland's coach, in nineteen eighty six,

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Speaker 1: a local television network aired a tribute to Drizzl. It

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Speaker 1: featured a typical confident comment from the coach.

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Speaker 9: I'll like to brag. See that's why y'all don't think

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Speaker 9: I can coach. But I'm bragging today, Okay, because I

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Speaker 9: don't like to talk about what I do and what

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Speaker 9: I don't do. But don't ever say that I can't coach.

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Speaker 9: I may not be a good speaker, I may not

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Speaker 9: be intelligent as some of these other coaches. I may

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Speaker 9: not throw you a whole lot of x's and oh crap,

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Speaker 9: But I can coach.

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Speaker 15: We were in the top ten my whole career. How

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Speaker 15: many Maryland teams are in the final top ten?

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Speaker 1: That was Tom McMillan, a three time All American at

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Speaker 1: Maryland in the early nineteen seventies, and the answer only

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Speaker 1: five teams that did not include McMillan have finished in

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Speaker 1: the top ten in the final Associated Press National poll.

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Speaker 1: Over the court of Some seventy years after Lembias died,

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Speaker 1: the perception of Drizzel had changed dramatically. In the mind

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Speaker 1: of his critics, Drizzel had morphed into a coach who

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Speaker 1: was at worst indifferent to the academic needs of his

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Speaker 1: players and at best blind to their off court mishaps.

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Speaker 1: This all made Drizzel a prime target of blame for

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Speaker 1: the death of Bias. Russ Potts is a Maryland graduate

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Speaker 1: from the nineteen sixties. He was also the first marketing

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Speaker 1: director for Maryland's athletic department. Potts took that position one

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Speaker 1: year after Drizzel started at Maryland.

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Speaker 6: Whenever you have a tragedy, whether it's Pearl Harbor or

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Speaker 6: nine to eleven or whatever, you're going to always have

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Speaker 6: a fall gap. And so they tried to make the

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00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,640
Speaker 6: lefty the fall guy. Well, poor Lefty had no more

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Speaker 6: to do with that than you r idea unfortunately, and

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Speaker 6: it was he was in the row long place at

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Speaker 6: the wrong time, and it was a tragic happening that

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Speaker 6: still to this day affects the University of Maryland.

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Speaker 1: Here's McMillan.

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Speaker 15: It really bothers Lefty that his tenure at Maryland ended

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Speaker 15: this way. It was really it was very tragic for

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Speaker 15: him because he did so much for Maryland and then

300
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Speaker 15: they have this one incident, which was a terrible mistake.

301
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Speaker 1: That mistake Lent Bias abusing cocaine and then dying transformed

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00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,479
Speaker 1: Drizzel from a Maryland basketball icon to a maligned and

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00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,480
Speaker 1: minimized figure by those who struggled to understand the death

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Speaker 1: of Bias. It was a situation few could foresee at

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Speaker 1: the start of Drizzel's Maryland career. By the early nineteen seventies,

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00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:57,359
Speaker 1: sellout crowds with a norm at Maryland's home arena, cole Fieldhouse,

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00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,520
Speaker 1: some fourteen thousand fans to watch a trio of eventual

308
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Speaker 1: All Americans, as well as impact players in the NBA McMillan,

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Speaker 1: Len Elmore, and John Lucas. Early in his career, Drizzell

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Speaker 1: boldly promised to turn Maryland into the UCLA of the East.

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Speaker 1: If not for two teams, he just might have done so.

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Speaker 1: One was the real UCLA, which continued to dominate college basketball.

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Speaker 1: The other was North Carolina State, which interrupted UCLA's championship

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Speaker 1: run in nineteen seventy four, but the Terps were still

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Speaker 1: among the best teams in the country. In four different

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Speaker 1: regular seasons between nineteen seventy and nineteen eighty, Drizzell's team

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Speaker 1: reached number two in the rankings. Four times they finished

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Speaker 1: in the top ten. In his seventeen years as Maryland's

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Speaker 1: head coach, Drizzell won only one acc Tournament title, and

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Speaker 1: it was with Bias in nineteen eighty five. Four Bias,

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00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,440
Speaker 1: then a sophomore, won the tournament's MVP Award. Bias praised

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Speaker 1: Brizel's influence on him in a nineteen eighty six Maryland

323
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Speaker 1: basketball recruiting video.

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Speaker 22: He told me the things that I could do, and

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00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:16,520
Speaker 22: he put a lot of faith in me and told

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Speaker 22: me that I will be able to score and I

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00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:19,800
Speaker 22: will be able to rebound. Now I can do it.

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Speaker 22: And when you got a coach that puts confidence and

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Speaker 22: faith in you like that, you can't go out but play.

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Speaker 1: Here's Drizzl in that same recruiting video, of.

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Speaker 9: Course, having len Ad Biased being the player of the

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Speaker 9: Year in the ACC and make first Team All ACC

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Speaker 9: and First Team of AP and first Team up is

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Speaker 9: all American. You know, you know, in my opinion, he

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Speaker 9: was probably player of the year in the country.

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Speaker 1: Criticism toward Drizzel replaced praise for him after the death

337
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Speaker 1: of Bias. Some of it came from the Bias family.

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Speaker 1: Bob Wagner, Len's high school coach and a friend of Drizel,

339
00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,879
Speaker 1: remembers a moment of hostility from Len's father. It was

340
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Speaker 1: at Bias's wake. Once there, Drizzl and Wagner walked over

341
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:04,600
Speaker 1: over to James Bias to offer condolences.

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Speaker 14: At the wake, I rode down with Lefty because we

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00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:12,240
Speaker 14: didn't know where we were going. We come into the

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Speaker 14: church and I know mister Bias was still hurt and upset.

345
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Speaker 14: But Lefty walks over to give his condolences and mister

346
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Speaker 14: Bias has something like the Lefty like, you stay away

347
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Speaker 14: from me. You killed myself.

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Speaker 1: Media reports claimed Drizzel instructed a coach to clean the

349
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Speaker 1: room in which Bias died before police arrived. Dursel admitted

350
00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,960
Speaker 1: that he instructed the coach to clean the room, but

351
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:39,400
Speaker 1: the coach, Oliver Parnell, did not do so in part

352
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,639
Speaker 1: due to a police presence. Assistant coach Jeff Atkins went

353
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,840
Speaker 1: to the room with Parnell. Atkins told me that when

354
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Speaker 1: they reached the Washington Hall dorm, where Bias's suite was located,

355
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:56,439
Speaker 1: police would not let them pass a secured area. Trezell

356
00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:00,800
Speaker 1: is not charged with a crime. During this time, Drizell

357
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,440
Speaker 1: indicated he would not back down from the challenges facing him.

358
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Speaker 9: If you know me, I do the best when my

359
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,640
Speaker 9: back's up against the wall, right. I like for people

360
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,760
Speaker 9: get me in a corner and get me around the neck.

361
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Speaker 9: Then I like to get out of there, you know.

362
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 1: But the forces against Drizel grew too strong. Chancellor John

363
00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,520
Speaker 1: Slaughter felt that Drizzel had not provided the leadership needed

364
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:27,280
Speaker 1: At the time he removed Brizzel's coach. Slaughter told me

365
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,320
Speaker 1: my conclusion was we were not going to turn that

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Speaker 1: around unless the change was made. I could come up

367
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,159
Speaker 1: with a whole lot of reasons, but I consider that

368
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,760
Speaker 1: a closed chapter. I don't want to open it anymore.

369
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: I like Lefty a great deal. I'm not sure it's reciprocated.

370
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Speaker 1: When asked about his feelings towards Slaughter, Drizzell told me

371
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Speaker 1: no comment. I have a lot of feelings about slaughter,

372
00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: but I'd rather not say. Mally Glassman was a reporter

373
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:01,359
Speaker 1: for the Baltimore Sun, covering Mayor on basketball. At the time.

374
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Speaker 11: He was a chancellor who was very concerned about the reputation.

375
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Speaker 5: Of himself and the school, and the reputation was in tatters,

376
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,520
Speaker 5: as you say, academically when the revelations came out that

377
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 5: these kids weren't going to class. And this wasn't the

378
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,520
Speaker 5: first year that this had happened, that there was a

379
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:29,440
Speaker 5: history of lefties players not staying in school, not graduating.

380
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,479
Speaker 11: But lefty he wouldn't have gone.

381
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:37,159
Speaker 5: He wouldn't have left of his own accord, and he

382
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 5: fought it till the end.

383
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,000
Speaker 1: Triseau claims he was asked to remain as coach for

384
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,360
Speaker 1: one more year and then resigned with nine years left

385
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:50,639
Speaker 1: on his contract. Drissel told me, my lawyer said, we

386
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,560
Speaker 1: can fight this thing and you can keep your job,

387
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 1: but I'd be working for free because his fees would

388
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: be so big. I said, let's settle. It was a

389
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,880
Speaker 1: great seventeen years at Maryland except for my last year.

390
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: To Risel's lawyer was famed Washington Defense attorney Edward Bennett

391
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:13,640
Speaker 1: Williams russ Potts, Maryland's first marketing manager, was a good

392
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 1: friend of Durzel. He reached out to Williams after it

393
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 1: became a parent that Brazil's future employment at Maryland was

394
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:21,200
Speaker 1: in jeopardy.

395
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,400
Speaker 6: I called Ed Williams and I asked Ed Williams if

396
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:33,600
Speaker 6: he would represent Lefty in this terrible mess at Maryland.

397
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 6: And I played it with him and I said, please

398
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,800
Speaker 6: please represent him because he has no idea in what's

399
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 6: going to happen. Get Lefty to call me tonight. And

400
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,320
Speaker 6: so I said, you need to call Ed Williams at

401
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 6: home tonight, and he did, but he said, Lefty affective.

402
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 6: Immediately this very second, if you say one word about

403
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:02,000
Speaker 6: this case, if you so much just say a comma

404
00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 6: or a sema, coleman, I will not represent you effective

405
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:13,080
Speaker 6: Immediately you shut up. I do all the talking. And

406
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 6: that was a hell of a challenge for Lefty go

407
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,880
Speaker 6: Getting Lefty to shut up was not easy, and they

408
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:25,480
Speaker 6: had a meeting with Williams and the president and the

409
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:26,840
Speaker 6: university attorney.

410
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: Drizzel resigned on October twenty nine, nineteen eighty six, and

411
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,280
Speaker 1: received a comfortable settlement He was paid one hundred and

412
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars a year for nine years, the remainder

413
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 1: of his tenure coaching contract, and he could continue his

414
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,119
Speaker 1: basketball camps at the school for the same length of time.

415
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 1: Drizzell collected the full salary even after he left. As

416
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,920
Speaker 1: Pots recalls, Williams took a hard stance with Maryland while

417
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 1: representing Brazell. He recounts the following story from a conversation

418
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,800
Speaker 1: he had with Williams shortly after the meeting.

419
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:09,439
Speaker 6: And the Maryland attorney arrogantly walked into the room and

420
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 6: he laid a contract on the desk. Left he had

421
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 6: eight and a half years left on his contract, and

422
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 6: Maryland offered him a year and a half. They laid

423
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:23,240
Speaker 6: that on the table and ed Williams looked at it.

424
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:27,359
Speaker 6: He jumped up, He grabbed the contract. He tore it

425
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 6: to shreds in front of me said I'll see you

426
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 6: in hell. Before we'd ever signed this. You want to

427
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 6: go to war, We'll go to war the next day.

428
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:42,400
Speaker 6: The next day they called Williams and gave Lefty all

429
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 6: eight and a half years.

430
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,800
Speaker 1: Brazila added more context to the negotiation on a phone

431
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,280
Speaker 1: call in the summer of twenty twenty.

432
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,359
Speaker 3: So Slaughter called back tomorrow. He said, your contract is good.

433
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:59,159
Speaker 3: We've got your pay left before it nine years and

434
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 3: he can stay here as an athletic director for two

435
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,880
Speaker 3: years and he will get the same salary he will

436
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 3: be making as the head coach. He can also have

437
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:15,920
Speaker 3: his basketball camp and use the dorms free and a

438
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 3: gym free. And that was the deal. Ed Williams said, Look,

439
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,880
Speaker 3: you can take at it if you want to. You

440
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:29,679
Speaker 3: ain't got to work for seven more years, and or

441
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,000
Speaker 3: you can go ahead and coach. Take the deal he's

442
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:37,440
Speaker 3: offering it, and forget it. Forget coaching. That's what I did.

443
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 1: As part of the deal, Drazell transition to an assistant

444
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: athletic director who oversaw the department, sports information and marketing departments.

445
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 1: He also helped manage the Maryland Educational Foundation, which raised

446
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:56,119
Speaker 1: money for scholarships and other department needs. When asked in

447
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,359
Speaker 1: twenty ten what the Athletic Department wanted him to do

448
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: in his new role, Dazelle paused for a couple moments, laughed,

449
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 1: and then said, quote hide end quote. Part of Drizzel's

450
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: job was to convince the elderly to place their life

451
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,360
Speaker 1: insurance policy in their will and make the athletic department

452
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:19,720
Speaker 1: the beneficiary when they died. Trizelle told me, I was

453
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,680
Speaker 1: getting ready to do that, but never got that much involved.

454
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,640
Speaker 1: When I took the job, then athletic director Luke Perkins said,

455
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: just come on over when you want and do what

456
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: you want. Trazelle left Maryland in nineteen eighty eight to

457
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 1: become head coach at James Madison University. In nineteen ninety four,

458
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: he became the head coach at Georgia State, where he

459
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:45,119
Speaker 1: stayed through two thousand and three. Drizelle retired with the

460
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:49,200
Speaker 1: fourth most wins in Division one history, with seven hundred

461
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,400
Speaker 1: and eighty six. In the summer of two thousand and two,

462
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,480
Speaker 1: Drizzell returned to Maryland's campus for the first time since

463
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 1: taking the job at James Madison. He attended his induction

464
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,160
Speaker 1: ceremony into Maryland's Athletics Hall of Fame.

465
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 23: For his accomplishments during his coaching career. At his successful

466
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:12,640
Speaker 23: tenure at the University of Maryland, coach Charles Lefty Drizzl

467
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:17,720
Speaker 23: is tonight being inducted into the University of Maryland Athletic

468
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 23: Hall of Fame.

469
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: Drizell returned the next winter when the Terrapins honored his

470
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 1: retirement from coaching during halftime of a game against Enci

471
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 1: State at the Comcast Center, Maryland's new basketball arena. Drizzel

472
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: stopped by Maryland's arena again in twenty seventeen for another

473
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 1: special ceremony, brizl The crowd was loud as Drizzel flashed

474
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,440
Speaker 1: the familiar victory sign with his right hand pointing to

475
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: the rafters. It must have felt as if he were

476
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,560
Speaker 1: back in Colefield House, in the building where he helped

477
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 1: develop Maryland basketball into a nationally respected program, ready to

478
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,440
Speaker 1: lead his Maryland team to another of its many victories.

479
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: John Lucas played for Drizzel from nineteen seventy two to

480
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six. He departed Maryland as a three time

481
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,080
Speaker 1: All America and was the top pick in the nineteen

482
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 1: seventy six NBA draft. He offered perhaps the most balanced

483
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:34,680
Speaker 1: assessment of Drizzel's personality, which endeared many and irritated others

484
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,240
Speaker 1: at Maryland. Lucas told me, coach was genuine to a fault.

485
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,040
Speaker 1: What you saw was what you got. He doesn't have

486
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:47,719
Speaker 1: any gray areas presenting Lefty for enshrinement are Mike Ruschevskiy,

487
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,240
Speaker 1: George Raveling, John Thompson, Ladies and Gentlemen.

488
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 2: Charles Lefty Drizzl.

489
00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, at the age of eighty six, receive

490
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:04,680
Speaker 1: the highest honor for a basketball coach, induction into the

491
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,400
Speaker 1: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

492
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 17: I'm so happy to be here. This is probably one

493
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 17: of the happiest days in my wife, my life and

494
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 17: my wife whatever. And look, is anybody in here eighty

495
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 17: six years old? Raise your hand, will you? So? So

496
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 17: if I screw up, So look if I if I

497
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 17: screw up, wait till you get eighty six. And I

498
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 17: made the statement, then we're gonna be the UCLA at

499
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 17: the East again. I was kind of drunk or someone

500
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:47,520
Speaker 17: I said that. And so I've been lucky to be

501
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 17: able to coach, and to be able to coach and

502
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 17: recruit at four great at two great high schools, and

503
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,040
Speaker 17: for division win universities.

504
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: I had a conversation with Drizl in the summer of

505
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. He was typical Lefty, engaging, curious, and combative,

506
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: and he expressed some frustration when the topic of bias

507
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 1: came up.

508
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:17,720
Speaker 3: Do you say that anything you do? What there about

509
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 3: his death? If you look back at direct and what

510
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 3: was Marylin in basketball before I got damned?

511
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 1: Drizzel finds comfort in his story he has told about Bias.

512
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,600
Speaker 1: During the early summer of twenty ten, the man approached

513
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,480
Speaker 1: him as they walked out of church near Drizzel's home

514
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 1: in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The man explained that shortly before

515
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 1: Bias's death, he had reached a personal love, losing his

516
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,800
Speaker 1: job and his family due to a cocaine addiction. When

517
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 1: friends told the man that Bias had died, he immediately

518
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 1: stopped abusing cocaine. The man told Grisel that Bias was

519
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 1: one of his favorite players and that Bias saved his life.

520
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 3: I bet eeveral people tell me that they've never used drugs,

521
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 3: they've died.

522
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,040
Speaker 1: At a press conference shortly after Bias died, Drizel expressed

523
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,520
Speaker 1: a connection between the two of them, a connection that

524
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 1: he feels is eternal.

525
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 9: As my wife said, He's in a better position right

526
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 9: now than we are. He's he's at home with the Lord,

527
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 9: and I really sincerely believe that. I mean, I'm sad,

528
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 9: but I'm not even worried because I know where Leonard is.

529
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 9: I know he's in heaven and I'm going to miss him,

530
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 9: and I know everybody else here will pise me. I

531
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 9: really can't say a whole lot more such I love you,

532
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 9: Leonard and our mission. I've seen Evan one.

533
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 18: Day, Len Bias. A Mixed Legacy. The interviews was produced

534
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:06,000
Speaker 18: by Davon Grady and Don Marcus. He had it all strong, quick,

535
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 18: and he was so lain biased. A mixed legacy is

536
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 18: distributed by the Eighth Side never before, just for greatness

537
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 18: and loss.

538
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 22: Let you known them all other memories, remember me.

539
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 2: I hope they do the same