1
00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:10,360
Speaker 1: At this time of the year, many top NBA prospects,

2
00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:14,640
Speaker 1: their school's competitive seasons behind them, are preparing for the

3
00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:19,200
Speaker 1: league's draft in late June. Many will play in postseason

4
00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:23,000
Speaker 1: all star tournaments, and they fine tune their skills to

5
00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:27,520
Speaker 1: achieve optimal positions in the draft. Some forty years ago,

6
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,920
Speaker 1: Len Bias was in that situation. But Bias, the All

7
00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,600
Speaker 1: American forward from the University of Maryland, never fulfilled that dream.

8
00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:42,120
Speaker 1: He has been justifiably compared to Michael Jordan, but we

9
00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,680
Speaker 1: never saw his career unfold. Two days after the NBA

10
00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,920
Speaker 1: Draft in late June in nineteen eighty six, Bias died

11
00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:55,760
Speaker 1: of complications fueled by a cocaine overdose. It was one

12
00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:00,120
Speaker 1: of the more significant sports stories of the last fifty years.

13
00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,040
Speaker 1: How did Bias spend the few months from the end

14
00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,720
Speaker 1: of his college career in April that year until he died.

15
00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:13,240
Speaker 1: He took risks, he had fun, he spent lots of money,

16
00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,520
Speaker 1: and he made a bad choice to abuse cocaine to

17
00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,800
Speaker 1: an extent that it killed him. This is Dave Ungrady,

18
00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 1: author of the book Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of

19
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:30,240
Speaker 1: Len Bias, and the executive producer of the sixteen episode

20
00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:35,200
Speaker 1: podcast series Born Ready A Mixed Legacy. We present here

21
00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,640
Speaker 1: a portion of episode three from the series that is

22
00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 1: focused on the last few months of Bias's life. This

23
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,119
Speaker 1: part of his story offers a cautionary tale to those

24
00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:51,320
Speaker 1: players eagerly anticipating their NBA fates to not lose focus

25
00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,400
Speaker 1: of their dreams and goals as Bias did. As the

26
00:01:55,440 --> 00:02:00,120
Speaker 1: death of Bias has confirmed, your life and your legacy

27
00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:05,080
Speaker 1: are determined by the choices you make. This episode is

28
00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,520
Speaker 1: narrated by Kevin Shean and I red quotes attributed to

29
00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,640
Speaker 1: others as they appeared in the book.

30
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,760
Speaker 2: The final months of Len Bias's life were filled with

31
00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:20,160
Speaker 2: lots of free time. It was fun, adventurous, a bit careless,

32
00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,000
Speaker 2: and by the end, fatally reckless. The fun part started

33
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,360
Speaker 2: with the Barnstorming Tour, a two weeks hoops road show

34
00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:31,120
Speaker 2: through the Carolinas. Mike Sumner, the founder of the ACC

35
00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,120
Speaker 2: Barnstorming Tour, compared the games to a Harlem Globetrotter's event.

36
00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,480
Speaker 2: Play is loose in bending the rules as common and

37
00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:39,920
Speaker 2: Len fit right in.

38
00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,280
Speaker 3: And Lenny took the game seriously when it needed to

39
00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,360
Speaker 3: be taken seriously. But if we were playing the Rono

40
00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:51,280
Speaker 3: Grapids Police Department or the PTA from someplace. He had

41
00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,840
Speaker 3: fun with it, you know, he did foul on and

42
00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,799
Speaker 3: he go grab a kid to shoot his foul shots.

43
00:02:57,400 --> 00:02:58,880
Speaker 3: That's how well he connected with people.

44
00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:00,079
Speaker 4: And then I can.

45
00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,560
Speaker 3: Remember one time we were out there playing and uh,

46
00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,280
Speaker 3: the A sec was up, probably about forty points, and

47
00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,240
Speaker 3: he just sat down in the stands and started yelling

48
00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:11,520
Speaker 3: and screaming at the other players do certain things. And

49
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,120
Speaker 3: he just sort of got it. He understood that that

50
00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,280
Speaker 3: that these games weren't about people watching basketball. They were

51
00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,160
Speaker 3: an event. These people never have a chance to see

52
00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,600
Speaker 3: these athletes. And Lynn would not leave the gym until

53
00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,880
Speaker 3: everybody got an autograph. And so the autograph session would

54
00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:29,720
Speaker 3: go sometime with Lynn an hour to an hour and

55
00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,360
Speaker 3: a half and everybody else was was was in the

56
00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,120
Speaker 3: locker room, and there was Lynn after signed autographs. And

57
00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,480
Speaker 3: I asked them one night about it, and he said, well,

58
00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:41,240
Speaker 3: when I was a little boy, I tried to get

59
00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,040
Speaker 3: an autograph at at a at a basketball game and

60
00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,520
Speaker 3: I couldn't get it. And I said to myself that

61
00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:48,920
Speaker 3: would ever go happen to me if I ever got

62
00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,240
Speaker 3: to be famous. So that was kind of a neat story.

63
00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,960
Speaker 2: John Sally played in some of the barnstorming games with Bias.

64
00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:57,440
Speaker 5: We both loved Doctor J.

65
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:00,920
Speaker 3: And they said Doctor J would leave, so he signed

66
00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:02,960
Speaker 3: the last autographer did the last interview.

67
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,760
Speaker 2: While in North Carolina, Bias also found time to use

68
00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:11,520
Speaker 2: cocaine with former NC State star Chris Washburn. That's according

69
00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:17,240
Speaker 2: to Washburn. Washburn claims Bias introduced him to cocaine.

70
00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,200
Speaker 4: About about twelve one o'clock in the morning. I get

71
00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,560
Speaker 4: knocked my door. His name was ce log and his

72
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,480
Speaker 4: actual name was Charles Logan. When I opened the door,

73
00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,400
Speaker 4: U lamp hopped around the corner and I was you know,

74
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:32,960
Speaker 4: I was surprised. You know, LeAnn in town. I had

75
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,320
Speaker 4: a seven fifty class that morning, and uh, let's just

76
00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,240
Speaker 4: say I never made it to that class.

77
00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,560
Speaker 1: You told me for the book that that's that he

78
00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:42,120
Speaker 1: introduced you to cocaine that night.

79
00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,760
Speaker 4: He told me. That's correct, that's correct, that's correct. Right. Yeah,

80
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,160
Speaker 4: they went off to the bathroom and then and use

81
00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,440
Speaker 4: my phone and stuff, and I went back to sleep,

82
00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,080
Speaker 4: but I had to get up for my seven fifty class.

83
00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,040
Speaker 4: They were still in the bathrooms there. There hasn't been

84
00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,479
Speaker 4: in a four or five hours for someone actually to

85
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:05,240
Speaker 4: try something over it of a status you know that

86
00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,320
Speaker 4: I put him on. You know, I didn't want them

87
00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:09,560
Speaker 4: to think I'm not cool, you know what I'm saying.

88
00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 4: So you offered me something I tried, you.

89
00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:14,560
Speaker 5: Know, so you surprised that thene was doing that.

90
00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,520
Speaker 4: I was. I was surprised yet because I'd never done it.

91
00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,320
Speaker 4: When I tried that, you know, it made a big

92
00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,480
Speaker 4: change in my life. And like I said, I never

93
00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,440
Speaker 4: went back to class. I ended up leaving the state

94
00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,000
Speaker 4: when they left that morning. I never left and went

95
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,000
Speaker 4: to class after that, you know, I kind of stayed

96
00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,080
Speaker 4: in the room. And then because once that higher war

97
00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:43,279
Speaker 4: off and if it's such a new drug, I saw

98
00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:47,280
Speaker 4: myself riding around Raleigh, you know, wanting to find it,

99
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,520
Speaker 4: but scared to ask me before it because everybody knew

100
00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,920
Speaker 4: who I was. I was that day won heart it

101
00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,440
Speaker 4: I was. I actually went to the NBA. I was

102
00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:58,680
Speaker 4: already damaged to it.

103
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,840
Speaker 2: No one is a live to confirm Washburn's story. Logan

104
00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,599
Speaker 2: passed away before Washburn told podcast producer Dave Ngrady the

105
00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,680
Speaker 2: story in twenty ten when he was working on his

106
00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:14,000
Speaker 2: book about bias Bias drove to Carolina with his mentor,

107
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,719
Speaker 2: Johnny Walker, who spent about a week with Bias on

108
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,320
Speaker 2: the tour. Walker helped manage what he called the len

109
00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,359
Speaker 2: Bias Everything Must Go vending stand set up at some

110
00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:25,080
Speaker 2: of the games.

111
00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,280
Speaker 5: Johnny Walker told me we had the life sized poster

112
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,920
Speaker 5: of him. He got game shorts, jerseys, other people's jerseys,

113
00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,919
Speaker 5: practice gear. We sold so much stuff. He got paid

114
00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,200
Speaker 5: so much money. He said, whatever it is, just keep it.

115
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,080
Speaker 2: Walker recalled he and Bias were part of a caravan

116
00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,200
Speaker 2: of players on the tour, speeding from one site to

117
00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,080
Speaker 2: the next, driving at about one hundred miles per hour.

118
00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:52,840
Speaker 2: He says they were stopped by police but did not

119
00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,200
Speaker 2: receive a ticket. After an NC State player talked to

120
00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:56,760
Speaker 2: the trooper.

121
00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:01,760
Speaker 1: Walker told me, Lent said, That's what I'm talking about. Police,

122
00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:02,400
Speaker 1: Let us go.

123
00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:05,880
Speaker 6: This podcast series is based on the book Born Ready

124
00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,159
Speaker 6: The Mixed Legacy of Lembia's, published by Go Grady Media.

125
00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,240
Speaker 6: The series is produced by Go Grading Media in partnership

126
00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,560
Speaker 6: with Octagon Entertainment. This segment was produced by Dave Young

127
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,440
Speaker 6: Grady and Don Marcus. It was written by daveon Grady

128
00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,640
Speaker 6: and edited by Don Marcus. The narrator was Kevin Sheehan,

129
00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,520
Speaker 6: with addition of narration by Jamal Williams. Technical production was

130
00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:30,960
Speaker 6: provided by Octagon Entertainment. Production assistance was provided by Kevin McNulty,

131
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:36,520
Speaker 6: Tino Quagliata, Lauren Rosch, Georgia Brown, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams,

132
00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,400
Speaker 6: Kelsey Mannix and Enzo al Varenda. Matt Dealhers is providing

133
00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,440
Speaker 6: the social media assistants. Special thanks to the University of

134
00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:47,640
Speaker 6: Maryland and American University for providing insurgs. The Decision Education

135
00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,080
Speaker 6: Foundation is a content and promotional partner of this podcast series.

136
00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:59,200
Speaker 6: And more information go to Doggradymedia dot com. This has

137
00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,280
Speaker 6: been a production of Go Graded Media and The Eighth

138
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:07,320
Speaker 6: Side Network said that the story show that Pusson never became.

139
00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,080
Speaker 3: I said the Boy and the Prims and the Boys.

140
00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,320
Speaker 6: Fly Man Isola said, when a young Grison.

141
00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,559
Speaker 2: Died second show with the game, he made the

142
00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,840
Speaker 6: Name the story of the best of never