(AP) _ A jury Tuesday convicted two men on murder charges in the death of James Stanley Jay Bias III, younger brother of the late University of Maryland basketball star and cocaine victim Len Bias. 2: Brother of Jay Bias and Eric Bias. Bias' advisers claimed to have told him, in the days before the draft, that if he even happened to be in a car with someone smoking a joint, he should remove himself immediately. There was a problem getting your location. Another, Frank Herzog, had taken his kids to see Bias speak at an event a couple of weeks earlier; he imagined, like many others, that Bias must have had a congenital heart condition. He had enrolled at Prince George's Community College, but still had aspirations for a Division I basketball career at Georgetown, and he was something of a playground virtuoso, whose vertical leap was once measured at 43 inches. Below is an excerpt from Episode 1: "Just About Superman." The full podcast is available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, through the Book of Basketball 2.0 feed. Weve updated the security on the site. Was it our fault? This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. "I've been termed as being ABNORMALLY ENTHUSIASTIC," she is saying. He, too, was a basketball player at Northwestern High School, a fleet guard with Division I prospects who was a close friend and classmate of Len Bias' younger brother, Jay. Search above to list available cemeteries. As evidence, I return to myself, at age 13, and all the other children of my generation, products of the skewed value system of the '80s, for whom the most potent advertisement for the "Just Say No" campaign might have been the notion that a single splotch of cocaine -- and this is how I imagined it as a child, that Bias had simply touched several stray crystals of processed coca leaves to his nostrils, and shortly thereafter departed this mortal coil -- could kill us without prejudice, if our bodies were so genetically inclined. Please reset your password. SINOPSIS. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9588316/james-stanley-bias. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. It also meant both Democrats and Republicans were swept up in hyperbole and emotional appeals, in trying to out-tough each other, in a debate swept clean of nuance. "If I did anything wrong, why am I in the Maryland Hall of Fame?" Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. "Brian used to look out for me and Jay, particularly after Lenny died," Curry says. But I couldn't find anybody to confirm it. She is an internationally known motivational speaker, trainer, consultant, a certified teen and family life coach. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? Brian Tribble phoned his mother, who told him to call 911. 2 pick by the NBA champion Boston Celtics on June 17, 1986. Equally confounding to Herzog, a question that seems incredibly innocent in retrospect: Where did a college athlete get the money for such extravagances? Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). (UPI, July 21, 1986). Former Maryland star Len Bias was No. He was one of four children born to James Bias Jr and Dr Lonise Bias. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. (AP) _ The younger brother of the late University of Maryland basketball star and cocaine overdose victim Len Bias was shot and killed while driving out of a shopping center Tuesday in what police called utter senseless violence.. (In part, Curry says, they acted because they feared retaliation from the Woodridge Group against Jay Bias' murderer and his accomplices.) In the days after her son died, her public demeanor was so stoic and unflinching that she received letters from people declaring her a phony. It wasn't anything I had something to do with. The best game for Bias happened on January 12, 1984 in College Park. An athlete's personal life was still sketchy territory. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Len and Jay Bias, brothers who died less than five years apart, are literally now resting side by side. 30 for 30 Actor. "It was awful. Bias, a two-time player of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, was picked number two by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA draft. Regard for the rule of law had been entirely subsumed; several coaches complained they could not win without cheating. Jesse Jackson after a private funeral service for the college basketball star at the University of . He used to keep so much stuff inside.". The brother of Len Bias, the former Maryland star who died of cocaine intoxication in 1986 two days after the Boston Celtics had selected him in the first round of the National Basketball . Leonard K. Bias She believes her son died for this very reason, to be a cautionary tale, to be a martyr. All of us who escape to major college athletics for solace have a little bit of Lefty in us. Still, he refuses to admit he made any mistakes, even in the face of evidence that he might have pressured the school to accept athletes who might not otherwise have been accepted at Maryland. The racial disparity, the targeting of black neighborhoods, the overcrowding of prisons with low-level drug offenders rather than major traffickers, and the outright absurdity of what happened to Derrick Curry and thousands like him, has prompted the introduction of seven bills between the House and Senate -- sponsored by conservatives, such as Orrin Hatch of Utah, and liberals, such as Charles Rangel of New York -- to amend the laws passed in 1986. Two days later, on June 19, Bias died of a cocaine overdose in a Maryland . Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? Try again later. As the legend grew and Maryland students hung life-sized posters in their rooms (Caption: I'm Bias), Bias developed an affinity for the high life that drove the cultural narrative of the era, a high life he imagined he'd be living soon enough. She has always possessed a robust set of vocal cords. They are, quite literally, resting side by side. Were society's priorities so utterly skewed that we couldn't see the path down which we'd guided a star athlete? That draft would be remembered not just for the death of Len Bias but for its sheer multitude of colossal busts and burnouts, young men who entered the world entirely unprepared for what was coming, for the ever-increasing demands of celebrity. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Still, I ask: Would Bias' story have achieved the same status as a cultural touchstone if we had known he -- while probably not a habitual user -- had dabbled in cocaine for months, or that his close friend was apparently dealing cocaine, or that the truth was far more nuanced than the mythology? TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Len Bias was an American basketball player who died due to a drug overdose. Bias, standing at 6'8 and weighing 210 pounds, attacked the hoop like Shawn Kemp. On December 5, 1990, he was shot to death at age 20 following a dispute in the parking lot of Prince George's Plaza, a Hyattsville shopping mall located just a few miles . But most of us have moved on from such lofty ideals. He knew Len Bias was in critical condition. He chose to get a haircut from a friend instead. Len Bias died from cocaine intoxication. Iran-Contra had yet to break; a month earlier, Ivan Boesky had delivered a commencement speech during which he declared, "Greed is all right, by the way. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Here, though, is what's weirdest of all about Lonise Bias: She, of all people, does not believe the events of that day were unjust. She has aspirations of building a youth center in Prince George's County, named after her children. Len Bias: A Mixed Legacy is a multi-part series about the legacy of former Maryland basketball star Len Bias and the importance of making the right decision. she told them. Maybe that sounds overly psychoanalytical, but it is hard not to wonder whether the relationship between Len Bias and Brian Tribble was guided by some of those same elements. "Lefty didn't buy the drugs for Len Bias, and he didn't encourage him to take drugs," says Mark Hyman, who covered the aftermath for The Sun. In fact, she believes the events of that day were unavoidable. Where are the flaws in such a story? Lonise Bias. A force both in the paint and above the rim, Bias looked like the modern prototype for an NBA power forward. Lefty Len Climate Action Resister . "THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES THAT ARE GOING TO FOLLOW YOU!" Each defendant claimed the other opened fire, however. Despite sympathy from a judge who could do nothing to help him, Derrick Curry was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison for his role in a drug conspiracy under laws that had been passed in the summer of 1986, in the midst of an unprecedented cry for reform in the wake of the death of Leonard K. Bias. What if he just wants to be on television?' When was Len Bias born? There's some stuff that went on there, that I haven't talked about, but if you've got any sense, you can figure it out yourself. "I guess that's the good that came out of it.". Michelle Bias (Sister) Eric Bias (Brother) James Bias III (Brother) Affiliation. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. He had planned to transfer to American University in Washington, D.C. June 17, 2016. And leaks abounded: The whole thing took on the grand scope and skewed morality of a Tom Wolfe novel: Driesell, the longtime Maryland coach, was accused of covering up his initial knowledge of Bias' cocaine use (he testified in court and was never charged). It's not about athletes and how you feel about them.". By Jerry Bembry @Jerrybembry. But he was not under my jurisdiction in any shape or form. He was pronounced dead in the same Leland Memorial Hospital emergency room . Len Bias' death devastated his parents, his sister, Michelle, then 18, and his youngest brother, Eric, then 12. Curry says the family will not likely benefit from Bias's insurance. Like many of us, Derrick Curry was still terribly naive about the realities of the drug trade in the late 1980s. Year should not be greater than current year. I had assumed it was a rhetorical flourish, a metaphor crafted for effect by a guest speaker who was getting paid to whack some sobriety into a room of spaced-out pubescents with self-image issues. Dorfman's own view has been that a university's mission should be in education; when he encountered certain members of the athletic department, he realized their thinking was entirely different. But there were federal laws, hurriedly passed by Congress, and those laws decreed that drug offenders were subject to mandatory minimum sentences, and those who trafficked in crack were especially susceptible. 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