Len Bias should have been one of basketball's greatest players. Instead, he became a poster boy for everything that was wrong with big-time sports. The athletic Bias was a star player at the University of Maryland. On June 17, 1986, the 22-year-old Bias was drafted second overall by the NBA champion Boston Celtics. Forty hours later he was dead from a cocaine overdose. Bias' death had a ripple effect. The Celtics were planning to rebuild their aging team around Bias, but instead Boston did not win another NBA championship until 2008. The basketball program at University of Maryland was thrown into turmoil after it was discovered that Bias' drug use was well known and he was 21 credits short of graduating despite using up all his academic eligibilty. Maryland's coach and athletic director were terminated that October for engaging in coverups that allowed Bias' habitual drug use and weak academic performance to go unchecked. Tags:LenBiasdrugsbasketball Added: 17th June 2008 Views: 266 Rating: Posted By:Lava1964
Bias' promotional agreement with Addidas was voided because the contract he signed on draft day contained a clause that nullified the deal if Bias died within 72 hours of signing it. His life insurance policy was voided too because he violated the terms with a 'high-risk lifestyle.'
Boston's Larry Bird called Bias' death 'the cruelest thing I've ever heard.' A Sports Illustrated reader disagreed. Larry Kupczyk of Ashland, Wisconsin wrote, 'A child who dies of leukemia or child abuse is the cruelest thing I've ever heard. But when a 22-year-old colege-educated man with the world at his fingertips dies of cardiorepiratory arrest brought on by the use of cocaine, I call that the most foolish thing I've ever heard.'
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