The Poetic Artistry of Basketball Stanley Plumly, a Maryland Poet Laureate, Writes About the Time Len Bias Met Celebrated Poet Gwendolyn Brooks Listen to the story. It was, as I recall, a 7 o’clock reading. The structure of the event called for me to introduce Gwendolyn Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet. Once I’d finished, I would enter from stage right to come to the podium. For a moment, Brooks and I were standing there together, when, suddenly, from the opposite side o

Community Connection Len Bias developed a strong connection to the College Park community. Listen to the story. John Brown opened RJ Bentley's restaurant on the main commercial strip along Route 1 in College Park, Maryland in 1978. Over the years, Brown developed comfortable friendships with top Maryland athletes. Maryland sports teams often gathered for team meals there. Len Bias often stopped in for lunch at Bentley’s during his junior and senior years, and Brown eagerly we

Cocaine Introduction Chris Washburn claims Len Bias introduced him to cocaine. Listen to the story. Chris Washburn was a sophomore at N.C. State when he met Len Bias. It was during the Wolfpack’s trip to play Maryland in College Park in late January, 1986. He says they became good friends. Some three months later, Washburn claims, Bias introduced him to cocaine. Washburn says it happened when he was back at school after N.C. State’s loss to Kansas in the NCAA tournament’s Eli

Barnstorming the Postseason Len Bias continued playing games soon after his Maryland season ended. Listen to the story. Len Bias was interested in making some money and having some fun after Maryland’s season ended. In early April, Bias achieved both objectives when he joined a different postseason competition - the ACC Barnstorming Tour. That was an annual series of games between top conference players who were planning to enter the upcoming NBA draft against top high-school

Post Season Disappointment Len Bias’s strong season wasn’t enough for a deep tournament run. Listen to the story. Maryland’s players were beaming with contagious confidence and fully expected to make a strong run in the 1986 NCAA tournament. In Maryland’s first-round game against Pepperdine, a five point win, Bias hit another milestone. His 26 points left him with 712 points for the season, breaking the record he set the year before. Two of those points came from the foul lin

Senior Honors Bias was a 1st team All-America, and ACC POY (again) Listen to the story. His team wasn’t playing, but Len Bias nonetheless suffered another setback during the ACC tournament final in 1986. When the winner of the John R. Wooden Award was announced at halftime, boos echoed through the Greensboro Coliseum. The award, honoring the top college player of the year in the nation, went to Walter Berry of St. John’s University. Bias had finished third in the voting, behi

Terps Top Scorer Len Bias reached a major milestone in the ACC tournament Listen to the story. Abilities to get high off the floor and hold the ball high on his shots helped Len Bias become a great scorer. After its rocky start in 1986, Maryland won six of its last 8 regular season games to gather momentum for an NCAA tournament bid, and fitting that unpredictable seasonal narrative, Maryland clinched an NCAA bid with another win against North Carolina, this time in the first

Get that S--- Out of Here Len Bias made an emphatic statement in his last home game as a Terp. Listen to the story. (includes audio from the podcast series, Len Bias: A Mixed Legacy.) After Maryland beat Virginia at home in the last game of the regular season in early March, 1986, Virginia coach Terry Holland called it “Lenny Bias night”. Bias had extra motivation in the game. In a game against Virginia earlier in the season, Olden Polynice blocked a Bias shot. He then point

Divine Intervention in the Dean Dome In his signature game, Len Bias Helps Maryland Upset Number 1 UNC Listen to the story. Needing to win three of its last four ACC games in 1986 for a chance at an NCAA tournament bid, Maryland traveled to Chapel Hill to meet top-ranked North Carolina in late February. For a team trying to recover from its worst conference start in history and a recent suspension to its star player, nothing could seem more daunting a task than beating the to

Senior Setback Bias and Some Teammates are Suspended for Breaking Curfew Listen to the story. Things seemed to be on the upswing when Maryland beat Clemson to win its second consecutive ACC game, then traveled to Raleigh to play N. C. State. Bias scored a team-high 21 points and made two free throws with about a minute and a half left that helped clinch the one-point win for Maryland. Having now won three consecutive ACC games, Maryland was on a bit of a roll. But that moment

Frustrations With Stardom Toward the end of his Maryland career, Len Bias struggled with some aspects of his stardom. Listen to the story. Len Bias’s senior season was showing flashes of brilliance on the court, but he at times he felt frustrated with the pressures of becoming one of the top college players in the nation. Myriam Leger, a college friend with whom Bias often talked about their mutually strong interest in Christianity, remembers noticing that as he approached hi

A Stylin' Bias A focus on Len's lifestyle off the court Listen to the story. With a loss to Duke in early February, 1986, Maryland dropped its first six conference games of the season. That tied its worst conference start in history. With Maryland sporting a disappointing 11-10 overall record and 1-6 in the ACC, attention turned to Bias’s life off the court. After all, how often can the media write about his accomplishments on the court before fans might lose interest? It was

Senior Struggles? Len Bias put up big numbers early in his senior season, but the team struggled. Listen to the story. As Bias began his senior season, Maryland returned three starters from its NCAA Sweet 16 team and was ranked No. 19 in the country. But, ominously, Bias sprained an ankle in a pickup game in late October and missed a few days of practice. In a season-opening win against Northeastern, Bias fouled out, but came back emphatically the next game with a career-best

Faith-Based Bias Len Bias showed a commitment to his spiritual faith while in college Listen to the story. Lefty Driesell, a devout Christian, was impressed that Len Bias became a born-again Christian at Maryland and resumed attending church services. The coach remembers the time he saw Bias sitting alone in Cole Field House reading a Bible. Sue Tyler, a former coach and associate athletic director at Maryland, recalled seeing Bias reading a Bible while leaning against a wall

Len Meets Tina In the fall of 1985, Len Bias met the mother of his son. Listen to the story Tina Maynard first saw Len Bias play basketball in 1982 when she was in the eighth grade. Bias was playing in the Maryland state high school basketball championship game. Maynard attended the game to watch a friend play on the opposing team. Maynard met Bias a few years later when Rena Watson, a friend since childhood, began attending the University of Maryland. Early in September 1985

Bias's Mystery Friend As He Became a Star, Len Bias Started to Spend More Time with Brian Tribble. Listen to the story Len Bias started spending more time with Brian Tribble during his junior and senior years at Maryland. Bias got to know Tribble during pickup basketball games on the Maryland campus. Their friendship grew quickly and perplexed some of those who knew Bias well. Tribble used cocaine with Bias the night Bias suffered a seizure and later died. He was the only per

Stay One More Year? One person had a strong influence in Len Bias' Decision to Stay at Maryland for His Senior Year Listen to the story Bias enjoyed a trio of post-season accolades in 1985: He was voted ACC Player of the Year, all-ACC and a third-team All-America, offering sweet redemption for not being named all-ACC the previous season and creating a swirl of speculation that he might enter the NBA draft the following summer. But on May 2, Bias settled the uneasy nerves of M

Bias Shuts Down Robinson The two All-Americans played a classic NCAA Tournament game Listen to the story In the 1985 NCAA tournament, Len Bias was Maryland’s leading scorer with 25 points in a one-point, first-round overtime win over Miami of Ohio. In the second round, against the Naval Academy, Bias led Maryland with 20 points in the 64-59 win. Perhaps more importantly, Bias showed how much his defense had improved since his freshman year when coach Lefty Driesell in the sec

Attitude Adjustment A more dedicated approach to his development helped Len Bias become a dominant player. Listen to the story Maryland’s center Ben Coleman was a senior on the Terps' 1984 ACC tournament championship team. He told the Washington Post midway through the 1984 season that one reason Bias improved as a player was because he’d become a better listener. “You couldn’t talk to Lenny his freshman year,” Coleman said. “Criticism or advice would go in one ear and out th

A RISING JUNIOR Len Bias Became a Dominant Force During his Junior Season Listen to the story During a three-game stretch in early January of his junior year that included four ACC games against teams ranked among the top 20 in the country – including No. 2 Duke and No. 5 North Carolina – Bias started to show why he would be named the top player in the ACC that season. He led Maryland in scoring in a two-point win over 17th-ranked N.C. State (17 points), a one-point loss to N