40 for 34 #6 - May 21

Early Affinity for Maryland

Len Bias was a big fan of Maryland as a Teenager

Throughout high school, teammates Len Bias and Brian Waller would often walk about one mile from Northwestern High School to College Park and cruise the Maryland campus, dreaming about the days they would showcase their basketball skills at Cole Field House. Maryland coaches left home game tickets for Waller and Bias. The two relished the experience, sitting near courtside behind a basket, watching their hero Ernie Graham along with future NBA players such as Buck Williams and Albert King lead Maryland to the ACC regular season title in 1980. They dreamed of wearing the Terrapins’ home colors of red, white, black and gold.

Dozens of times, they met up on campus with Graham, a Terrapin from 1977 to 1981 who still holds the school record for most points in a game, with 44. “Everything Ernie did, we did,” says Waller. “We’d go to his room. We’d go to a gym and play ball. We’d go play in Cole Field House. We were so blessed. We were so happy.”

Waller and Bias played one-on-one games alone in Cole Field House during the offseason, or pick-up games with Graham and other Maryland players. If Graham was in line to play the next game, he would often do so only if Bias and Waller could play on his team; otherwise, he would wait until the three could play together.

The two high schoolers lifted weights in Cole Field House in the same rooms used by Maryland’s basketball players and other athletes. After workouts, Waller and Bias ate dinner with Graham at a campus dining hall. They accompanied Graham to a party in the campus Student Union and, as Waller emphatically mentioned with a smile, mingled with the female college students.

Once, Graham took the two into Maryland’s basketball equipment room and outfitted them with a wide range of Terps basketball gear, including red Nike basketball shoes and National Invitation Tournament T-shirts.

Graham remembers Bias as a nice, enthusiastic kid who smiled and joked around a lot. “He would just show up and stand there at the door,” says Graham. “He wouldn’t want anything or say anything. He says ‘I’m doing whatever you’re doing.’ He always had that smile, always had a joke or something funny to say. He kept everybody laughing.”

Excerpted from the book,

Born Ready: the Mixed Legacy of Len Bias

Buy autographed copies

as a Father's Day Gift

The audio for this post was narrated by the author,

Dave Ungrady.

And listen to more about Len's early life in Episode 2 of the narrative podcast series, Len Bias: A Mixed Legacy