The Most Tragic Story in NBA Draft History

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
He was supposed to be the next Michael Jordan.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:02)
I played against Len Bias when he was a sophomore in college, and he was incredible.

**Len Bias** (0:07)
Yeah, I'm in the NBA now, I've got drafted, so now my dream has come true.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:10)
The key for the Boston Celtics to continue their dominance into the 90s and the 21st century.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:15)
Boston Celtics select Len Bias of the University of Iowa.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:20)
There he is, Len Bias, many people may think he may be the best athlete in the draft.

**SPEAKER_6** (0:25)
And now he's gone to the World Champion.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:27)
But instead of making history on the court, Len Bias made headlines for a tragedy that shocked the world.

**SPEAKER_7** (0:35)
I've been here 10 years and I've never seen a day as dark and sad as this one.

**Len Bias** (0:39)
Sky emergency.

**SPEAKER_8** (0:46)
His success story has ended in tragedy with his sudden death at the age of 22

**SPEAKER_1** (0:52)
This is the story of Len Bias, the greatest NBA star that never was. Leonard Kevin Bias wasn't born a superstar. In fact, his first two years of organized basketball, he got cut from the team. He was teased, bullied, and overlooked by nearly everyone around him.

**SPEAKER_9** (1:10)
The first kids used to laugh at him because he was very awkward, but he kept playing, playing. And then every day he was up there seven days a week.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:18)
The whole time in his mind, he was working hard. His work ethic was dynamite. Bias didn't let the ridicule break him. Instead, it fueled him.

**Len Bias** (1:26)
If you really do want to play basketball, you have to keep going out and work at it. Play as much as you can and take criticism. That's where I think I've learned to play very well. I took criticism from everyone, even people off the street. I took it and used it positively.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:40)
The summer before ninth grade, Bias took his game to the next level. He made JV that year, and by his sophomore season, he was starting varsity. The turning point came the summer before his junior year, when he attended the legendary five-star basketball camp, the same camp that had produced future legends like Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing. At five-star, Bias showed flashes of the player he would become. Explosive, confident, unstoppable. And coaches around the country began to take notice.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:06)
You know, he was like one of our neighbors.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:07)
He was over school all the time, watching us practice. And, you know, I saw him play in my camp.

**Leneese Bias** (2:14)
A great player, and I think that was pretty well done.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:18)
You know, what I had understood, that he was going to go to Maryland.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:22)
By the time he graduated from Northwestern High School, Bias was a star. His high-flying dunks, smooth shot, and relentless motor made him a local legend, earning him a scholarship to the University of Maryland, where he joined coach Lefty Drizell.

**Len Bias** (2:35)
Guys need to go away to school. They have to get adjusted to a new environment. I think being home gave me an added sense that I knew where everything was, and I could go home and see my mom and dad at all times, and now I always have my fan support here.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:48)
Under Drizell, Bias transformed into a generational talent. At 6'8, he had the strength of a linebacker in the fitness of a sprinter, and his highlight reel was unreal.

**Len Bias** (2:58)
Say we wanted to play confident, we practiced hard. We got the open shots there, we wanted when we were practicing, so we just drilled on it. Seems like it came like clockwork.
I think Coach Drizell, he's a good inspiration for me because he's a workaholic. He never satisfied me, he always made me work. He told me the things that I could do, and he put a lot of faith in me and told me that I will be able to score, that I will be able to rebound, and I can do it. When you got a coach that puts confidence in the face and he's like that, you can't go out but play, just play well.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:32)
Len Byas wasn't just good, he was arguably the best, even leading Maryland to winning the ACC in 1984

**SPEAKER_4** (3:38)
1984 ACC Championship with a 74-62 win.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:43)
There was only one man in college basketball who could rival him, Michael Jordan.

**Michael Jordan** (3:47)
I just think that I have the habits to work hard. I've always been taught to reach a goal in life that you want, you have to work hard to get to it.