THE DEATH OF LEN BIAS

     After he completed his wonderful basketball career at the University of Maryland, the only question bothering Len Bias was whether he would dominate the NBA in the same way he ran the ACC. Twenty years later, many still wonder. Bias appeared destined for greatness when the Celtics selected the 6’8 forward with the No. 2 pick in the 1986 NBA draft. The plan was for Bias to team with future Hall of Famer Larry Bird for a few years, then take over as the leader of pro basketball.
     "It's a dream within a dream," Bias said that night. "My first dream was just to play in the NBA. To get drafted by the world champions is an extra one." Two nights later, on June 19, 1986, Bias died of cocaine intoxication. He was 22.
"The news of his death was tragic. He would have been an amazing NBA player after his college career," Duke coach said recently. It was a sad day for the entire sport of basketball. They lost one of the best players, in my opinion of that era. Bias averaged 16.4 points per game at Maryland and won the ACC player of the year award in 1985 and 1986.
      Len was a gifted player. He was special. Bias led Maryland to the ACC title in 1984, the only one the Terrapins won under coach Lefty Driesell. The Terrapins' current coach, Maryland alumnus Gary Williams, was coaching at Ohio State in 1986. But he saw enough of Bias to know he would have been a star.
"By the time Bias was a senior, he was one of those players that could do anything on the court. That's one of the sad things, that no one got the chance to see how good a pro he could have become," Williams said.
     "He would have really helped the Celtics. At the time, Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale were pretty old; I believed Bias could have kept that dynasty going." Bias' death affected everyone around him, including Driesell, who was forced to resign.
     "The attitude in the country was that doing cocaine was exciting fun," said John Walters, now the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Len Bias' death changed the nation's attitude about drug use. People said, 'This is wrong, this is bad.' It energized parents to do something about it."
     The government acted, too. Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 in October, which provided leadership in establishing drug abuse prevention programs. In addition, stiffer sentences were enacted for those convicted of trafficking drugs. Twenty years have passed since her son died, and Lonise Bias remains unrelenting in her journey to teach the nation about the danger of drug use. She heads workshops and seminars on the subject, eager to ensure that others learn from her son's mistake.
     Walters said drug use by teens in the

is down 20% since 2001, and a portion of the credit belongs to Lonise Bias. Len Bias died after inhaling a large amount of cocaine during a late-night gathering with a few friends in a Maryland dorm room. A year later, during a trial in which Brian Tribble was acquitted of charges he provided Bias with the cocaine that killed him, two Maryland players said Bias had used the drug several times before. Driesell still refuses to believe it.Williams says Bias' death caused college teams to upgrade their drug-testing programs.
"The NCAA looked at drug testing as something that could prevent what happened to Len Bias," the coach said. "Before that, drug testing wasn't very scientific. After Bias died, teams went to random testing, which is how it should be."
In a university investigation following Bias' death, school officials found Bias failed to attend courses for the final weeks of the spring semester, cutting classes after playing his last game with the Terrapins. Driesell and Athletic Director Dick Dull were forced to resign their posts. Driesell says the only thing he regrets is that Len Bias passed away. The NBA lost a great player, and he lost Len Bias as a friend. Bias' No. 34 jersey hangs from the rafters at Maryland, a tribute to one of the school's best players. If he played for Boston, there might have been a place for his jersey on the ceiling of the Celtics' arena. Len Bias competed and had tremendous talent. Other than Michael Jordan, he’s the player no teams had the answer for. That’s how good he was.