To me, what is so amazing, on this 35th anniversary of Len Bias' death, is that his NBA career would be long over by now, and he'd probably be celebrated as one of the NBA greats. And instead, we commemorate his death. A life cut short. Life is short folks. Life is so, so short.
He could of been Greg Oden nobody knows...but stop praising a coke head lol. Never played a minute in the league. He was a good college player nothing more. At the end of the day he chose to do coke
I was born in 87, but I remember my dad telling me this story in the nineties. Definitely scared me to stay away from hard drugs. Aside from it being a tragedy that a such a promising young man was lost for no reason, what he and Bird could have done together...man that would’ve been something special.
RIP Len from a 80’s Celtics fan. This was devastating news. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was just 15 and was soooo looking forward to him joining the team.
The coach of Maryland, Lefty Drissell quit over this. Even though a grand jury found him not guilty in this, it took years before his reputation was restored, first he was an ACC TV anlysts, then coached at JMU and Georgia State, finally 4 years ago he got in the Naismith Hall of Fame, he was nominated years earlier but Len Bias haunted him.
@@rockvilleraven I always wondered why Lefty got heat over this. Bias died 3 months after Maryland played their last game. He wasn't even enrolled on campus anymore. I remember the Bob Wade hire
@@roncoloscos2183 I was coming home from the skating rink. My hometown had a morning and evening paper at the time. Opened it up and it was on the front page. Unbelievable
I was 14 at the time and I’m from Landover Md and remember grown men crying and it seemed like a cloud of doom was all over The whole city. Palmer Park Columbia Park and Kentland, rip
i mean i’ve done coke a couple times and i don’t consider it a mistake & i haven’t touched it since. it’s not always stupid and not fair to call it stupid to the people who have tragically passed away after use @robert
I had just got my driver's license. When someone told me about his passing.A couple of days after that, I heard of crack cocaine. And the next few years in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area would be probably the most violent in the country.
There was a short video at the time, of Larry Bird's reaction to the news, & he was obviously shocked & saddened as he said, "That's the cruelest thing I ever heard!".
I still feel it wasn't cocaine that DIRECTLY killed Bias. It was likely an enlarged heart (very common with basketball players) or some other heart defect that, in combination with a drug coke, caused an allergic reaction that killed him. A guy like Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac was a massive cocaine addict for 20 years and he never once had an OD according to him. Countless other cokeheads have said the same thing. Other drugs like heroin are a different story, but it sounds like people in the room were using no more coke than Len was. I am not advocating the use of the drug. It is super addictive and dangerous, but I feel a bad heart had more to do with Len's death than coke did. He could've very well have died on the floor Hank Gathers or Reggie Lewis style even if he was as clean as a whistle.
As I watch this video it feels like June 19, 1986 all over again I was a sophomore in high school I'm sitting here crying. My brother played with Len @ Northwestern High School in Adelphi MD.
Sadly his younger brother also died five years apart. He died in the same hospital his brother died. Now they are resting side by side len and jay bias. What a tragedy for the mother lonise
I started at UMD the following year. It was a weird feeling still. Can’t believe he was taking cocaine. Tragic mistake. Len was easily hall of fame material.
I enrolled in Maryland a year after this. In the fall of 1987 and the college got very strict on students smoking weed even in the dorms. Of course students still did it. The basketball program was rebuilding with Bob Wade as the coach and Jarrod Mustaf as the star player
I was 14 years old when this happened, and I recall thinking that the racist city of Boston had something to do with his death. I did not want to accept it, at all.
Cocaine was a lot more acceptable in the 80s than it is now as a recreational drug. 1986 marked one of the great Celtics teams ever and it looked like they’d keep dominating the East for a long time. Bias’s death was a huge blow as was a slew of injuries in 1986-87, Larry Bird began having back issues and there was a drop off in performance as the decade waned. The Pistons overtook Boston in a short 2 years. What might have been and never was. Nobody knew then that 1986 marked the end of the party in Boston
It was never acceptable as a "recreational drug" but amongst people who like to do drugs recreationally. Most of society then, as now, frown on the recreational use of drugs. Substance abuse has always been a problem, to most of society. It's the fringes of society that think they are okay.
I grew up in LA and yeah, pretty popular recreational drug. In fact, I’d say that if you grew up in that time and place, 70% chance you tried it at least once.
Or got some very pure coke that was powerful. The cocaine in the 80s was known to be 90-98% pure on average not like today, which could of meant it was very strong and his first time it was too much. Sad either way.
Jordan was drafted in 84', Bias in 86'. Jordan had a good rookie season and a dismal 2nd season due to his foot injury so MJ the NBA legend had not been borne yet. Still a shame they never got to play against one another in the NBA
It’s best to tell the complete hard truth. COCAINE killed him. Tragic. Stay away from hard drugs and go easy on alcohol. For some completely avoiding all of it is the only answer. RIP
I'm 10 never herd of him then I herd he was better than Michael Jordan than I was like OK I did research found out he did not even get to play he would have played with the Celtics better than mecal
@@DTskater16 Agreed. I doubt that he only tried drugs on 1 night. His final semester he failed 3 classes and withdrew from 2 classes, which can be a sign of drug use. RIP Len Bias.
@@DTskater16 perhaps, but many analysts agreed that Bias' overall game and him as comprehensive player was better at the collegiate level. What that would have translated to in the NBA we'll never know.
@@selfmade8238 Negative. Jordan used to kill Adrian Branch. Bias used to score at will on north carolina. The Tarheels had the better team and coach and would win those games
And here I sit waiting on my buddy to text me that he's ready for me to come pick him up so we can go get some heroin. I have a great life. But continue to hurt myself. And others. I suck.
@thomasackers thanks I did have a hiccup, but no one's perfect. It really kind of got me thinking that this shits not fun and asking myself in the mirror why ? Too old to be acting this way. I do not deserve the great life I have .
To me, what is so amazing, on this 35th anniversary of Len Bias' death, is that his NBA career would be long over by now, and he'd probably be celebrated as one of the NBA greats. And instead, we commemorate his death. A life cut short. Life is short folks. Life is so, so short.
Yes...unless he continued doing cocaine, which would have likely diminished his playing ability and his career.
Facts….So short
He could of been Greg Oden nobody knows...but stop praising a coke head lol. Never played a minute in the league. He was a good college player nothing more. At the end of the day he chose to do coke
@@swag727 No one is praising him for ODing on crack. They’re simply stating how tragic it was he never got to showcase his skills in the NBA
Defund the police. Horrible tragedy from racism.
Who’s here after watching jxmy’s vid
same here
I didnt kno who the guy is
Literally just watched it!😂
Me lol
ong
I was born in 87, but I remember my dad telling me this story in the nineties. Definitely scared me to stay away from hard drugs.
Aside from it being a tragedy that a such a promising young man was lost for no reason, what he and Bird could have done together...man that would’ve been something special.
Heartbreaking.
Bruh I’m weak hahaha
L
RIP Len from a 80’s Celtics fan. This was devastating news. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was just 15 and was soooo looking forward to him joining the team.
The coach of Maryland, Lefty Drissell quit over this. Even though a grand jury found him not guilty in this, it took years before his reputation was restored, first he was an ACC TV anlysts, then coached at JMU and Georgia State, finally 4 years ago he got in the Naismith Hall of Fame, he was nominated years earlier but Len Bias haunted him.
That must be a sad day if you are a basketball fan.
@@roncoloscos2183 It was especially sad in College Park at his public Memorial service.
@@rockvilleraven I always wondered why Lefty got heat over this. Bias died 3 months after Maryland played their last game. He wasn't even enrolled on campus anymore. I remember the Bob Wade hire
@@roncoloscos2183 I was coming home from the skating rink. My hometown had a morning and evening paper at the time. Opened it up and it was on the front page. Unbelievable
i just learned about this great player, very sad. he could have made basketball really exciting in the 90s
I am a North Carolina Tarheels and Michael Jordan fan, but Loved Len Blais so much talent 😪😪
Who’s here after watching jxmys video?
I was 14 at the time and I’m from Landover Md and remember grown men crying and it seemed like a cloud of doom was all over The whole city. Palmer Park Columbia Park and Kentland, rip
I was 13 at baseball camp at Clemson. It changed my life. Never tried coke because of it. Love to watch him play.
So you had plans of doing it if this didnt happen? Men dont do drugs no matter what
@@ND-OPS I would have probably tried it. Had it laid out in front of me many times. So proud I never touched the stuff.
i mean i’ve done coke a couple times and i don’t consider it a mistake & i haven’t touched it since. it’s not always stupid and not fair to call it stupid to the people who have tragically passed away after use @robert
It was worth it. .i did the opposite. It lands you in state jail. 😂
If caffeine were illegal....
thanks for this video
I had just got my driver's license. When someone told me about his passing.A couple of days after that, I heard of crack cocaine. And the next few years in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area would be probably the most violent in the country.
There was a short video at the time, of Larry Bird's reaction to the news, & he was obviously shocked & saddened as he said, "That's the cruelest thing I ever heard!".
I still feel it wasn't cocaine that DIRECTLY killed Bias. It was likely an enlarged heart (very common with basketball players) or some other heart defect that, in combination with a drug coke, caused an allergic reaction that killed him. A guy like Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac was a massive cocaine addict for 20 years and he never once had an OD according to him. Countless other cokeheads have said the same thing. Other drugs like heroin are a different story, but it sounds like people in the room were using no more coke than Len was. I am not advocating the use of the drug. It is super addictive and dangerous, but I feel a bad heart had more to do with Len's death than coke did. He could've very well have died on the floor Hank Gathers or Reggie Lewis style even if he was as clean as a whistle.
If he had used Coke before would'nt that have shown in the physical?
Was cocaine found in Len’s system by the coroner or was it just a rumor he was snorting cocaine?
It depends on how long ago he last used it. In his case, it seems he wasn't a regular user.
Yes...6.5mg of almost pure cocaine was found.
The autopsy report stated his heart was fine. They suspect he had a high sensitivity to the drug.
Len Bias is easily the biggest "What if" in professional sports history..... So sad😢
As I watch this video it feels like June 19, 1986 all over again I was a sophomore in high school I'm sitting here crying. My brother played with Len @ Northwestern High School in Adelphi MD.
An important LIFE lesson to be learn from.
What don’t do drugs? Lol you don’t know what you’re saying
Rest in eternal peace.
He would've been an all star, no doubt
What All Star?? He would've been HOF player...and probably he would took few championships!
Not just an all star. A superstar on the level of Magic, Bird and Jordan.
jordan might get 0 championship if Bias play NBA
Bruce Patawa ehhh there’s a chance
Hall of famer
they knew what it was he was out celebrating with his friends and he died from a drug overdose nun the less it’s a sad story
who's here after the crack documentary on netflix ?
I love how snowfall interwove this story into their story.
Such a shame, what great things could have been.
Michael jordons only competition in college.Damn.
Sadly his younger brother also died five years apart. He died in the same hospital his brother died. Now they are resting side by side len and jay bias. What a tragedy for the mother lonise
good reporting.
Damn😔
I started at UMD the following year. It was a weird feeling still.
Can’t believe he was taking cocaine. Tragic mistake. Len was easily hall of fame material.
You ain’t start from shit lying ass
Why are you lying?
@@buddyj8815 wait he lied?
I enrolled in Maryland a year after this. In the fall of 1987 and the college got very strict on students smoking weed even in the dorms. Of course students still did it. The basketball program was rebuilding with Bob Wade as the coach and Jarrod Mustaf as the star player
@@buddyj8815 You can't read too well can you. He didn't say he started for the basketball team dipshit.
i remember this news as i worked in WDC. Very sad and tragic. they learned it was cocaine! ;(
Sad sad sad
so sad 😞
Dang he died on my birthday R.I.P
June 19th is my birthday as well...This was definitely a sad day in 1986.
Shit brings a tear to my eye
HE WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE GREAT ONES RIP
I was 14 years old when this happened, and I recall thinking that the racist city of Boston had something to do with his death. I did not want to accept it, at all.
Shyt crazy bro
@@BOBBYBOMACLLC stupid. The word racist doesn’t mean anything anymore
Boston would have loved Bias
He was my best friend I was a shoot guard
Really?
Henryson Fixolas nah he’s capping
never have i seen so much kap
🧢
Biggest cap I’ve heard💀😂
Here from snowfall💔🙏
So this a true story on da show
Drugs
They said he was better than Jordan
We still say that.
little did they know at the time, this needless death just set the Celtics back 3 decades
Good insight. Yes it did
They didn't win a title until 2008 after this. Len Bias dying changed everything for Boston.
The only one that could of taken Jordan
Deja de escribir estupideces.
Cocaine was a lot more acceptable in the 80s than it is now as a recreational drug. 1986 marked one of the great Celtics teams ever and it looked like they’d keep dominating the East for a long time. Bias’s death was a huge blow as was a slew of injuries in 1986-87, Larry Bird began having back issues and there was a drop off in performance as the decade waned. The Pistons overtook Boston in a short 2 years. What might have been and never was. Nobody knew then that 1986 marked the end of the party in Boston
It was never acceptable as a "recreational drug" but amongst people who like to do drugs recreationally. Most of society then, as now, frown on the recreational use of drugs. Substance abuse has always been a problem, to most of society. It's the fringes of society that think they are okay.
I grew up in LA and yeah, pretty popular recreational drug. In fact, I’d say that if you grew up in that time and place, 70% chance you tried it at least once.
It was chic in the 1970’s and 80’s. At studio 54 discotheque people would wear coke spoons around their neck it was a designer drug.
I
Cocaine wasn’t acceptable in 1986. It was an illegal narcotic. People did it as a risky Vice. Knowing damn well they could be busted at any time.
Firs time he tried cocaine he died!
that's all it takes. From what i hear it was almost pure coke.
@@sperm8141 It was Crack Cocaine!
I first heard about this in 1989.
A dame shame
Cocaine’s a hell of a drug.
Len bias playing with reggie lewis would have been crazy rip to both
Pisses me off til this day fkn day March 2021.
That snow in the 80’s must’ve been pure no cut
Crazy man doctor pretty much said he blew his heart out smh
Its said...if he only played at 90s era ..someone can beat Michael jordan
Sucks can't hear anything
1:11 who is this guy?
Who’s here from cligue productions
Probably had an enlarged heart and the first time he tried coke was partying after he just got drafted to the current champion Boston Celtics
Thats what im thinking too. In the gap between 1 and 3, got some bad stuff and died from it. Its so stupid
Or got some very pure coke that was powerful. The cocaine in the 80s was known to be 90-98% pure on average not like today, which could of meant it was very strong and his first time it was too much. Sad either way.
@@ddkin1937 He took Crack Cocaine Bro, not just some HQ Powder Coke!
@@Kardasi u don’t know this stop talking out yo butt
@@ddkin1937 from what I know he was addicted and had no body fat just coke
If he played in the NBA, media will compare him to Lebron again 😢
Don’t compare him to the GOAT. Bias was better Shawn Kemp with a shot.
LeBron 🤣🤣🗑
@@SaiKhot Lebron is so not the goat. Not even as good as Kobe. And Jordan was better than Kobe
I remember this.he wasthe next Jordan
Jordan was drafted in 84', Bias in 86'. Jordan had a good rookie season and a dismal 2nd season due to his foot injury so MJ the NBA legend had not been borne yet. Still a shame they never got to play against one another in the NBA
Jordan was only a few months older than Bias
Just think if he didn't die of cocaine Jordan wouldn't of been that guy!
You don’t know that.
Irony of life..
Fucking terrible 😞
They killed him
Who?
It’s best to tell the complete hard truth. COCAINE killed him. Tragic. Stay away from hard drugs and go easy on alcohol. For some completely avoiding all of it is the only answer. RIP
He liked to party.
You don't know a damn thing about the situation, punk!
I'm 10 never herd of him then I herd he was better than Michael Jordan than I was like OK I did research found out he did not even get to play he would have played with the Celtics better than mecal
Black history
Snowfall!!
Just saw him being played on the show snowfall. Had to look into the case
Rip buddy. He’s somewhere Naomi Campbell won’t be
here is your life on a silver platter. oh thanks, I need to take a bowel movement on something.
Lebron before Lebron
If I got the opportunity to make millions of dollars and live a life of luxury, the LAST thing I would do is take a potentially lethal drug.
Cocaine is a hell of a drug!
Junkies in the comments stay hurt…kids do not touch drugs
He was better than Michael Jordon..... Definitely a future hall of famer
Kevin Freeman no he wasn’t. He was a coke head and It would of been part of his downfall if he played in the nba
@@DTskater16 Agreed. I doubt that he only tried drugs on 1 night. His final semester he failed 3 classes and withdrew from 2 classes, which can be a sign of drug use. RIP Len Bias.
@@rushrush1209 or, maybe he was too focused on basketball to focus on classes as he was a amazing player
@@DTskater16 perhaps, but many analysts agreed that Bias' overall game and him as comprehensive player was better at the collegiate level. What that would have translated to in the NBA we'll never know.
"End your future before it starts like Len Bias."
Still on stupid.at that time blacks were still hated.he was murder because lens wanted to play with the Celtics.
Would’ve been better than Jordan, Celtics would’ve won a few championships in the 90s if Reggie Lewis and Len Bias didn’t die
Peyton Patenaude pleas Jordan lit him up in college
Korey Gibson please learn how to spell
Korey Gibson jordan was two years older and bias didnt have a supporting cast
@@selfmade8238 Negative. Jordan used to kill Adrian Branch. Bias used to score at will on north carolina. The Tarheels had the better team and coach and would win those games
Len Bias going to the Boston Celtics = My Plans
Cocaine = 2020.
Corny
keep on rockin in the free world🎶
He would had been way better than MJ,
Based on what? He had good college stats,that's it
None of his highlights are as impressive as Jordan's
And here I sit waiting on my buddy to text me that he's ready for me to come pick him up so we can go get some heroin. I have a great life. But continue to hurt myself. And others. I suck.
its never too late to take action and change for the better man. hope everything gets better
@@thomasackers aye still here thanks I live in a fairy tale world
Guess what mysteryo I'm 9 days clean minus pot lol but no drugs
@@FerrisB_Stiffler.420 Proud of you bro, keep that streak going man
@thomasackers thanks I did have a hiccup, but no one's perfect. It really kind of got me thinking that this shits not fun and asking myself in the mirror why ? Too old to be acting this way. I do not deserve the great life I have .