The Story of Bias's Death Should Always Have Life

It's an overwhelming American Tragedy for those of us of a certain age.

On the occasion of what would have been Bias's 40th birthday, 2 1/2 years ago, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, who played with Bias on summer barnstorming tours and against him while at Duke, said: "For people of my parents' generation, they mark time by when President Kennedy was assassinated. For me, and I think for many people who are about this age, I mark time by the death of Len Bias."

That's why Mourning knew exactly what he was doing -- washing a car at a summer job with a dealership -- when the news came over the radio. Bird, eager to see his new teammate, put it better than anybody when he called it "the cruelest thing I've ever heard."

Ever since, we've been forced to wonder: Would the Celtics have remained a force with Bias in uniform? Wouldn't he have added years to the basketball lives of Bird and Kevin McHale and ultimately succeeded them as the next franchise player and face of the Boston Celtics? How many of the four titles won by the Pistons and Lakers in the late 1980s would they have won had Bias lived? How many of the Bulls' six titles would they have won if Bias had lived? Would Jordan have had the rival and true equal many of us suspect Bias would have been? Can you miss if Bird and Magic swear to your potential greatness at 22? How many people did his cocaine overdose discourage and how long did his death impact would-be users? Would Jay Bias, Len's younger brother who wandered into the wrong crowd and was shot to death, still be alive had his brother lived?

Twenty years ago, the course of the NBA was altered and not just the standings; teams started hiring investigators to check out potential draft picks. The entire University of Maryland community was rocked; the athletic department seriously undertook reform. Perhaps Gary Williams would never have come home and the basketball team wouldn't have won that NCAA championship in 2002. So many things were set in motion 20 years ago, most of it sad but perhaps some of it productive.

Charles Barkley, who would have gone head-to-head with Bias for more than a dozen years in the NBA, recalled the morning of June 19, 1986. Having just finished his second season with the 76ers, he was sitting in his apartment in Philadelphia when he saw the words "Breaking News" on the television.

Bias's death hit Barkley hard because his brother had been in and out of drug rehab for cocaine. He had considered trying it, but the news stopped him cold. "It scared me into not trying it even once, not going anywhere near it," Barkley said Saturday night.

Magic Johnson, about as upbeat and positive a man as you'll find despite living with HIV for the last 15 years, worries that in general we didn't pay close enough attention to Bias's death.

"It devastated the entire minority community, beyond him dying," Magic said last week. "Our neighborhoods are terrorized because of drugs. In some communities young kids can barely walk down the streets without being approached. I don't think the subject of the tragedy of Len Bias comes up enough. Too many people have forgotten. It should be talked about every year at every high school, every college, and definitely the NBA season, especially for the rookies."