Friday, June 20, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 7
ston
|EGE PARK, Md. (AP) —
as, who said he was living a
Iwiihin a dream” after being
cl bv the National Basketball
ation champion Boston Celtics
|day, died unaccountably of
rent heart attack Thursday,
autopsy was performed to de-
^ , r .ie what caused the University
' wdllyland star to collapse. Team
| Frank Grimaldi said Bias’
J “was perfect.”
Edward Wilson, chief of
:etjcy services at Leland Me-
I Hpspital, where the 22-yeai -
ias was pronounced dead at
.m. EOT, said there was “ma-
„ image” to the heart but “we
know what caused the dam-
;e.S ihington, D.C., television sta-
■AM, quoting unidentified
ami hospital sources, reported
I ^Bs of cocaine w ere found in
iritJe but said there was no in-
>n that cocaine was a factor in
clllCln ^ News also quoted po
:iali
a.
Sports
’s NBA draft choice dies suddenly
Cocaine may be cause of Bias' apparent heart attack
lice as saying there was evidence of
cocaine use.
Dr. John Smialek, the chief state
medical examiner, said his office
would not release preliminary find
ings and estimated a complete re
port would take several days.
Bob Law', a spokesman for the
Prince George’s County police, said
authorities were awaiting the au
topsy results to determine the exact
cause of death “and whether drugs
are involved.”
Maryland Athletic Director Dick
Dull said the school had performed
routine drug tests on Bias and other
members of the team and “we’ve
never had absolutely any kind of in
dication that there was excess of al
cohol or any kind of drug involve
ment by Lenny Bias.”
The tragic end of what appeared
to be a career of unlimited promise
came just days after Bias passed a
physical given by the Celtics before
they made him the No. 2 pick in the
draft.
Boston superstar Larry Bird, who
urged the team to select Bias and
was to work with Bias at rookie
camp, said of the death:
“It’s horrible. It’s the crudest
thing I ever heard.”
Bias was stricken about 6:30 a.m.
EDT in his dormitory room at the
university, w'here he was attending
summer school after playing his fi
nal collegiate season.
Hospital spokesman Frank Berry
said Bias was brought in about 6:50
a.m. and died tw'o hours later follow
ing unsuccessful attempts to save the
athlete.
Wilson said he understood a
friend tried to revive Bias with car-
dio-pulmonary respiration, and the
procedure was continued on the 1 ‘/a-
mile ambulance trip to the hospital.
“The heart was stimulated by
chemical and pacemaker means,”
said Wilson, the attending emer
gency room physician. “There was
no response. The heart was not
pumping, and the lungs were not
working.”
“So far as I know, it was a sudden
collapse,” Wilson said. “There was
no chest pain so far as we know.
Nothing would indicate something
was wrong.”
Asked if such a sudden death for
someone in apparently robust good
health wasn’t unusual, he replied,
“It’s unusual, but it does happen.”
WDVM said detectives were try
ing to question two players who were
with Bias in the early morning
hours. The station said investigators
became suspicious because the room
where Bias collapsed was spotless
and appeared to have been recently
cleaned.
Initially, WDVM reported, the
two players with Bias told police that
he had two or three beers in the 3‘A>
hours before he collapsed, but un
identified sources said there was no
trace of alcohol in the urine.
Maryland Coach Lefty Driesell,
who recruited the extremely agile 6-
foot-8 Bias from Northwestern High
in nearby Adelphi, Md., and several
of Bias’ teammates rushegl to the
emergency room upon hearing the
news.
Driesell, who frequently called
Bias “All-World” during a senior
year when he averaged 23.2 points
and 6.8 rebounds a game, said at a
late afternoon news conference he
thought Bias was “the greatest bas
ketball player that ever played in the
Atlantic Coast Conference.”
“I’ve known Leonard since he was
in the fifth grade,” Driesell said. “He
was like a son to me.”
“He was a born-again Christian,”
Driesell said. “He turned his life
over to the Lord. He’s in a better po
sition now than we are. He is at
home with the Lord. I love you
Leonard, and I miss you.”
Summer-school students and resi
dents of the College Park area, who
just two days earlier rejoiced over
the good fortune of Bias, were in a
state of shock and disbelief.
“I’ve been here 10 years,” said
Maryland Athletic Director Dick
Dull, “and to say (this is) the saddest,
darkest experience of my life would
be an understatement. Team mem
bers are beside themselves with
grief.”
Bias, a soft-spoken interior design
student w'ho wrote poetry, was eu
logized on the floor of the U.S.
House of Representatives by
Maryland and Massachusetts con
gressmen, and members of the Bos-
See Bias, page 8
i A baseball teams leave litigation behind, begin play for state title
iTIN (AP) — After a one- The layoff means all the teams
m« out for courtroom battles, will have their top pitchers well-
anjs will play for the Class 4A rested and ready to go. Westlake
ligh school baseball title this Coach Howard Bushong said, “If
. ■ anybody has lost an edge, it probably
Uiran [tin Westlake, 28-5, plays Mer- would be hitters more than pitch-
|21[-7, Friday at 6:30 p.m. at ers.”
BMiUPalk Field. The other semifi- The 4A tournament was sched-
■HBialches Brenham, 28-3, and tiled for last weekend, when cham-
■K»r,2'!-8,a( 8:30 p.m. Friday. pious were crowned in the other
Today’s semifinal games
(at Disch-Falk Field in Austin)
Austin Westlake, 28-5, vs. Mercedes, 21-7, at 6:30 p.m.
Brenham, 28-3, vs. Snyder, 24-8, at 8:30 p.m.
four classes. But the University In- pone the 4A games because of legal
terscholastic League had to post- action by Waco Richfield.
Richf ield lost, 4-3, in 1 1 innings to An Austin judge, at the request of
Westlake in the playoffs. Rain pro- Westlake, issued a conflicting order,
hibited the completion of the best-
of-three series before the UIL dead- The Texas Supreme Court re
line. Westlake advanced on the solved the issue Wednesday by
strength of the extra-inning win. throwing out the Waco judge’s or-
A state district judge in Waco then der. UIL officials had said they
ordered the Rich!ield-Westlake se- might cancel the 4A tournament if
l ies completed before the state tour- court delays prevented play by this
riament could continue. weekend.
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