More sports

Bias' death still haunts coach, teammate

Bittersweet memories only lead to feelings of lament, remorse.

By VINCENT THOMAS
Published June 25, 2006

Keith Gatlin has a pretty good idea of how his life would be different had his teammate and roommate - "my guy" as he calls Len Bias - not overdosed and died.

Gatlin would have played in the NBA.

He has a picture on a wall in his Greensboro, N.C., home. It's Bias catching one of Gatlin's lobs in a game against Clemson. "His elbows were near the top of the backboard," Gatlin said. "Everybody wants that picture when they come to my home. But they can't have it. Not that one."

Bias played before Scottie Pippen revolutionized the small forward position. Players such as Bias and James Worthy, as talented as they were, still needed a guard to set them up. That was Gatlin's job and he did it well, leaving Maryland as the then all-time assists leader (649). When Bias died the summer before Gatlin's senior year, it sent the Maryland program into a free fall. A little more than three months after Bias' death, amid reports of other drug use and poor graduation rates, athletic director Dick Dull and coach Lefty Driesell, the man who put College Park on the basketball map, were forced to resign within weeks of each other.

That led to a chaotic final season for Gatlin and teammates such as Derrick Johnson. No Terrapins were among the 161 players drafted in 1987. After playing in Greece, France and professional minor leagues, Gatlin would get invited to NBA training camps.

"But in the end it would always seem like they were saying, "We don't want those kind of problems,' " Gatlin said. "No one wanted to be associated with the Len Bias situation or hear those questions getting asked if I was on the team or Derrick or anyone."

There wasn't much resentment in his voice, mostly a dual tone of disbelief and resignation. Gatlin says he has never drank or smoked so much as a cigarette. But, he was a member of that '86 Terps team, one of Bias' roommates and in the apartment - albeit reportedly sleeping - as Bias, teammates Terry Long and David Gregg and drug-dealer Brian Tribble snorted cocaine - so he's lived the past 20 years constantly defending his character.

"Lenny's death immediately affected everyone. All of a sudden, those of us that had nothing to do with it were drug users, bad kids," Gatlin lamented. "It stigmatized a whole team and university. It was wrong."

These days he runs a sports consulting business, training athletes (such as current draft prospects Cedric Simmons of North Carolina State and P.J. Tucker of Texas), and he coaches basketball at Greensboro Bay High School. To the public, he says, his accomplishments and life take a back seat to that one day 20 years ago. He said he's been in Europe where people have come up to him and his wife and said things such as, "Yeah, I know you. You're that point guard for Maryland. You guys had a great team. But, man, you guys were wild." Or he'll be at a work-related function and someone will offer him a drink, he'll refuse and people will seem genuinely shocked. "They're like, "Wow!' And, you know where they're coming from.

"It's like this Len Bias thing won't go away," he said. "That stigma, will never leave me until I go to my grave."

More than frustration, Gatlin's old coach feels regret.

"I just wish he would have come home from signing and went right to bed," Driesell said from his summer home in Delaware.

Bias grew up less than 10 miles from the Maryland campus. Driesell had his eye on Bias by the time he was a "a freshman or sophomore" at nearby Northwestern High School "and he'd come up and play against some of the guys on the team." Driesell remembers Bias as "a great kid." As a player, he ranks Bias with Terrapin greats John Lucas, Len Elmore and Buck Williams, all first-round NBA draft picks whom he coached.

"Leonard could score inside and outside. He could shoot 3s. He had a drop step, a jump hook. He was a great defender. He was so good, I used to have to take him out of practice so the teams would be balanced."

With Maryland citing the need for an overhaul of priorities, it accepted Driesell's resignation on Oct. 29, 1986, and reassigned him as an assistant athletic director.

"It certainly probably changed my life," Driesell said. "But, things happen in your life and you go on."

He moved on, coaching at James Madison from 1988-97 and Georgia State from 1997-2002, retiring after 41 seasons. But he hasn't moved past the grief.

"I loved Leonard and I miss him, just like you would miss a child," Driesell, 74, said. "I'm just sorry I didn't get a chance to ... I just wish he was still around. He was my friend. He's still my friend, I just can't talk to him.

"I know he's in heaven now. And, I know I'm going to be there one day, too. I can't wait to see him."

Vincent Thomas can be reached at vthomas@sptimes.com or 352 848-1430.

[Last modified June 25, 2006, 03:35:59]