There are a lot of sad stories, but what I'm about to tell you may be the saddest story of any college student ever.

In 1986, a University of Maryland student named Len Bias was the best college basketball player in the country.

He was a couple years behind Michael Jordan, and some people said he was going to be even better than His Airness.

He was so good that the defending World Champion Boston Celtics picked him with the second overall pick in the NBA Draft.

That was on June 17, 1986.

He was a poor kid, but immense riches and several championships appeared to be on the horizon.

Bias got drafted to the Celtics juggernaut that already included superstars Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, and Danny Ainge. Adding Lenny Bias to the mix was going to make them unstoppable for at least the near future, or so everyone thought.

On June 18, Bias and his father went to Boston, met with the Celtics, and had a meeting with the sports marketing team at Reebok. They discussed signing a five-year, $1.6 million endorsement deal with the sneaker company.

Even though he never played one game as a pro, he was close to having a $1.6 million contract under his belt before even negotiating with the Celtics.

That’s June 18th.

On the early morning of June 19th, he was back in College Park and the University of Maryland to celebrate with (mostly) his friends. He partied hard at the dorms. When he was talking with a Terrapins teammate, he suddenly collapsed from a seizure.

Another teammate called 911. This was around 6:30 in the morning.

Bias was pronounced dead at 8:55 a.m. of a cardiac arrhythmia related to cocaine usage.

So, in the course of those three days, Len Bias went from the highest high to the lowest low.

As always,

Brian

P.S. – Some Len Bias highlights here: