THE BIAS LEGACY

His Death Was Senseless, But Not Meaningless

WHEN A YOUNG, promising life is ended for some senseless reason, we
like to think that a greater good might spring from the attendant
grief. There is a need to reconcile that death with hope that the
sadness it brought will prevent another family or circle of friends
from suffering a similar fate.

Perhaps University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias fulfilled that
hope in ways we'll never know. Twenty years ago this month, just days
after the Boston Celtics drafted him, Bias died from a cocaine
overdose in his dorm room while celebrating his good fortune. For
those who recall that awful episode, and can put it into two decades'
worth of perspective, it was a seminal event that awakened the nation
to the troubling mix of pampered athletes, academic laxity, and drugs.

Not only did Bias become a marquee victim of drug abuse, but also the
public soon learned that he had apparently quit studying--without fear
of jeopardizing his participation in athletics. Having failed most of
his final-semester classes, he was unable to graduate with his class.
To a nation that often judges its colleges not by academic prowess but
by athletic ranking, this was a sobering revelation. The country
needed Len Bias to turn on the spotlight: If this was the status quo,
then the status quo needed overhaul.

At any rate, Bias' legacy still reverberates across the University of
Maryland campus. The basketball team's top scorer was disqualified in
midseason because of poor grades. It's unlikely that would have
happened in the pre-Bias era. Even so, none of the team's four seniors
managed to graduate before leaving this spring--despite academic
support and remedial options the university offers its athletes.

Holding schools and their athletic programs accountable on athletes'
graduation rates and general behavior has proven a tall order. Crooked
college athletics programs and unstudious "student' athletes persist.
The likelihood remains, however, that were it not for the shocking
news out of College Park 20 years ago, the excesses and shortcomings
of college sports would have escaped even the imperfect scrutiny they
now face.