[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H12182-H12183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE STORY OF LEN BIAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. de la Garza] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. de la GARZA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to visit with my colleagues and 
especially to address the youngsters in our country. At home when I 
visit schools I tell the story of a young man named Len Bias, who lived 
in nearby Maryland here.
  Len Bias was a great basketball player when he was a kid. He could do 
anything with a basketball. He could make it sing a song. Six feet tall 
by the time he was 10, 12 years old. Went to high school. They won the 
championship. He won all of the medals, he won everything. High schools 
were looking for him all over, and then college. He went to the 
University of Maryland, although he had scholarships from 20 some 
colleges that had offered him a scholarship.
  Same thing in Maryland. Four years, Len Bias was a man of the hour in 
basketball. Not only in basketball, he was a leader in the church, a 
leader on the campus. He was a great individual.
  That year the Boston Celtics won the world championship, and they 
were looking at him, and he went to Boston and the word is that he 
signed a contract for I do not know how many millions, $8 million, $10 
million. Came back and was met by some friends at National Airport. 
They went back to the campus, and they were disobeying the rules, but 
someone had some liquor. He was tired, but he had the world in the palm 
of his hands. I do not know how many millions of dollars he had signed 
with the Boston Celtics, and one of the friends, supposed friends, 
said, ``Why aren't you happy, why aren't you excited.'' He said, 
``Well, I am just tired.'' He said, ``Here, I will give you something 
that will help you, take a sniff of this and you will feel good, you 
will feel great.'' He says, ``No, I don't do that.'' ``I don't do 
that,'' Len Bias said, and they kept insisting and insisting and 
insisting.
  Finally, he said, ``Okay, let me try it,'' and he went like that and 
he was dead before he hit the floor. He didn't know his body would not 
tolerate cocaine. This fine specimen of an individual, this hero, this 
now rich young man from the suburbs of Washington, he was dead because 
of one who professed to be his friend gave him a little cocaine.
  What I would like to leave you with is we do not want any more Len 
Bias's. We do not want any of our youngsters to have to suffer with 
that, to have to suffer the family. And you know what happened? He was 
such a leader, when the word got out, it was past midnight, 1 o'clock 
in the morning. When the word got out on campus, people started coming 
out of the dorms and they were coming out in the square there.

                              {time}  1445

  Some opened the gym and the gym started filling up and what happened, 
Len Bias died, Len Bias is dead. One of the students lit a candle. 
Someone started singing Negro spirituals, black spirituals, the whole 
college came up. What happened to Len Bias?
  A friend had given him a sniff of a little white powder and then 
there was no more Len Bias.
  We do not want any more of our youngsters to go that way. We want 
them to be Len Bias, the basketball player, the hero, the leader in the 
college, the leader in the church, the leader in the community.
  I do hope that those who remember Len Bias but those that may never 
have heard of him, if you remember nothing else of what I say today, 
remember that there was a young man with a future that would not quit 
but a friend led him astray and now there is no more Len Bias.
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

[[Page H12183]]

  Mr. de la GARZA. I yield to the gentleman from New Mexico.
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, let me just say that selflessly the 
gentleman from Texas has talked about somebody else when in effect this 
may be the last speech that truly one of the giants in the Congress, 
the gentleman from Texas, will be giving.
  Mr. Speaker, I will ask unanimous consent that the gentleman's speech 
to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus be part of the Record of this 
proceeding, because what we have is truly one of the giants of the 
Congress in our midst, somebody who will be dearly missed, not just for 
the Hispanic people of this country but for all Americans, the 
distinguished chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.
  This is truly a historic day in that he comes to the floor to talk 
about the tragedy of Len Bias, a young man with unlimited potential who 
succumbed to drugs. Yet he is probably giving the last speech of his 
career which is historic in that he truly has been one of the giants of 
this body.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. (Mr. Walker). Is the gentleman propounding a 
unanimous-consent request?
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the speech 
of the gentleman from Texas, [Mr. de la Garza], before the 
Congressional Hispanic Caucus be made part of the Record of this 
proceeding.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Mexico?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. de la GARZA. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague for 
his kindness and generosity.
  Mr. Speaker, this is 32 years for me. I close speaking about the 
youngsters. If I have improved one youngster's life, my 32 years here 
would have been very worthwhile, Mr. Speaker.

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