| 15 May 2009
There are times when you read a news story that ruins you for the rest of the day. Reading the news of Wayman Tisdale succumbing to cancer this morning just made it one of those days.
Growing up a Kings' fan in the 80's pretty much meant that I cut my basketball teeth watching guys like Kenny Smith, Harold Pressley, Duane Causwell, Lionel Simmons and Mitch Richmond, but none of those guys could match my love of all things Tizzy. Tisdale was just the most fun guy to watch out of that group. He was such a smooth big man with his left-handed Tizzy Flip and sweet stroke, and I dreamt of being taller in hopes of emulating some of his game.
But it was more than Tisdale's game that made Kings' fans fall in love with him. He seemed to understand that he was playing a game and loved every minute of it. Sure he was intense, competitive and put forth 100% effort all the time, but that didn't keep him from having a genuine ear-to-ear grin on his face whenever he did something great on the court. And we loved him for it.
Tisdale had a presence on the basketball court that cannot be denied, and he had copious accomplishments to back it up. He attended the University of Oklahoma and was the first player in Division I basketball history to be voted All-American in his freshman season. Tisdale averaged 25.6 points and 10.1 rebounds in his three years at Oklahoma and became one of only ten players to be three-time All-Americans. He was also member of the 1984 Olympic basketball team that won gold in Los Angeles.
Tisdale retired in 1997 in order to pursue his first love: music. He taught himself how to play bass guitar and became even more accomplished as a jazz musician than a basketball player. He recorded eight jazz albums and brought his infectious smile and smooth demeanor from the court to the stage.
Tisdale was easy to like as a basketball player and musician, but he was even easier to love as a person.
After falling and breaking his leg in February of 2007, doctors ran X-rays and found cancer in Tisdale's leg. Every treatment failed, and the doctors were forced to amputate his right leg in August 2007, but Tisdale always stayed optimistic. He wasn't beaten by cancer emotionally and kept his ear-to-ear grin no matter what the situation. Instead of getting angry at what life handed him, he fought through it. He started a foundation to raise funds to help amputees purchase prostheses and counseled others that were fighting cancer. He became an inspiration to anyone facing adversity in any aspect of life.
Despite all of these setbacks, Tisdale continued to work on his music, and his last album was titled Rebound as a way to show that you can bounce back from anything life throws at you as long as you don't let it break you. An inspirational and fantastic message.
We didn't just lose a great basketball player or musician today; the world lost a great man.
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