Cold Death

Every great things comes to an end, and often times that means your life. Len Bias was just 22 when his life came to and end. According to Michael Weinreb of ESPN, Len Bias was at college park Maryland in his dormitory with his friends celebrating because he had just been picked 2nd overall in the draft by the Boston Celtics.

Len being carried in his casket at his funeral.

 He was with his friends having a good time doing what college kids do, drinking and having fun with his teammates when one of his teammates convinced him to make the dumbest choice of his life. Len's teammate told him that he has cocaine, and he wanted Len to go use it with him in another room later.

With Len being as excited as he's ever been he thought nothing could stop him so at 3 AM when his other teammates were asleep he went into the other room with cocaine. What's interesting was Len was not a normal drug user, so this was new to him. Then, Len started to use the cocaine, and for some reason his body just couldn't take it. His teammate said, "Len started shaking, and it was like he was having a seizure, and then he collapsed." That's when his teammate woke everyone, and they called the police, and requested immediate medical help. "Everyone was in shock" According to one of Len's teammates in the room.

 The ambulance arrived, and it took Len to the hospital, where his family and teammates waited to hear if he was going to make it. Everyone was crying when waiting for Len especially the teammate who gave Len cocaine because he knew he was to blame. Len was unlucky, and did not make it.

 Soon the news reported the death, and it turned into a national story for about 3 weeks. Everyone in the world was touched because they knew this was just a college kid who was on the path to becoming extremely successful. His family was shocked in the way he died because they thought Len would never get into that stuff.


Analysis: The story of Len Bias provided many lessons that could be used by everyone. After this people knew that you could just use a drug one time, and it could end your life. I think that this death is very saddening because this was just a college kid who was put into a bad situation, and eventually fell to peer pressure. Also according to many sources, Len was a great dude, and no one in the world could see him doing cocaine.

This story just shows that peer pressure can overtake anyone even the most innocent guy. Also I feel like this story helped change the world because with cocaine getting more popular people learned how bad the drug can be.

FUTURE RESEARCH: How does social media affect college athletes?