Wayman Tisdale

 

A MOMENT IN OKLAHOMA HISTORY:

He was the first freshman first-team All-American in college basketball history. The outstanding freshman award in the NCAA is named after him. His first love was music. After he retired from the NBA, he focused on his jazz career. Three of his eight albums reached No. 1 on Billboard’s jazz chart.

WAYMAN TISDALE was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1964, but moved as a youngster to Tulsa where his father was pastor of Friendship Church. Wayman received his first guitar at age eight and played bass guitar at his father’s church. When he was a junior at Booker T. Washington High School, he met his future wife, Regina, at church. Wayman was one of the most heavily recruited basketball players in the nation.

Wayman graduated from high school in 1982 and immediately was a starter for Billy Tubbs’ University of Oklahoma Sooners. Tubbs changed the team’s practice schedule on Sundays so Wayman could play for the morning service in Tulsa. Wayman was the first player to be named first-team All American as a freshman.

In 1984 he won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, the last gold medal won by the U.S. with amateur players. He is on the elite list of a handful of college basketball players to ever score 60 points in a game.

Wayman was selected by the Indiana Pacers as the second overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft. He was a power forward and averaged 15 points a game in a 12-year professional career with Indiana, Sacramento, and Phoenix. In 1989-1990, he had his best season, averaging 22.3 points a game.

In 1997, Wayman retired from basketball to concentrate on music. His No. 23 jersey was retired by OU, but Wayman consented to Blake Griffin wearing the number during his career as a Sooner.

In 2007, Wayman fell down a flight of stairs at home and developed cancer in his knee. In 2008, his right leg was amputated to hopefully eliminate cancer. Wayman and his wife formed the Wayman Tisdale Foundation to raise funds to help amputees with the cost of prosthetics. Hoping that he would be free from cancer, Wayman planned a national tour.

On May 15, 2009, Wayman died at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa. He was only 44. Radiation treatments for his cancer had caused his esophagus to rupture. Four thousand people attended his memorial service at the BOK Center. Toby Keith and Fred Hammond sang. Wayman’s brother, Weldon, delivered a powerful 33-minute eulogy. A Who’s Who of OU and college and pro basketball attended.

Wayman was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. He also received Oklahoma’s highest honor that same year with his induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

During his struggle with cancer, Wayman said, “You can never give up because quitting is not an option. No matter how dark it is or how weak you get, until you take that last breath, you must fight.”

BOB BURKE, Constitutional Lawyer and Author.

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Waman Tisdale is a HORNET!  He graduated from Booker T!  They made a great documentary on his life - here is the trailer: