Former NBA Player Wayman Tisdale Dies at 44

Wayman Tisdale, a three-time all-American at Oklahoma who played 12 seasons in the NBA, died after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 44.

Tisdale died yesterday morning at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, hospital spokeswoman Joy McGill said.

After three years at Oklahoma, Tisdale played in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns. The 6-foot-9 forward, with a soft left-handed touch on the court and a wide smile off it, averaged 15.3 points for his career. He was on the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.

After basketball, he became an award-winning jazz musician.

“Wayman Tisdale is one of the best people I have ever had the privilege of knowing,” Oklahoma Coach Jeff Capel said in a statement. “He had an incredible gift of making the people who came in contact with him feel incredibly special.”

Tisdale learned he had a cancerous cyst below his right knee after breaking his leg in a fall at his home in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, 2007. He said then he was fortunate to have discovered the cancer early. His leg was amputated last August. . . .

The Philadelphia 76ers interviewed former Wizards coach Eddie Jordan for their head coaching job. Jordan met with team president Ed Stefanski yesterday. It was Philadelphia’s first interview with a candidate since Tony DiLeo stepped down as coach on Monday and returned to his job as a vice president and assistant general manager. Jordan, who was fired by the Wizards in November, also interviewed with Sacramento this week.

Here are a few, compiled by the Oklahoma sports information office :

“Wayman, through this fight of his, was the most courageous person that I’ve ever seen. He was so positive he almost made you feel he was okay when you knew he wasn’t. It’s a shock. I don’t know of any athlete at Oklahoma or any place else who was more loved by the fans who knew him than Wayman Tisdale. He was obviously, a great, great player, but Wayman as a person overshadowed that. He just lit up a room and was so positive. This is a really hard loss and makes any loss in basketball or any other sport insignificant. He was a great human being. I’ll miss everything about him.”
– Billy Tubbs
Former OU men’s basketball head coach

“Wayman Tisdale was not only a great athlete and musician, he was above all a great person. He constantly demonstrated his care and concern for others and was a worthy role model for all of us young and old. The University of Oklahoma will always be proud of his association with the university.”
– David L. Boren
University of Oklahoma president

“This is obviously a sad day, not just for Sooner fans but for anybody who knows Wayman, knows the kind of person he is, the joy he brings into people’s lives and the example he is to everybody. I was privileged to get to know him over the two years I was at OU. I spoke with him pretty frequently this past season and he helped me in ways he probably doesn’t even know. He’s touched so many lives. I’m just happy he’s going to a better place.”
– Blake Griffin
Oklahoma forward (2008-09)

“Wayman’s one of the biggest reasons why I chose Oklahoma. I wanted to be part of something special and it made logical sense to go to OU because I wanted to pattern my game after him. I wanted to be like him. People used to talk about ‘Be like Mike [Michael Jordan],’ but I wanted to be like Wayman. We’ve lost a special person. I don’t think there will ever be another Wayman Tisdale.”
– Stacey King
Oklahoma center (1986-89)

“He was my man. I played with him pretty much all my life, going back to AAU. He was the reason I wanted to go to OU. I wanted to play with one of the greatest players to ever come out of Oklahoma. He was a great person. He was always positive, he never let the negative bring us down as a unit. He always smiled and kept us together. I’ll miss him. He was one of my brothers.”
– Darryl “Choo” Kennedy
Oklahoma forward (1984-87)

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