I'd have played against him (Len Bias) for the next 14 years. I would have been in my prime and he would have been in his. I'll never forget what he looked like. He was a 'Wow!' player. When Maryland played and was on television, I watched. It was like, 'I need to watch this guy; I'll be seeing him real soon.'... It was just shocking. Thing is, cocaine was huge then. My brother had been in and out of rehab a few times.... It was a popular drug at the time. And guys I was playing against, like John Lucas and Michael Ray Richardson and John Drew had done cocaine. I was thinking: 'What the hell is up with this cocaine? I should try this once to see what it was all about.' Then, we heard the reports were that Bias only used it once... that it was his first time. When I heard that, it scared me to death... scared the daylights out of me. It scared me into not trying it even once, not going anywhere near it. (Charles Barkley)

I'd have played against him (Len Bias) for the next 14 years. I would have been in my prime and he would have been in his. I'll never forget what he looked like. He was a 'Wow!' player. When Maryland played and was on television, I watched. It was like, 'I need to watch this guy; I'll be seeing him real soon.'... It was just shocking. Thing is, cocaine was huge then. My brother had been in and out of rehab a few times.... It was a popular drug at the time. And guys I was playing against, like John Lucas and Michael Ray Richardson and John Drew had done cocaine. I was thinking: 'What the hell is up with this cocaine? I should try this once to see what it was all about.' Then, we heard the reports were that Bias only used it once... that it was his first time. When I heard that, it scared me to death... scared the daylights out of me. It scared me into not trying it even once, not going anywhere near it.

Charles Barkley

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