Wayman Tisdale

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Representing United States
	1984 Los Angeles	National team

Wayman Lawrence Tisdale (born June 9, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association and now a smooth jazz bass guitarist and a member of the Oklahoma Tourism Board. Tisdale and wife Regina have four children.

Early life

Tisdale was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father, Louis Tisdale, was a well-known pastor in Tulsa, serving for 28 years as senior pastor of Friendship Church; a Tulsa road was named L. L. Tisdale Parkway in 2005 after him. Wayman's older brother Weldon has been pastor of the church since 1997.

Growing up, he was not interested in basketball; when Weldon and another older brother, William, played pickup games in their yard, he usually quit before they finished, retreating to the family's sandbox. However, he began taking to the sport in the eighth grade when he first learned to dunk.

He met his future wife Regina in April 1981 at church. At the time, they were juniors at different Tulsa high schools, and she did not know he was one of the most heavily-recruited basketball players in the country.

Tisdale calls music his "first love". He is a self-taught musician; he has never taken any lessons, and to this day does not know what key any of the pieces he plays is written in, or even the names of the notes he plays. Throughout his youth, continuing through his college basketball career, he played bass guitar at his father's church. Music and church were so important to Tisdale that after recruiting him to the University of Oklahoma, Sooners head coach Billy Tubbs changed the team's practice schedule to accommodate Tisdale, moving the team's Sunday practice from the morning to the evening to allow him to play in the Sooners' band and at morning services in his father's church in Tulsa.

Basketball career

Tisdale graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he grew up. As a college player at Oklahoma from 1983 to 1985, he was a three-time All-American, and was the only male in Division I basketball history to be voted All-America his freshman season (Kevin Durant accomplished this feat in 2007). Tisdale was also the first freshman to become an All-American, sophomore and junior seasons. He still holds the record at Oklahoma for the most points scored by any player through their freshman and sophomore seasons. He won a gold medal as a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team coached by Indiana University's Bobby Knight, and the Indiana Pacers made Tisdale the second overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft.

As a center and power forward, Tisdale averaged over 15 points and six rebounds per game in a 12-season professional career with the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns. His best season was in 1989-90 with the Kings, when he averaged 22.3 points and 7.5 rebounds a game. Tisdale and Mitch "The Rock" Richmond combined to one of the most dynamic duos in the NBA. In 1997, Tisdale retired to focus on his musical career.

Cancer diagnosis

In March 2007, Tisdale underwent treatment for cancer in his knee, which was discovered after he fell down a flight of stairs in his home on February 8, and broke his leg. In May, Tisdale announced on his website that he was recovering from a procedure to remove the cyst, and expected to recover 100%. He and Regina agreed not to tell their children about his diagnosis until the fall of that year, when the entire family was together (their oldest daughter lives in Atlanta and their second-oldest was attending college at the time). However, the first round of chemotherapy was unsuccessful, leading to a second round. As Tisdale recalled later, "The doctor had never given anyone chemo that was my size. They just calculated how much chemo to give me and said, 'We hope it doesn't mess up your kidneys. If it does, sorry."

He drew on some of the challenges he faced during his basketball career to battle the disease, specifically recalling, "I had some coaches that literally didn't want me to make it, and one in particular was Bobby Knight. At the time, I frowned on that … I look at it today that had I not persevered through a lot of the stuff he put me through, I probably wouldn't be here today. I thank God for that dude because he pushed me."

In August 2008, Tisdale had part of his right leg amputated because of the bone cancer. On his web site, Tisdale said removing a portion of the leg would be the best way to ensure that the cancer would not return. In a video message at halftime of a September 28 Sooners' football game, Tisdale affirmed he was doing well and that he was at peace following the operation.

Shortly after the operation, he went to the world leader in prosthetics in Oklahoma City to be fitted for a prosthesis. Scott Sabolich, of Scott Sabolich Prosthetics and Research, the clinical director, said that in his 21-year career, he had never created a prosthesis as large as the one he had to design for Tisdale. At the same time, Sabolich noted that it typically takes a new amputee from three to six months to acclimate to a prosthesis, while it took Tisdale a month. He proved to be equally quick in learning to walk on his new limb; a physical therapist Tisdale has been working with in Tulsa said that he was months ahead of a typical patient in that respect. Tisdale's experience has led him to create a foundation to raise funds to help amputees with the prosthetic process, which is not always covered by health insurance.

Music career

Wayman Tisdale and Dave Koz at the Dave Koz & Friends Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006.

Tisdale released his debut CD, Power Forward, in 1995. In 2002, he was awarded the Legacy Tribute Award by the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. In an ESPN internet chat, Tisdale claims his musical influences include funk bands of the 1970s.

Discography

• Power Forward (1995)
• In The Zone (1996)
• Decisions (1998)
• Face to Face (2001)
• Presents 21 Days (2003)
• Hang Time (2004)
• Way Up! (2006)
• Rebound (2008)

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

External links

• Official website
• NBA statistics @ databasebasketball.com
• Interview with Tavis Smiley
• Interview on XNDTV.com
• Wayman Tisdale shares his inspiring story of courage as a guest on The NBA Breakdown