05/15/09 Wayman Tisdale Died At the Age of 44 after battle with cancer
Wayman Tisdale, a three-time All-American at Oklahoma who played 12 seasons in the NBA, has died after a two-year battle with cancer. He died at a hospital in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 15, 2009 . He was 44.
Wayman Lawrence Tisdale (June 9, 1964 – May 15, 2009) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association and a smooth jazz bass guitarist and a member of the Oklahoma Tourism Board. Tisdale and wife Regina had four children.- wikipedia
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.
“Nothing can change me,” Tisdale told the Associated Press last June. “You go through things. You don’t change because things come in your life. You get better because things come in your life.”
Wayman Tisdale has spent the past several years fighting bone cancer. He broke his leg twice within one year after a 20-year college and pro basketball career in which he’d never suffered worse than a sprained ankle. When doctors discovered cancerous cells in his leg and a mass program of chemotherapy didn’t work, Tisdale’s leg was amputated.
Gov. Brad Henry attended Oklahoma at the same time as Tisdale and later appointed him to the state’s Tourism Commission.
“Oklahoma has lost one of its most beloved sons,” Henry said. “Wayman Tisdale was a hero both on and off the basketball court. … Even in the most challenging of times, he had a smile for people, and he had the rare ability to make everyone around him smile. He was one of the most inspirational people I have ever known.”
State senators paused and prayed Friday morning after learning of his death.
