15 Facts About Wayman Tisdale

Wayman Lawrence Tisdale was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association and a smooth jazz bass guitarist.

However, Wayman Tisdale began taking to the sport in the eighth grade when he first learned to dunk.

Wayman Tisdale met his future wife Regina in April 1981 at church.

Wayman Tisdale moved the team's Sunday practice from the morning to the evening to allow Tisdale to play at morning services in his father's church in Tulsa.

Wayman Tisdale still holds the record at Oklahoma for the most points scored by any player through his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Wayman Tisdale won a gold medal as a member of the 1984 US Olympic basketball team coached by Indiana University's Bobby Knight, the last gold medal-winning American basketball team with amateur players.

Wayman Tisdale retired in 1997 to focus on his musical career.

Wayman Tisdale launched his music career with his debut album Power Forward in 1995 on the Motown Label.

Wayman Tisdale was awarded the Legacy Tribute Award by the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 2002.

In March 2007, Wayman Tisdale underwent treatment for cancer in his knee, which was discovered after he fell down a flight of stairs at his home in Los Angeles on February 8, and broke his leg.

On his web site, Wayman Tisdale said removing a portion of the leg would be the best way to ensure that the cancer would not return.

Wayman Tisdale proved to be equally quick in learning to walk on his new limb; a physical therapist Tisdale worked with in Tulsa said that he was months ahead of a typical patient in that respect.

Wayman Tisdale died on May 15,2009, at St John Medical Center in Tulsa, where his wife had taken him when he had trouble breathing.

Wayman Tisdale later confirmed that he died after his esophagus ruptured following radiation treatments for his cancer.

Wayman Tisdale's agent described his death as a "great shock" and noted that Wayman Tisdale had been planning to go into the recording studio the following week for a project with jazz guitarist Norman Brown.