Wayman Tisdale

Well, I was getting all geared up for Farrah Fawcett, and then Wayman Tisdale changes everything. What's really weird about this is not only the Chuck Daly weekend event, but the Bernie Williams reference in the Dom DiMaggio obit. For those of you who don't know, Wayman Tisdale had a nice, albeit brief post basketball career as a jazz musician, which creates the Bernie Williams connection. What's kind of interesting is that his basketball career was pre-Web and his music career was post-Web, which overindexes the bass guitar part, so much so that the uninitiated might think of him more as a bass player than a basketball player.

So, back to Wayman Tisdale. I think you would be hard pressed to find a better basketball player name. I can't say that I have any Wayman Tisdale recollections, specifically. It just seemed like he was sort of always around. Being five years my senior means that he came to prominence in the late seventies, which is right about the time that I started doing things like reading newspapers and watching the evening news. So, what I mean is that the name "Wayman Tisdale" has been around practically as far back as I can remember. Not as far as, say...Mark Hamill, but me and Wayman, we go way back. But not nearly as deep as this fan's comments on MetaFilter:

"He was on the Phoenix Suns from '94-'97, when I was a young teenage Suns fan. I'm still a basketball fan, but like most people, my unbridled enthusiasm for the sport and my team peaked when I was around 13 to 15 years old.

The Suns players from those years are mythic figures to me, and Tisdale was one of the most unique in a rather odd crew*. Tisdale moved differently than other players--he had a big butt and used his low center of gravity to make room for himself in the paint. And he had this sweet baby hook shot that seemed to come from nowhere. I seem to remember that the Suns' play-by-play guy, Al McCoy, had one of his silly nicknames for Tisdale's hook shot, but I can't remember it right now.

Anyway, I'll miss Wayman.

* the odd crew: the outspoken Charles Barkley, the famous virgin AC Green, the high-sock wearing Elliot Perry, the coke addicted wunderkind Richard Dumas. And of course Thunder Dan Majerle and one of the great underrated point guards, Kevin Johnson. Good times."

posted by mullacc at 12:26 PM on May 15

So, here is the part where I do the "I betcha didn't know..." thing. Today, unfortunately (or maybe poetically), his site is down. I certainly hope it comes back up for his posterity.

What's great about the Web, and the advanced state of local papers is that you end up with ridiculously comprehensive collections of links, so you can follow every newsworthy event in the man's life.

But, what they failed to capture is this entertaining thread from bass guitar snobs on the fact that in actuality, Mr. Tisdale played piccolo bass guitar, NOT bass guitar. Somebody else noted that he plays the 5 string Tobias Killer Bs. And here is a somewhat unfortunately titled video from YouTube on his successful (to date) battle with the Big C.