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Tisdale was a true class act, on and off the court

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Jeff Goodman

Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. Check out his Yardbarker blog. MORE>>
 
Updated May 25, 2009 7:18 PM ET
     
 
One of the true class acts, Wayman Tisdale died Friday morning after a long battle with cancer. He was 44.
"He's one of the best human beings I've ever been around in my entire life."
— Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel
I've never met anyone who said a bad word about the former Oklahoma and NBA star. Tisdale was always smiling — even a few months ago when he walked into the Lloyd Noble Center with a cane and the entire crowd — including Sooners standout Blake Griffin — stopped to give him a standing ovation. "He's one of the best human beings I've ever been around in my entire life," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel told me Friday morning. "He had an incredible gift of making the people who came in contact with him feel incredibly special. His basketball talent and accomplishments pale in comparison to the impact he had on the lives that he influenced by the way he lived his life, and the tremendous character he displayed in his fight with cancer." Former Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs called Tisdale "the most courageous person that I've ever seen." "He was obviously, a great, great player, but Wayman as a person overshadowed that," Tubbs said. "He just lit up a room and was so positive. This is a really hard loss and makes any loss in basketball or any other sport insignificant. He was a great human being. I'll miss everything about him." My moment with Tisdale came a couple of decades ago when he was with the Indiana Pacers. I was in high school and did a phone interview with Tisdale while he was in his hotel room. I was probably 16 years old, but sounded about 12. At the end of the interview (if you can call it that with my humorous questions), he asked me if I was coming to the game that night. I told him I was — and he told me that he'd have some "tennis shoes" for me after the game. So my dad, who didn't believe Tisdale was going to follow through on his promise, and I waited after the game on Causeway Street. Sure enough, Tisdale came walking out heading to the bus, I introduced myself and he pulled a pair of Size 15's (that now fit me) from his bag, signed them and proceeded to spend a few minutes talking to me. Something I'll never forget. After Tisdale's playing career — which included being a three-time All-American at Oklahoma and 12 seasons in the NBA, he became an accomplished musician. He found out he had cancer after breaking his leg in a fall in his home in Los Angeles in 2007. He had the leg amputated last summer, but continued to make public and also perform shows. Capel said he saw Tisdale about three weeks ago at an event to honor Tisdale in Tulsa. "He looked weak when you saw him, but he never let anyone know he was in pain," Capel said. "He was always smiling." Always.
Tagged: Oklahoma, Indiana

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