Former NBA Player Wayman Tisdale Dies At 44

Former Oklahoma great Wayman Tisdale died Friday at a hospital in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma after a two-year battle with cancer that took his life at age 44. Tisdale was a three-time All-American at Oklahoma in the mid-1980s before playing a dozen years in the NBA and later becoming an accomplished jazz musician.

His leg was amputated last August and a prosthetic leg that he wore was crimson, one of Oklahoma’s colors. He attended an Oklahoma City Thunder game April 7 and later that month was honored at the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa. During the ceremony, he spoke about his cancer, saying “In my mind, I’ve beaten it.”

Tisdale is survived by his wife, Regina, and four children.