Wayman Tisdale with musician Jonathan Butler. Photograph taken by Patricia Wagner, Pennsylvania.
Wayman Tisdale was a giant of man-giant in size, talent, and heart. The six-foot nine-incher was not only a National Basketball Association (NBA) player and inductee of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, he was a natural musician who released eight albums on Motown Records and won the Legacy Tribute Award from the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. When faced with a leg amputation for bone cancer in August 2008, his rehabilitation experience led him to found the Wayman Tisdale Foundation, a fundraising organization for people who need financial help for prosthetic care. Tisdale died suddenly in May 2009 at age 44, due to complications of his cancer, just a month after setting off on a planned 21-date national concert tour and a week before a planned recording project with legendary jazz guitarist Norm Brown.
Tisdale’s legacy lives on through his foundation, though, and on July 27, the All-Sports Association and ESPN presented his wife, Regina Tisdale, with a $15,000 donation to the foundation. The money was raised during the All-College Classic, which ESPN and the All-Sports Foundation sponsored.
According to Oklahoma City’s newson6.com, Regina Tisdale expressed gratitude for the funds and stated the foundation would primarily serve Oklahomans.
Tim Brassfield of the All-Sports Association said, “We’re certainly proud to be part of giving a small part to seed money into the Wayman Tisdale Foundation.”
Clint Overby of ESPN said, “Well, I think it’s the right thing to do. Wayman Tisdale meant so much to this state and to this event.”
