The Wayman Tisdale Story

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The moving story of a far-too-unheralded man, “The Wayman Tisdale Story” is one that should be more well-known than it is.

Tisdale was a basketball star, drafted by the Indiana Pacers as the consolation prize in the 1985 NBA draft (the year the Knicks won the draft lottery over the Pacers and took Patrick Ewing).

He had high expectations coming into the league, though, and when things didn’t pan out in Indy, he was shipped off to Sacramento, then Phoenix. He was a solid player for years, but never became the superstar he was thought to be.

A talented musician, Tisdale’s first love was always jazz, and eventually he put away the basketball and picked up his bass guitar and had a pretty successful second career.

Eventually Tisdale learned he had cancer, leading to the amputation of his leg (imagine how traumatic that would be to a basketball player), but he persevered. He died last year at the age of 44.

The film features interviews by Tisdale’s family, coaches and friends, and basketball luminaries like Michael Jordan (who spoke very highly of Tisdale and is someone who should know, having played both with and against him for years), AC Green, Sam Perkins, and many others, who painted Tisdale as a gregarious man who always had a smile on his face, even in the toughest of times.

In the field of music, country star Toby Keith and jazzman Dave Koz shared similar sentiments. The two collaborated on a stirring, touching tribute to Tisdale that ends the film.

We see and hear from Tisdale himself as well in old interviews, and he speaks candidly about his playing days, the loss of his leg and his disease, and it’s heartbreaking to see the differences in his appearance toward the end, but as those others attest, he never lost his signature smile (in basketball terms, his grin rivals even Magic Johnson’s), and his positive outlook was inspiring.

It’s a straightforward tribute sort of documentary to a man who by all accounts was universally loved and respected by his peers no matter what obstacles were in his way.

On a side note, it’s particularly troubling that given his relationship to Indianapolis his death wasn’t given more attention than the few mentions mid-newscast it got.

If you’re a basketball fan, a jazz enthusiast, or just like seeing inspiring stories about good people, “The Wayman Tisdale Story” is for you.