Wayman Lawrence Tisdale

(1964 - 2009)

Profession: Basketball / Musician

Hometown: Tulsa

Inducted: 2009

Wayman Lawrence Tisdale was born in Fort Worth, Texas but grew up in the Tulsa area where his father was a pastor. The youngest of three, he cultivated his love of music and basketball, playing the bass guitar since third grade. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1982.

A highly recruited athlete, he played for the University of Oklahoma and set records still unbeaten today: Oklahoma's career scoring record of 2,661 points, career rebound record of 1,048, and 9 Big Eight conference records. Tisdale was the first freshman to make the team All America list and was a member of the 1984 gold medal winning U.S Olympic basketball team. The star's number of 23 is the first to be retired by OU in any sport.

Tisdale was the second overall pick of the 1985 National Basketball Association with the Indiana Pacers, and enjoyed a twelve-year career, playing for the Pacers as well as the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns. The Tulsa native also pursued his love of music as a smooth jazz bass player and recorded eight albums, selling a quarter of a million copies and reached number one on the Contemporary Jazz chart. In 2007 Tisdale was diagnosed with cancer which required amputation of his leg, but he smiled through it all. To help others with similar circumstances he founded The Wayman Tisdale Foundation to provide counseling and prosthetics. His final album Rebound was written and released after his cancer diagnosis. He passed in 2009 at age forty-four surrounded by loved ones.

Wayman Tisdale representing the Indiana Pacers, c. 1980s. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.
Wayman Tisdale representing the Indiana Pacers, c. 1980s. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.

Want to hear more?

Click below to listen to Wayman Tisdale's "Rebound," the eponymous track of his album released following his cancer diagnosis. 


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