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Bison Dele ( ; born Brian Carson Williams; April 6, 1969 – disappeared July 7, 2002) was an American professional basketball player who played center for the NBA's Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. Dele played college basketball for the Maryland Terrapins during 1987–1988 and for the Arizona Wildcats during 1988–1991 before being selected by the Magic with the 10th overall pick in the 1991 NBA draft. He won a championship with the Bulls in 1997.
Dele is believed to have been murdered at sea by his older brother, Miles Dabord, in 2002. His girlfriend, Serena Karlan, and skipper Bertrand Saldo are also presumed to have been killed by Dabord, who later intentionally overdosed on insulin and died.
Early life and NCAA career
Williams was born on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1969, in Fresno, California, the second son of Patricia Phillips and of singer Eugene "Geno" Williams Jr. of the musical group The Platters, who later divorced. Patricia Phillips remarried and raised her two sons in Fresno until that marriage ended when Brian was in junior high. He was of African-American descent.
As a junior in high school, he attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He averaged 17.3 points, 12.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.5 steals and 9.1 blocks per game in his senior season, shooting 57.7% from the field. As a senior, he attended Saint Monica Catholic High School in Santa Monica, California, where his jersey is retired. He was a track and field runner, until a high school growth spurt pushed him towards basketball. It has also been theorized he had never been especially passionate about playing basketball and felt he had earned enough money to allow him to walk away from the professional game and lifestyle. He played the saxophone, violin and trumpet, enjoyed adventure travel, and earned a pilot's license. After his retirement he spent long periods traveling to Lebanon, the Mediterranean, and the Australian outback before learning to sail and purchasing a catamaran.
On September 6, 2002, police used a sting operation organized by Dele's family and friends to detain Dabord in Phoenix. Dabord had forged Dele's signature in order to open mailboxes in his name, and to buy US$152,000 worth of gold under his brother's name, using Dele's passport as identification. Mexican police later found that Dabord had been staying at a hotel in Tijuana, Mexico. Two days before, the Hukuna Matata, which had been registered in Tahiti under another name, was found off the coast of Tahiti with its name plate removed and some possible bullet holes patched. About the same time, Dabord phoned his mother, Patricia Phillips, telling her that he would never hurt Dele and that he could not survive in prison.
The FBI and French authorities became involved in the investigation, found that Dabord bought about $200 of weights and was suspected of using them to weigh down the bodies,
Regular season
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Orlando
| 48 || 2 || 18.9 || .528 || – || .669 || 5.7 || .7 || .9 || 1.1 || 9.1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Orlando
| 21 || 0 || 11.4 || .513 || .000 || .800 || 2.7 || .2 || .7 || .8 || 4.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;|
|style="text-align:left;"|Denver
| 80 || 1 || 18.8 || .541 || .000 || .649 || 5.6 || .6 || .6 || 1.1 || 8.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Denver
| 63 || 10 || 20.0 || .589 || – || .654 || 4.7 || .8 || .6 || .7 || 7.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers
| 65 || 65 || 33.2 || .546 || .167 || .734 || 7.6 || 1.9 || 1.1 || .8 || 15.8
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|†
|style="text-align:left;"|Chicago
| 9 || 0 || 15.3 || .413 || – || .733 || 3.7 || 1.3 || .3 || .6 || 7.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Detroit
| 78 || 78 || 33.6 || .511 || .333 || .707 || 8.9 || 1.2 || .9 || .7 || 16.2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|
|style="text-align:left;"|Detroit
| 49 || 48 || 24.0 || .501 || .000 || .686 || 5.6 || 1.4 || .8 || .8 || 10.5
|- class=sortbottom
|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 413 || 204 || 24.2 || .528 || .143 || .691 || 6.2 || 1.1 || .8 || .9 || 11.0
Playoffs
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1994
|style="text-align:left;"|Denver
| 12 || 0 || 24.1 || .553 || – || .659 || 7.4 || .9 || .3 || .9 || 9.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1995
|style="text-align:left;"|Denver
| 3 || 0 || 14.7 || .556 || – || 1.000 || 6.0 || .7 || .0 || .3 || 8.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1997†
|style="text-align:left;"|Chicago
| 19 || 0 || 17.7 || .481 || – || .516 || 3.7 || .6 || 1.0 || .4 || 6.1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|1999
|style="text-align:left;"|Detroit
| 5 || 5 || 24.4 || .600 || – || .556 || 6.4 || .2 || .6 || .4 || 10.6
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 39 || 5 || 20.3 || .529 || – || .612 || 5.4 || .6 || .7 || .6 || 7.8
See also
- List of people who disappeared at sea
References
External links
- TV Crime Sky News Dark Waters Murder In The Deep
- ESPN: Former Piston Bison Dele reported to be missing at sea
- CBS News: Cops believe ex-NBA player was slain
- ESPN: Paradise Lost
- Investigation Discovery: Disappeared (Season 1) The story centers around Bison's girlfriend Serena but he's a big part of the documentary.
- Bison Dele's statistics