Lance Blanks could not stop grinning six weeks ago. He was going to be a grandfather soon. At last, one of his closest friends was
receiving the significant opportunity that Blanks had assured him he merited. And a college student younger than him was honoring
him on national television, in a boisterous arena?
In Kansas City, Missouri, on that March night, Blanks claimed he was initially unaware of his own movements. But Timmy Allen, a
senior at Texas, stood in the audience behind the Longhorns’ bench and smiled when he realized that he had celebrated a shot in the
Sweet 16 against Xavier by imitating the dance that Blanks had made famous 33 years before, in the same round against the same
opponent.
“It’s amazing,” remarked Blanks. “It is, in fact.”
This was the typical Blanks, happy and full of thanks, to so many of us who knew him. Whatever Blanks did, from coaching a young
Spurs draft prospect named Tony Parker one-on-one to broadcasting games on TV to helping raise two daughters while tending to his
long-ill father, a pioneer in the integration of college football, he did it with the same passion that drove Texas fans to “Dance with
Lance” in 1990.
It’s also the reason the news on Thursday was so terrible. The NBA released a statement from Blanks’ family stating that he passed
away in Dallas on Wednesday at the age of 56. The reason of death was not stated.
In the words of NBA head of basketball operations Joe Dumars, Blanks was “a light for all those who knew him.” He was loved by
countless people throughout the basketball world, including numerous generations of Texas coaches and players, front-office
colleagues from his time with the Spurs, Cavaliers, Suns, and Clippers, coworkers at ESPN and the Longhorn Network, and dozens of
pro players he scouted along the way.
The CEO of the Spurs, R.C. Buford, who traveled with Blanks on several international scouting missions and whose children became
lifelong friends with Blanks’ daughters, described Blanks as having “an infectious energy, personality, and approach.””It was always
incredible to sit back and watch the way he impacted people.”
Just three NBA seasons were played by Blanks as a player, two of which he shared as a teammate with Dumars on the Pistons from
1990 to 1992. However, he began his career with the Spurs in 2000 as an entry-level video editor and rose to the position of director of
scouting after making an impression on coach Gregg Popovich and Buford.
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