Bison Dele was a professional basketball player during the 1990s who played in one of the Chicago Bulls dream teams. Dele played several seasons for Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Denver Nuggets before several standout performances put him in the sights of the Chicago Bulls. In 1997, he won the NBA Championship with Michael Jordan earning himself a ring. He was actually playing under his birth name of Brian Carson Williams at the time. It wasn’t until 1998 when he joined the Detroit Piston that he changed his name to Bison Dele in honor of his African and Native American heritage.
At the age of 30 in 1999, he shocked fans by announcing his retirement. Analysts thought it was an odd time to retire as he didn’t have any major injuries and was still playing great. However, family members believe Dele just didn’t have the drive to keep playing. Dele was known to be an eccentric character, extremely intelligent, and interested in many different hobbies. Rumors flew around the newspapers that he was dating Madonna at one point.
It was at this time Dele started to travel the world playing jazz, usually the saxophone. Along with music, he learned how to fly a plane and how to sail a catamaran. Unfortunately for Dele, it seems the act of learning how to sail may have been a crucial part of his disappearance. On July 6th, 2002 he set sail on his catamaran The Hakuna Matata with 2 crew members and his girlfriend. The plan was to sail to Tahiti, and usually, he would contact his mother by phone every couple of days. After a few weeks of no call, it was thought that Dele was lost at sea.
That’s when the mystery really started to deepen and the FBI got involved. Dele’s brother Miles was found trying to impersonate him to commit credit fraud. The police caught up to him and started to question if Dele really did disappear at sea or if something more sinister happened. It was at this point the Hakuna Matata was found filled with bullet holes. Miles claimed that Dele had killed everyone and that he had killed Dele in self-defense. However, before the investigation could bear any fruit, Miles committed suicide.
It’s thought all the bodies were thrown overboard, so we will most likely never find out what really happened. Folklore and mystery continue to grow around Bison Dele’s disappearance, we some saying he has been spotted traveling around the Asian Pacific.
