Remembering Darryl Dawkins: 1957-2015

Photo: The aftermath of the shattered backboard, courtesy of a dunk from Philadelphia 76er Darryl Dawkins in a Nov. 13, 1979 game against the Kansas City Kings. Photo credit: Associated Press.

Cover photo: Darryl Dawkins of the Philadelphia 76ers dunks against the Atlanta Hawks on April 15, 1980. Photo credit: Portland Press Herald.

An NBA legend was born on this date 69 years ago. 

Before he became, in 1975, the first NBA player to go directly from high school to the NBA, Orlando Fla.’s Darryl Dawkins - “Chocolate Thunder” - was a manchild star at Maynard Evans High School. A 2-time Parade All-American, Dawkins averaged 32 points and 21 rebounds as a high school senior, leading Maynard Evans to a state title. 

Dawkins was drafted fifth overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1975, taken one spot ahead of 1977 title-winning guard Lionel Hollins in a draft that saw David Thompson get selected No. 1 overall. 

A powerfully-built player who was one of the first players to revolutionize power dunking and ferocity, Dawkins was a role player on the 1977 Sixers’ team that lost in six games to the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals. In his third season of 1977-78, Dawkins’ minutes increased to 24.6 from 11.6. He proceeded to average double-figures for the first time, 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds. In the remainder of his Sixers’ career from 1978-79 to 1981-82, Dawkins averaged 13.1 points and 8.1 rebounds (26.1 minutes), 14.7 points and 8.7 rebounds (31.8 minutes), 14.0 points and 7.2 rebounds (27.5 minutes), and 11.0 points and 6.4 rebounds (23.4 minutes). 

Against the Kansas City Kings on Nov. 13, 1979, Dawkins went up with two hands on the right side of the basket and punished the rim with a thunderous two-handed dunk, sending shards of backboard glass to the floor. Few pieces of glass remained attached to the board as the Kings’ Bill Robinzine ran away from the basket in an attempt to avoid the falling glass. Dawkins, born with the gift of gab, nicknamed the dunk the “Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam Glass-Breaker-I-Am Jam.”

The second time Dawkins broke a backboard, in a game against the San Antonio Spurs, he went up strong again on the right side with his momentum carrying him to the floor following the dunk. A massive hole was left where the rim previously resided.  

The colorful Dawkins, with a big personality and suits to match, deemed himself from Planet Lovetron, played with multiple gold chains dangling from his neck, and named many of his dunks, with some including the In-Your-Face Disgrace, the Look Out Below, the Turbo Sexophonic Delight, the Rim-Wrecker, the Go-Rilla, the Spine Chiller Supreme, the Cover Your Head, the Yo Mama, and the Get-Out-of-the-Waying, Backboard-Swaying, Game-Delaying, If-You-Ain’t-Grooving-You-Best-Get-Moving. 

On Aug. 27, 1982, Dawkins was dealt to the New Jersey Nets for a 1983 first-round draft pick. Dawkins’ averages in five seasons in New Jersey were the following: 

1982-83: 12.0 points and 5.2 rebounds, 81 games 

1983-84: 16.8 points and 6.7 rebounds, 81 games 

1984-85: 13.5 points and 4.6 rebounds, 39 games

1985-86: 15.3 points and 4.9 rebounds, 51 games

1986-87: 9.5 points and 3.2 rebounds, 6 games 

The Nets of 1983-84 won 47 games and authored one of the major upsets in league history when they defeated the defending champion 76ers three games to two in the first round. Dawkins averaged 13.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in the opening series on a talented team that was led by Michael Ray Richardson and Otis Birdsong in the backcourt, and had Albert King and Buck Williams at the forward spots. Dawkins registered 15 double-doubles in the 1983-84 regular season, including a game of 36 points and 10 rebounds (38 minutes) against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 6, 1983, and an effort of 17 points, 13 blocks, and 8 rebounds (41 minutes) on Nov. 5 against the 76ers. In Game 1 of the Nets’ second round series against the Milwaukee Bucks, Dawkins scored 32 points with 8 rebounds. In Game 3, he registered 31 points and 10 rebounds. 

Dawkins was limited to just 35 games in 1984-85 due to back issues, and played 51 in 1985-86 before just six in 1986-87. On Oct. 9, 1987, he was dealt in a seven-player trade to the Utah Jazz. He played just four games with the Jazz in 1987-88, before two with the Detroit Pistons for the remainder of 1987-88 and 14 with the Pistons in 1988-89. In 726 career NBA games, Dawkins averaged 12.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 23.7 minutes per game. In 258 games as a Net (26.3 minutes), he averaged 14.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game. In 448 games (23.1 minutes) as a 76er, he averaged 11.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game.

From 1989-1994, Dawkins played professionally in Italy - in Turin, Milan, and Forli. He twice was an Italian League All-Star (1991, 1992) and has his No. 11 jersey retired by Auxilium Torino. Dawkins played for the Harlem Globetrotters in 1995, the Sioux Falls Skyforce (then of the CBA) from 1995-96, and the Winnipeg Cyclone of the International Basketball Association from 1999-00. Dawkins also coached the Cyclone from 1998-00, and coached the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs of the USBL from 1999-2006. He coached the Newark Express of the new ABA from 2005-06, and from 2009-11 was the head coach at Lehigh Carbon Community College. Dawkins guided the ValleyDawgs to USBL titles in 2001 and 2004, and was both the IBA and USBL Coach of the Year in 1999. 

On Aug. 27, 2015, Dawkins died of a heart attack in Allentown, Pa. at the age of 58. 

The former high school superstar was one of the most engaging and colorful personalities to ever play not just in the NBA but in all of professional sports. His legacy will forever endure as the man who was the pioneer for high school players going directly to the NBA, a path that he helped pave for the likes of Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. Enduring too, is his dunking ability.

Dawkins’ personality shone through in one-liners, like one that he said in an interview on ESPN’s Highly Questionable years ago when referring to his penchant for late nights - “I could hang like wet clothes”. Former NBA shooting guard Eddie Johnson also at one time told a story on Sirius XM NBA Radio about going to a steakhouse with Dawkins. The always jovial Dawkins wanted a condiment for his steak, so he proceeded to pull out a bottle of hot sauce from his pocket.

Said Dawkins about his rim-shattering mentality in an interview in the 1993 VHS tape NBA Jam Session, “I wanted to knock the whole thing down, I wanted it all to come down. I said ‘man, this thing ain’t supposed to be broken by humans.’”

On what would have been his 69th birthday, we remember the legendary Darryl Dawkins.