To anyone who ever knew Darryl Dawkins even a little, the news that he passed away Thursday morning from a heart attack felt as incredulous as the fact he was suddenly gone at just 58 years of age. Dawkins was such a sweet man, his heart was the last thing you'd expect to give out on him.
But then, most of Dawkins' life played out against expectations. He was known for his imposing 6-foot-11, 275-pound build when the Philadelphia 76ers drafted him with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1975 draft, making him the first player to go straight from high school to the NBA, a year after Moses Malone made the same jump to the ABA. Yet the great irony of his career is he's remembered most for his mind and his vivid imagination. Which is exactly how he wanted it.
Dawkins once told me near the end of his career in Detroit that people didn't think he should get injured or stopped on-court because he was so big and strong, but "I just wanted to be treated like a human being, you know?"
"In Jersey when I was doing it [playing basketball] right, they loved me, and when I was hurt, they hated me," Dawkins added. "When I was doing it right in Philly, they loved me. When I broke my leg or got hurt and couldn't play, they hated me. It was always, 'You ain't human. You can't get hurt.' ... If I get 20 points and 10 rebounds, there's still people who think I should've had 28 points. There's people that want to bother you, drive you crazy, break your spirit. I've always been damned if I do and damned if I don't."
So humor became Dawkins' best armor, not his stats. His career averages of 12.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game in the 14 NBA seasons he spent with the 76ers, Nets, Jazz and Pistons are unremarkable. (He also played in Italy and did a stint with the Harlem Globetrotters.) But he did carve out a reputation as the funniest man in basketball. Maybe ever.
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