Darryl Dawkins "Chocolate Thunder" has passed away

[rzzzzz]

so excited when we got him to play with Doug and the Doctor. 1st player drafted directly from high school. soon afterwards a lot of us wished he had gotten into a school program where he might have learned more about the game. he should have been a dominating player. but he left behind an incredible highlight reel. and the team couldn't ask for a better alumni afterwards.

[Moonbeam]

Very, very sad. Such a huge personality. He will be missed.

[Kevin_Love42]

RIP Big Fella

[TKainZero]

Wow
That is sad
Out of nowhere

Never got to see him play, but heard of him.

[tsherkin]

He was young and that sucks. He was entertaining, that sucks.

He left the Sixers after the 81-82 season.... that REALLY sucks...

But yeah, 58 is a surprising age, and we're poorer for his absence.

[chrismikayla]

It's scary how many former athletes die of heart disease. These are guys who were well conditioned machines.

[83SixersRocked]

It's a shame, 58 is way too early. RIP. Darryl was like nobody else when he entered the league. The 6ers were just starting to get good enough to root for again when he was drafted, and he was entertainment from Day 1. He gave the papers something to write about, and put some butts in the seats. IIRC they eventually started fining him for broken backboards, but he was still a show.

[unknownnewbie]

One of my favorite players when I was growing up. He was a good player, despite not being very fundamentally sound. But more importantly, from all accounts he was a great person. Kids absolutely loved him. He was a fantastic ambassador for the game of basketball.

He will be missed. Hopefully he's back on Planet Lovetron now.

#RIP

[oikosnomos]

I was never a big Dawkins fan in general. I thought the dunk nicknames were corny and his dunks were just okay to me. However, I saw some hoops video from the 90's in which he stated he was purposefully trying to break the glass on every dunk after the first time he did it. I thought "This guy knows how to please the fans!". He was an entertainer. I always crackedu up at his one dunk were he basically knees the guy in the chest and then dunks it

Anyway, always seemed like a very personable guy. I think he played professionally in the NBA and overseas for like 25 straight years or something, which is crazy.

[TommyTBolt]

very sad RIP big man.