The planet Lovetron is without its star center.
Darryl Dawkins, the colorful player who was the first player to go directly from high school to the NBA, was known as a forceful center and an amusing personality. He was dubbed “Chocolate Thunder,” he said, by singing artist Stevie Wonder.
Dawkins spent 14 seasons in the NBA, playing for Philadelphia, New Jersey, Utah and Detroit. He was originally from Orlando, where he played high school ball at Maynard Evans.
Dawkins’ ferocity at slam dunks led the NBA to go to flexible backboards.
According to Wikipedia, Dawkins named the first backboard-breaking dunk “The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam.”
He named other dunks as well: the Rim Wrecker, the Go-Rilla, the Look Out Below, the In-Your-Face Disgrace, the Cover Your Head, the Yo-Mama, the Spine-Chiller Supreme, and the Greyhound Special (for the rare occasions when he went coast to coast). The 76ers also kept a separate column on the stat sheet for Dawkins’ self-created nicknames: “Sir Slam”, “Dr. Dunkenstein”, and “Chocolate Thunder.”
An autopsy will be performed.
