Darryl Dawkins (born January 11, 1957 in Orlando, Florida) is a former professional basketball player, most noted for his days with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets, although he also played briefly for the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz late in his career. Dawkins was one of two players to go straight from high school to the NBA, drafted fifth overall out of Maynard Evans High School by the Sixers in the 1975 NBA Draft.
He was a fan favorite because of his backboard-shattering dunks (which he would name). He broke two backboards in the 1979-80 season: one at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium on November 13, 1979 (which he called "The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam-Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam"); and a second backboard 23 days later at the Philadelphia Spectrum. Because his dunks resulted in delays while teams went to find another backboard, the NBA eventually modified their basketball rims to make them collapsible in the event another superstar wanted to emulate Dawkins' dunks.
Additional Dawkins dunk names: In Your Face Disgrace, Go-Rilla Dunk, Earthquaker Shaker, Candyslam, Dunk You Very Much, Look Out Below, Yo Mama, Sexophonic, Turbo Delight, Rim Wrecker, Greyhound Bus (went coast-to-coast), Cover Your Head, and Spine Chiller Supreme.
His nickname was "Chocolate Thunder" and he claimed to be an alien from planet Lovetron where he spent off-season practicing "interplanetary funkmanship" and where his girlfriend Juicy Lucy still lived .
Darryl Dawkins was also immortalized by the song "Darryl Dawkins - Sound of Love" by the Screaming Headless Torsos.
In 2005, along with other former pro basketball players, Dawkins auditioned for an NBA analyst position with ESPN as part of the network's reality series Dream Job. He is currently the head coach of the American Basketball Association's Newark Express.
