UNDATED: Philadelphia 76ers' center Darryl Dawkins #53 jumps to dunk against New York Nets' Jan Van Breda Koff #26. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Darryl Dawkins;Jan Van Breda Koff
Thursday's passing of former NBA star Darryl Dawkins, a.k.a. "Chocolate Thunder," brought out tributes from across the league for the showman and glass-shattering dunker.
"I didn't mean to destroy it," the former Philadelphia 76ers center said of a backboard he decimated at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City in 1979. "It was the power, the Chocolate Thunder. I could feel it surging through my body, fighting to get out. I had no control over it."
There aren't a lot of players who can pull off referring to themselves in the third person or naming their own dunks, which Dawkins did with aplomb with the "Look Out Below" and the "In-Your-Face Disgrace," among others.
And while Dawkins didn't have a role in "Space Jam," he did dabble in otherworldly travel, claiming to spend part of his time on Planet Lovetron -- a celestial body he'd visit for peace and solitude and freedom from critics, and a place for practicing "interplanetary funkmanship."
Check out the funkadelic moves and groove of Chocolate Thunder in the NBA '80s video above, and revel as sports and entertainment stars alike celebrate the legend.
Dunk you very much.
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