The first player to go directly from high school to the NBA, Dawkins was more of a legend off the court than he was on it during his pro career. That doesn’t mean he was a good player. But his alter ego was comedy central. He famously said he was from “Planet Lovetron” and called himself “Chocolate Thunder” and just as famously preferred wearing lime green suits and other outrageously colorful outfits. It wasn’t so much he was a misfit, but a kid in a grown man’s game. Many of friends and former teammates dismissed his acts as juvenile, but none of them went out of their way to educate him either.
Much has changed though for Dawkins. For good people like him, it usually does. For all his immaturity as a player and person, he’s matured and become a coach at a community college in Pennsylvania. Who would have guessed? Kids with special needs, including his step daughter, helped transform him into a role model for many.
Tom Friend pens an excellent piece on the man who made a name smashing backboards and rapping about it and how he’s transitioned from someone misunderstood to someone who is truly loved.
ESPN.com