Mark Eaton facts for kids
Eaton, circa 1988
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 24, 1957 Inglewood, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Died | May 28, 2021 (aged 64) Park City, Utah |
| High school | Westminster (Westminster, California) |
| Listed height | 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) |
| Listed weight | 275 lb (125 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College |
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| NBA Draft | 1982 / Round: 4 / Pick: 72nd overall |
| Selected by the Utah Jazz | |
| Pro career | 1982–1994 |
| Career history | |
| 1982–1994 | Utah Jazz |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Career NBA statistics | |
| Points | 5,216 (6.0 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 6,939 (7.9 rpg) |
| Blocks | 3,064 (3.5 bpg) |
Mark Edward Eaton (born January 24, 1957 – died May 28, 2021) was a very tall American basketball player. He played his entire professional career with the Utah Jazz in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1982 to 1993.
Mark Eaton was known as one of the best defensive players in NBA history. He was chosen as an NBA All-Star in 1989. He also won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award twice (in 1985 and 1989). He was also picked for the NBA All-Defensive Team five times.
Even though he didn't score many points, Eaton was amazing at blocking shots. He led the league in blocks four times. He still holds the NBA record for the most blocks in one season (456). He also has the highest average of blocked shots per game in a career (3.50). The Utah Jazz honored him by retiring his jersey number, 53.
Eaton was a backup player on his high school basketball team. After high school, he worked as an auto mechanic. An assistant coach from Cypress College discovered him. He convinced Eaton to go to college and play basketball. Eaton later played for the UCLA Bruins, but he didn't play much there. The Utah Jazz picked him in the 1982 NBA draft. They saw him as a player who could become great over time. Eaton helped turn the Jazz from a team that often lost into a team that made the playoffs every year. When he stopped playing in 1994, he was second in the NBA for total career blocks. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had more.
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Mark Eaton's Early Life
Mark Eaton was born in Inglewood, California. He grew up in Southern California. His father, Bud, was a diesel mechanic teacher and was 6 feet 9 inches tall. His mother, Delores, was 6 feet tall.
Even though he was very tall, Eaton was more interested in playing water polo than basketball. When he was a senior at Westminster High School, he was 6 feet 11 inches tall. He weighed 175 pounds. But he wasn't very coordinated or strong. He mostly sat on the bench during basketball games. Eaton said, "The coaches didn’t know how to teach me to play big, and I didn’t know how to play big."
College Basketball Journey
After finishing high school in 1975, Eaton went to a school for automotive technicians. He became an auto mechanic. He was working in Anaheim in 1977 when a chemistry professor named Tom Lubin found him. Lubin was also an assistant basketball coach at Cypress College. He had a history of finding tall players who didn't play much in high school but became good pros.
Lubin encouraged Eaton to try out for the basketball team at Cypress College. Eaton joined the team in 1978. After his first year at Cypress, the Phoenix Suns picked him in the 1979 NBA draft. This was unusual because he had been out of high school for four years. But Eaton decided to stay in college. He became a strong player at Cypress. He averaged 14.3 points per game. In 1980, he led the school to win the California junior college title.
Playing for UCLA
In 1980, Eaton moved to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He didn't play much during his two seasons with the Bruins. In his first year, the team's coach, Larry Brown, didn't use him often. Eaton was too slow for the team's fast style of play.
In his senior year (1981–82), a new coach, Larry Farmer, promised to give him a chance to start. But a new freshman player, Stuart Gray, got the starting spot instead. Eaton played only 41 minutes all season. He averaged 1.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11 games. The coach didn't let him travel with the team for their last road trip. Eaton later said, "If I ever felt cheated, that was the time I felt the worst.”
Eaton was disappointed that he couldn't play well in college. One summer, he was playing a pickup game. The famous basketball player Wilt Chamberlain saw how frustrated he was. Chamberlain told Eaton to focus on protecting the basket, getting rebounds, and passing the ball. He told him not to try to score like smaller, faster players. Eaton said Chamberlain's advice changed his basketball career.
Mark Eaton's Professional Career
Because he didn't play much at UCLA, not many NBA teams were interested in Eaton. He even paid for two tryout camps. He only got offers to play in Israel or Monte Carlo. But the Utah Jazz, who had finished last the year before, saw his potential. They thought he could become a great defensive player. They picked him in the fourth round of the 1982 NBA draft.
Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden joked, "You can't teach height." Layden was also the team's general manager. He convinced Eaton not to play in Europe. He signed Eaton to a five-year contract. The first year was guaranteed for $45,000.
Eaton had worn number 35 at UCLA. But Darrell Griffith already had that number on the Jazz. So Eaton chose number 53. When he started in the NBA, Eaton just wanted to be a backup player. But he made an immediate impact as a rookie. He started 32 games. He replaced Danny Schayes after the Jazz traded him. Eaton set a new team record with 275 blocked shots. He did this while playing only 19 minutes per game. His 3.4 blocks per game were third best in the NBA.
Becoming a Defensive Star
The Jazz put Eaton on a special training program. Coach Layden said they treated him "like a high school kid as far as basketball skills are concerned." Eaton kept getting better in his second season. In 1983–84, he led the team with 595 rebounds. He also blocked 351 shots, breaking his own team record. His 4.28 blocks per game led the NBA.
Eaton's strong defense helped the Jazz improve. They went from 30 wins in his first season to 45 wins. They won their first division title and made their first playoff appearance.
In Eaton's third season (1984–85), he blocked an amazing 456 shots. This broke the NBA record for most blocks in a single season. The old record was 393 blocks by Elmore Smith in 1973–74. Eaton averaged 5.56 blocks per game. This was more than double the second-best shot-blocker that season. He also averaged 11.3 rebounds per game, ranking fifth in the league. For his great play, Eaton was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. He also won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.
Jazz Success and Later Career
Eaton wasn't a big scorer. But the Jazz relied on him for his shot-blocking, rebounding, and occasional dunks. With star players Karl Malone and John Stockton joining the team, the Jazz became one of the best teams in the NBA. Eaton's strong defense was a huge reason for their success.
He continued to be one of the NBA's best shot-blockers. He led the league in blocks in 1986–87 and 1987–88. In 1988–89, he averaged 10.3 rebounds per game and 3.84 blocks per game. He won NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the second time. He was also picked for the NBA All-Defensive First Team again. In 1989, he was chosen to play in the 1989 NBA All-Star Game. He joined Malone and Stockton, making it the first time the Jazz had three players in the All-Star Game.
In the 1989 playoffs, the Jazz were upset by the Warriors. The Warriors' coach, Don Nelson, used a strategy to avoid Eaton. They played with smaller, faster players. This made it harder for Eaton to guard them. Utah coach Jerry Sloan started to play Eaton less.
Later in his career, Eaton had knee and back injuries. His rebounding and shot-blocking numbers went down. In the 1992–93 season, he played only 64 games due to knee surgery and back problems. A back problem forced him to miss the entire 1993–94 season. He announced his retirement from basketball in September 1994.
Mark Eaton's Legacy
Mark Eaton played his entire 11-year NBA career with the Utah Jazz. He helped change the team from one that often lost to one that won 50 games or more every year. After his first season, the Jazz made the playoffs in each of his next 10 seasons. This started a streak of 20 straight playoff appearances for the Jazz.
In 875 games, he scored 5,216 points. He grabbed 6,939 rebounds. He also blocked 3,064 shots. When he retired, he was second all-time in total blocked shots in league history. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had more. Blocks were not officially recorded until Abdul-Jabbar's fifth NBA season in 1973–74. Eaton is still the NBA's all-time leader in blocks per game, with an average of 3.50.
To honor his contributions, the Utah Jazz retired Eaton's number 53 jersey in the 1995–96 season. In 2010, Eaton was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. In 2014, his jersey was also retired at Westminster High School and Cypress College.
Life After Basketball
After retiring from playing, Mark Eaton worked for KJZZ-TV in Salt Lake City. He provided commentary and analysis for Utah Jazz and University of Utah basketball games. He also hosted a radio talk show before Jazz games.
Eaton was a partner in a restaurant in Salt Lake City called Tuscany. He was also a president and board member of the National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA) from 1997 to 2007.
He founded and chaired the Mark Eaton Standing Tall for Youth organization. This group provided sports and outdoor activities for children in Utah who needed extra support. He was also a motivational speaker.
In the 2013 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Jazz player Jeremy Evans jumped over a seated Eaton to dunk the ball. In later years, Eaton became a mentor to Jazz center Rudy Gobert. Gobert is the only other player in the Jazz's history to win the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Personal Life
Mark Eaton married his wife, Marci, in 1980. She was a registered nurse. She worked as a nurse in Santa Monica to support him while he was in college. They had two sons, Nicolas and Douglas.
Eaton enjoyed riding bikes. He ordered a special mountain bike that fit his tall frame. He rode many of the first mountain bike trails in Utah. Around 2016, he started riding a custom road bike made by a Frenchman for tall cyclists. It had 36-inch wheels.
On May 28, 2021, Eaton went for a bike ride near his home in Park City, Utah. He died after a bicycle accident about a block from his house. He was found unresponsive by someone passing by and was pronounced dead at the hospital. He was 64 years old.
Images for kids
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Eaton, circa 1988
See also
In Spanish: Mark Eaton para niños
