Mark Eaton (basketball)

Mark Eaton

No. 53
Center
Personal information
Date of birth	January 24, 1957 (1957-01-24) (age 54)
Place of birth	Westminster, California
Nationality	American
High school	Westminster (California)
Listed height	7 ft 4 in (2.24 m)
Listed weight	290 lb (132 kg)
Career information
College	Cypress Junior College (1978–1980) UCLA (1980–1982)
NBA Draft	1982 / Round: 4 / Pick: 72nd overall
Selected by the Utah Jazz
Pro career	1982–1993
Career history
1982–1993	Utah Jazz
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1985, 1989) NBA All-Star (1989) 3× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1985–1986, 1989) 2× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1987–1988) #53 Retired by the Utah Jazz
Career NBA statistics
Points	5,216 (6.0 ppg)
Rebounds	6,939 (7.9 rpg)
Blocks	3,064 (3.5 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Mark E. Eaton (born January 24, 1957) is a retired American professional basketball player who was a member of the NBA's Utah Jazz from 1982 to 1994. He was famous for his giant frame (7-foot-4, 290 pounds) and his strong defense. He holds the NBA's record for highest average of blocks per game in a season (5.6) and in a career (3.50).

College career

Mark Eaton grew up in Southern California. Despite his height, as a youth he was more interested in playing water polo than basketball. After graduating from Westminster High School, Eaton attended the Arizona Automotive Institute in Phoenix and graduated as a service technician. He worked as an auto mechanic for about three years, and was eventually discovered by Tom Lubin while repairing cars in Anaheim in April 1977. Lubin, a chemistry professor, was an assistant basketball coach at Cypress Junior College, and his encouragement led Eaton to enroll at Cypress and try out for the basketball team.^[1] Eaton developed into a solid junior college player. He averaged 14.3 points per game in two seasons at Cypress, and led the school to the California State Title as a sophomore.

After his freshman year at Cypress, he was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the 1979 NBA Draft with the 107th pick in the 5th round. He was eligible to be drafted because he was already four year out of high school in 1979. However, he opted to return to college basketball.

Eaton transferred to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1980, but did not see much action in his two seasons with the Bruins. In his senior season, he played just 42 total minutes, averaging 1.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11 games.

Professional career

Because of his lack of playing time at UCLA, few NBA teams had interest in Eaton after he finished his college career. However, the Utah Jazz saw him as a potentially-dominant defender and selected him with the 72nd pick in the fourth round of the 1982 NBA Draft. Utah coach Frank Layden would later explain his choice by quoting Red Auerbach's old axiom, "you can't teach height".^[2] In his rookie season, Eaton made an immediate impact. He replaced Danny Schayes as Utah's starting center early in the year, and finished the season with 275 blocked shots (a franchise record) in 81 games. His 3.40 blocks per game ranked third in the NBA, behind Atlanta's Wayne "Tree" Rollins and San Diego's Bill Walton.

Eaton continued to improve in his second season with the Jazz. In 82 games, he grabbed a team-leading 595 rebounds and blocked 351 shots (breaking his own franchise record). His 4.28 blocks per game led the NBA, well ahead of Rollins (who finished second with 3.60 blocks per game). Eaton's strong defense helped the Jazz make their first-ever playoff appearance. Incidentally, one shot he failed to block during the 1983-84 season was the skyhook which gave Kareem Abdul-Jabbar his 31,421st point and the NBA's all-time scoring record.^[3]

Eaton's third season (1984–85) was spectacular. He blocked 456 shots, shattering the NBA record for most blocked shots in a single season (Elmore Smith blocked 393 shots for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1973-74 season). Eaton averaged 5.6 blocks per game, leading the league by a wide margin (Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon finished second with 2.68 blocks per game). In addition, Eaton averaged 11.3 rebounds per game, ranking fifth in the league in that category. For his efforts, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team and was honored as the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year.

Although he was not a significant offensive contributor, the Jazz relied heavily on Eaton for his shot-blocking, rebounding, and occasional "tippy toe" dunks. With the emergence of superstars Karl Malone and John Stockton, the Jazz became one of the best teams in the NBA. Eaton's stifling defense was a major factor in Utah's success. He continued to rank among NBA leaders in blocked shots, leading the league in 1986-87 and 1987-88. In 1988-89, he averaged 10.3 rebounds per game (seventh in the NBA) and 3.84 blocks per game (second behind Golden State's Manute Bol). He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in his career, and was also named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team (for the third time in his career). In addition, he was chosen to play in the 1989 NBA All-Star Game, joining teammates Malone and Stockton on the Western Conference team.

In his last few years with the Jazz, Eaton was slowed by knee and back injuries. He remained an imposing defensive presence, but his rebounding and shot-blocking abilities slowly declined. In his last season (1992–93), he played in only 64 games, averaging just 17.3 minutes per game.

Legacy

His entire NBA career was spent with the Utah Jazz. In 875 games, he scored 5,216 points, grabbed 6,939 rebounds, and blocked 3,064 shots. At the time of his retirement, he ranked second all-time in league history in total blocked shots, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career total of 3,189. Abdul-Jabbar played 1,560 games to Eaton's 875. (However, statistics for blocked shots were not kept until the 1973-74 season, missing the first 4 seasons of Abdul-Jabbar's career.) Eaton is currently the NBA's all-time leader in blocks per game, with a career average of 3.50.

To honor his contributions to the team, the Utah Jazz retired Eaton's number 53 during the 1995–96 regular season.

Retirement

Since his retirement, Eaton has worked for KJZZ-TV in Salt Lake City, providing color commentary and analysis for television broadcasts of Utah Jazz and University of Utah basketball games.^[4]

Eaton is a partner in a Salt Lake City-area restaurant named Tuscany.^[5]

He has served as president of the NBA Retired Players Association and is currently a board member.

He founded and served as chairman of the Mark Eaton Standing Tall for Youth organization, which provided sports and outdoor activities for at-risk children in Utah. He is a motivational speaker.

In 2009 a golfer named Jason Hargett at his Mark Eaton Celebrity Golf Classic hit a hole-in-one to win $1 million.^[6] The hole in one insurance company that paid out the prize was Hole In One International, owned by Mark Gilmartin.^[7]

See also

• List of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career playoff blocks leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with most blocks in a game
• List of tallest players in National Basketball Association history

Notes

1. ^ http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=&title=FOR+THE+7-FOOT+SET,+PROFESSIONAL+BASKETBALL+PROVIDES+MORE+-+07.04.11+-+SI+Vault&urlID=455649447&action=cpt&partnerID=289881&fb=Y&url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1187806/1/index.htm
2. ^ Howard Fendrich (2007-01-31). "7-Foot-9 Player Joins ABA Club". Associated Press. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8N0IS000&show_article=1. Retrieved 2007-03-19. 
3. ^ A Sky Hook That Was For The Book
4. ^ Torre, Pablo S., "Larger Than Real Life", Sports Illustrated, 4 July 2011, pp. 108-118.
5. ^ "Owner Bios". Archived from the original on 2007-02-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20070212082013/http://www.tuscanyslc.com/owner_bio.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-19. 
6. ^ "Amateur Golfer Hits Million Dollar Shot". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpxEPwvAYIc. Retrieved 2009-09-17. 
7. ^ Price, Joy. "Hole In One International Pays Out $1,000,000 To Jason Hargett". Hole In One International Pays Out $1,000,000 To Jason Hargett. http://www.holeinoneinternational.com/winners/. Retrieved 30 September 2011. 

External links

• NBA.com historical playerfile
• Mark Eaton at Basketball-Reference.com
• USA Today roundtable with NBA Retired Players Association
• Where Are They Now: Mark Eaton (Sports Illustrated feature)

Persondata
Name	Eaton, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1957-01-24
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death