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LA Times; ESPN

Basketball Great Moses Malone Dies at 60. Says One Report, He Was the ‘NBA’s most underappreciated great player’

Sep 14, 2015  •  Post A Comment

“Moses Malone, one of the best centers to ever play in the NBA, died Sunday at age 60,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

The story says, “No cause of death was listed but he was found dead in a hotel in Norfolk, Va., after he failed to show for a celebrity golf tournament he was playing in, according to police. There was no sign of foul play.”

Notes J.A Adande, writing for ESPN, “By the simple facts, Malone clearly was one of the best players to play, and it’s almost as if it took the examination of his career brought on by his death to remind us of that, in addition to some of his pioneering roles. The numbers lead to the reminder that Malone came to the pros straight out of high school; he was 19 years old when he joined the Utah Stars of the ABA.”

Adande continues, “We think of the early 1980s as the dawn of the Magic-Bird era, but Moses was the guy winning back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards in 1982 and 1983, before either of them got their hands on the Maurice Podoloff Trophy. Malone was so dominant back then that when he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers on Sept. 2, 1982, I still remember how the news broke on the radio: ‘The 76ers won the NBA championship today.’”

Writes the Times, “Named to the NBA’s 50th anniversary all-time team, Malone led the Philadelphia 76ers to the 1983 NBA championship, where he won the Most Valuable Player award, one of three in his 21-year career.

Malone was a 14-time All-Star — 12 times in the NBA and twice in the American Basketball Assn. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2001.

Said the 76ers in a statement, “It is with a deep sense of sadness that the Sixers family mourns the sudden loss of Moses Malone. It is difficult to express what his contributions to this organization – both as a friend and player – have meant to us, the city of Philadelphia and his faithful fans.”

To read more about Malone’s career, please click on the links, above, which will take you to the Times and ESPN stories.

In addition, we found this tribute to Malone on YouTube:

2 Comments

  1. Yes, sad. But what does this have to do with TV or the media?

  2. Sports is one of the last places where TV still serves consumers better than online. Moses, Bird, Magic and other players were among those that made the NBA must watch TV. He is at least as important to television news as the dozens of obscure Emmy awards that have been listed here over the last week.

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