Evans High athletic director Greg Thompson remembers the 1970s day when he and his middle school-age friends stayed after school and hid in the gym at what was then a grades 7-12 Apopka Memorial School to see Darryl Dawkins play a basketball game.
Dawkins was a 6-10, 245-pound man-child who made Evans almost unbeatable in the Trojans’ 1974-75 state championship season before becoming the first player to jump from high school to the NBA.
“Man, it was like we were seeing a famous movie star,” Thompson said Tuesday.
Dawkins, a legendary dunker and charismatic celebrity who played 14 NBA seasons, died from a heart attack in 2015 at the age of 58.
In an effort to commemorate Dawkins and other Trojan greats, Thompson and current Evans head coach Lonza Morgan have created what they hope will become an annual on-campus event.
Saturday’s inaugural “Chocolate Thunder” Classic boys basketball showcase — borrowing one of Dawkins’ many descriptive nicknames — will include a tripleheader of games and ceremonies to retire the jersey numbers worn by Dawkins and another Evans great and NBA player, Chucky Atkins.
“I think this is going to be big,” said Morgan, who was a junior on the 1991-92 Trojans team that Atkins, as a senior do-it-all guard, led to a 29-4 district championship season. “It’s getting some buzz.”
Thompson said the plan is to recognize more former Evans greats each year.
“It could be track athletes, football players, a band member, or whoever it might be,” he said. “We will have displays with the names in our gym.”
Dawkins was born in Orlando but famously claimed to have come from “Planet Lovetron.” He played in 14 NBA seasons with Philadelphia, New Jersey, Utah and Detroit with a 57.2 career field goal percentage that remains one of the best in league history. He averaged 12.0 points and 6.1 rebounds in 726 regular-season games and delighted fans by naming his highlight-reel dunks — including “Yo-Mama,” “Go-Rilla,” “Rim Wrecker” and “Look Out Below.”
Darryl Dawkins towered above competitors in his days as an Evans High School boys basketball superstar. (Orlando Sentinel file)
Atkins was a consummate point guard. He shared the ball but could knock down clutch 3-point shots and take over a game when he needed to.
“He was lightning quick and could shoot the lights out,” Morgan said. “And he was a leader.”
Despite those traits, Atkins was not highly recruited. He signed with USF and became a four-year starter and Hall of Famer for the Bulls. Atkins led USF in scoring (19.3 points per game) and assists (6.8) as a senior, but again had to be an overachiever to make it to the NBA as an undrafted player.
He spent a year in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and a season playing in Europe before landing an NBA roster spot with his hometown Orlando Magic. He played well for the Magic and went on to play 11 NBA seasons for eight different teams, averaging 9.9 points and 3.4 assists in 696 games (325 starts).
Atkins came back to the predominantly Black school in Pine Hills to be the Evans head coach 14 years ago. He took over a middling program that went eight years without a district title and led the Trojans to district and region championships and state runner-up finishes in the 2012-13 (20-8) and 2013-14 (24-8) seasons before stepping down.
GARY BOGDON/ORLANDO SENTINEL
Chucky Atkins, handling the ball for the Detroit Pistons, was guarded by a former teammate, Darrell Armstrong of the Orlando Magic, in a 2000 game in Orlando. (Orlando Sentinel file)
Morgan, in his ninth year as head coach, has awakened the program with back-to-back final four appearances for the first time since Atkins resigned. The Trojans were state semifinalists in 2019 and 2024 and went 25-7 as a Class 6A state runner-up last year.
Evans is ranked No. 2 in 6A behind reigning state champ Aquinas of Fort Lauderdale and improved to 17-4 with a gritty 49-40 win against 6A No. 8 Oviedo (14-5) on Tuesday night.
The presentation for Atkins is set for 5:15 p.m., after he talks to the Evans team in their locker room. The Dawkins presentation is set for 5:30.
Here are Saturday’s game matchups. Oak Ridge (13-8) is ranked No. 5 in 7A. Edgewater (14-7) is No. 5 in 6A.
Jones vs. Seminole, 2 p.m.
Edgewater vs. Gibbs, 3:30
Evans vs. Oak Ridge, 6
Admission is $20 through the GoFan.co website.
Hagerty’;s Jude DiCicco (top) controls Fort Myers wrestler Daniel Reyes in a tournament victory at Hagerty. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
State wrestling
Hagerty and Freedom both cruised through district and region tournaments and are the Orlando area representatives in this weekend’s FHSAA Dual Meet state championships, hosted by Osceola High in Kissimmee. Both are in the eight-team 3A bracket for the largest schools.
Hagerty has five wrestlers ranked by KabraWrestling.com in the top five of their weight class. Senior standout Nikolas Blake is No. 1 in the 157-pound division. Sophomores Hunter Jessee, Chase Wagamugh and Thomas Thorne are also highly-ranked, as is junior heavyweight Renzo Cooligan.
Freedom’s top-rated wrestler is sophomore Kingley Mincer.
State quarterfinal matches are Friday. Semifinals are at 10 a.m. for 1A and 2A, and 11:30 a.m. for 3A — leading to the three simultaneous championship matches at 2 p.m.
Admission is $13 in advance and $16 on game day via the GoFan website ($2 parking fee is included in that charge).
Here are the quarterfinal pairings:
Class 1A, 11 a.m.
Wakulla vs. Baker County
Hernando vs. Cocoa Beach
SLAM Tampa vs. St. John Neumann
Mater Lakes vs. True North
Class 2A, 2 p.m.
Pace vs. Clay
Braden River vs. Charlotte
Tampa Jesuit vs. Lake Gibson
Jensen Beach vs. Somerset
Class 3A, 5 p.m.
Hagerty vs. Flagler Palm Coast
Freedom vs. Wellington
Palm Harbor University vs. Venice
South Plantation vs. South Dade
CHECK HERE FOR DISTRICT SOCCER SCHEDULE AND SCORES
Girls wrestling
Host Freedom defeated South Dade 43-28 to win its own Florida Girls Elite 8 duals tournament.
Timber Creek edged Cocoa Beach 104 points to 103.5 to win the Lady Falcon Classic at East River.
Boys basketball
Lake Highland Prep, 18-1 with 14 consecutive wins going into a Wednesday game, dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 in Tuesday’s FHSAA 3A power rankings behind Fort Lauderdale power Calvary Christian (15-1), which beat national No. 1 Paul VI of Virginia, 78-64, to win the prestigious Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Missouri, on Saturday.
Olympia (14-8), No. 4 in 7A, plays at Edgewater on Thursday.
Kissimmee Osceola (16-4) has won 10 straight and climbed to No. 9 in 7A.
Lake Howell (17-4) is No. 6 in 6A.
Geneva School (17-3) has won 11 in a row and is having a big week. The Knights claimed the Sunshine State Athletic Conference championship and recorded coach Tony Medina’s 350th career win.
DeLand (16-4) won 65-44 against Eustis (13-5) at the Spruce Creek Shootout for its sixth consecutive win.
Colonial’s Yaneyla Pedraza (right) and Ocoee’s Dakara Merthie (left) scrambled for a loose ball in a Tuesday girls basketball game. Ocoee won by one point. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Girls basketball
Lake Highland Prep (15-6) won its seventh in a row and is fourth for all classifications in the FHSAA rankings.
Ocoee (16-4), No. 4 in 7A, pulled out a 59-58 win at fifth-ranked Colonial (17-5) on Tuesday. That came a night after Colonial scored a 71-64 overtime win vs. Oak Ridge (11-7).
Lake Howell’s trio of junior Jules Anderson (17 points) and sophomores Sophia Bautista (15) and Elison Reid (15) put on a shooting show in an 83-42 win against Spruce Creek. They combined to hit 61.3% of their shots (19-of-31), including 7-of-14 from 3-point range, for the SilverHawks (17-3).
Evans’ bid for FHSAA basketball state title recalls memories of ’75 Darryl Dawkins team
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.