Mark Eaton

Lubin's uncle, Frank, played on the 1936 U.S. Olympic basketball team.

Mark Edward Eaton (January 24, 1957 – May 28, 2021) was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career (1982–1993) with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Mark Edward Eaton was born on January 24, 1957, in Inglewood, California, and grew up in Southern California.

His father, Bud, was a diesel mechanic instructor and stood 6 ft tall, while Eaton's mother, Delores, was 6 ft. Despite his height, Eaton was more interested in playing water polo than basketball.

As a senior at Westminster High School in Orange County, he stood 6 ft and weighed 175 lb but was uncoordinated, not very muscular, and relegated to a backup role on the basketball team.

"The coaches didn't know how to teach me to play big, and I didn't know how to play big," said Eaton.

After graduating from high school in 1975, Eaton attended the Arizona Automotive Institute in Glendale and graduated as an automotive service technician.

He returned to Orange County and worked as an auto mechanic, making $20,000 a year, when he 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 College.

He had previously discovered Swen Nater, who did not play in high school but went on to a long, pro career.

Lubin's encouragement led Eaton to enroll at the community college in 1978 and try out for its basketball team.

After his freshman year at Cypress, Eaton was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the fifth round of the 1979 NBA draft with the 107th pick.

He was eligible to be drafted because he was already four years removed from high school.

However, he opted to return to college basketball.

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 junior college title as a sophomore in 1980.

Eaton transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1980, but did not see much action in his two seasons with the Bruins.

He played sparingly under head coach Larry Brown in 1980–81.

The tallest players in the starting lineup were Darren Daye and Cliff Pruitt at 6 ft, but Eaton was too slow for the team's fast-paced offense.

In Eaton's senior year in 1981–82, new coach Larry Farmer vowed to give him a shot to start, but heralded freshman Stuart Gray got the nod instead.

Eaton played just 41 total minutes that season, averaging 1.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11 games.

Farmer did not play him at all towards the end of the season and did not allow him to travel with the team on their last road trip to Oregon and Oregon State.

He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1982 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz as a long-term project.

Eaton helped transform the Jazz from a last-place team into a perennial playoff team.

However, the Utah Jazz, who finished in last place the prior season, saw him as a potentially dominant defender and selected him as a long-term project in the fourth round of the 1982 NBA draft with the 72nd overall pick.

"If I ever felt cheated, that was the time I felt the worst," recalled Eaton in 1985.

"I had worked so hard and it wasn't like I was causing any problems."

Eaton was initially disappointed with his inability to play effectively in college.

At a summer pickup game, Wilt Chamberlain saw his frustration, and encouraged Eaton to focus on protecting the basket, getting rebounds, and passing the ball to quicker guards, rather than trying to compete with smaller, quicker players in scoring.

Eaton cited Chamberlain's advice as the turning point in his basketball career.

Because of his lack of playing time at UCLA, few NBA teams had an interest in Eaton after he finished his college career.

He paid for two tryout camps, but only received an offer of $15,000 to play in Israel and another for $25,000 in Monte Carlo.

Named an NBA All-Star in 1989, he was twice voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1985, 1989) and was a five-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team.

The 7 ft Eaton became one of the best defensive centers in NBA history.

He led the league in blocks four times and holds the NBA single-season records for blocks (456) and blocked shots per game average (5.6), as well as career blocked shots per game (3.5).

His No. 53 was retired by the Jazz.

Eaton was a reserve on his high school basketball team before graduating and working as an auto mechanic.

He was discovered by an assistant coach at Cypress College, who persuaded Eaton to enroll at the community college and play basketball.

Eaton transferred to play college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, but he was used sparingly.

When he retired from playing in 1994, he ranked second in the NBA in career blocks behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.