Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and Time of Darryl Dawkins [Hardcover]

Darryl Dawkins (Author), Charley Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2003

Darryl Dawkins revives his swashbuckling persona in this tell-all account of sex, drugs and racism in pro basketball during the 1970s and '80s, the NBA's outlaw league era.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this shocking, and shockingly entertaining, memoir of a life in basketball, Dawkins, a former NBA star with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets in the 1970s and '80s, takes readers from his earliest days in a poor Florida backwater through his first games as an 18-year-old NBA whippersnapper to later years of hard playing and harder partying. Dawkins has many professional claims to fame-he is generally credited with elevating the dunk to an art form and being the first to jump from high school to the NBA. But the best reason to read this book has nothing to do with who Dawkins is and everything to do with what he says. In an age when even athlete bad boys tend to be bland clich‚-machines, Dawkins is a throwback, a tell-it-like-it-is chatterbox who follows the one-jaw-dropping-anecdote-deserves-another school of thinking, whether he's comparing the merits of pot and cocaine, recounting his childhood pastime of shooting at roosters, giving his estranged wife a broken nose (it was self-defense, he says) or describing the things that affect his play. (He writes, "Me and Kelly were fucking so much that I could hardly shoot the ball, but I was rebounding like I was on welfare and the ball was made of gold.") He gets away with most of it because of a lighthearted tone and a playfully unapologetic style, resulting in a book that is as likely to make readers laugh as make them cringe. The book's messy, rambling charm wears thin toward the end, when Dawkins begins to feel like a caricature. But he redeems himself with straight talk about serious issues, too, like the double standards of race in basketball. Raw, provocative and as unsubtle as a shattering backboard, this is a look at how it used to be-from a man who was most definitely there.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Sport Media Publishing (March 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0973144327
• ISBN-13: 978-0973144321
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,535,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light Reading Not to Be Taken Seriously, June 11, 2003

By 

G. J Wiener (Westchester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and Time of Darryl Dawkins (Hardcover)

Chocolate Thunder is a light hearted bio on the fast and wild times of Darryl Dawkins. Whereas Darryl's bio is fairly comprehensive, one most surely understand who this is comming from. Darryl certainly was not the most disciplined player on the Earth or even Lovetron. In other words, I question some of the motives and biases of Mr. Dawkins.

Nonetheless, the read is very entertaining if a bit crass in spots. I love reading about his dunking exploits. Its interesting how such a wild and crazy basketball player like Darryl Dawkins eventually became a respected coach in the USBL and the IBA. I guess Darryl Dawkins has mellowed a bit with age.

Nonetheless, this is strong on entertainment value.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and times of Darryl, April 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and Time of Darryl Dawkins (Hardcover)

I just wanted to say that I have read this book in one day thought it was great. If you ever get to meet Darryl how he and Charley have written the book is how Darryl is in person. Darryl was honest about all the crazy things he did in the past and were he is heading for the future. IT is really great to read how a person truly grows up after the age 18 and really does not hit adulthood until later in life. Great book and Great Read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Read, August 18, 2003

By 

Melvin Dickerson (Washington D.C. Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and Time of Darryl Dawkins (Hardcover)

As a 14-year old I was surprised that there was as much corruption in the 70's and 80's as there is now. I was always told that all they did was play ball and do their job. Now, I know that's not true. The Darryl Dawkins Autobiography was very interesting and appalling. It seems like he exaggerated a lot but the stories of childhood and manhood were very funny even though it seemed more like fiction. Once you start reading you won't be able to put it down.I reccomend it.