Utah Jazz center, 2-time DPOY Mark Eaton dead at 64

Former Utah Jazz great Mark Eaton has passed away at the age of 64 on Saturday morning.

Utah Jazz fans are in mourning over the loss of former star center Mark Eaton, who passed away on Saturday morning at the age of 64.

Eaton spent his entire 11-year NBA career with the Jazz. He was named an All-Star in 1989, earning a pair of NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1985 and 1989. Eaton was five-time All-Defensive and led the league in blocks on four occasions. Eaton retired from playing after the 1992-93 NBA season. Three years later, he had his No. 53 jersey retired by the Jazz organization.

Eaton was one of the best defensive players of his generation and a Jazz legend down in the paint.

Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton passed away at the age of 64 on Saturday

While he did not play for the Jazz during their two runs to the NBA Finals in the late 1990s, he was an institution for Utah defensively. He got into the NBA late, as he did not first go to college until 1978. The 7-foot-4 Eaton was working as an auto mechanic in Anaheim when we was first discovered in April 1977. After not playing very much at UCLA, Eaton truly flourished in Salt Lake.

In 11 NBA seasons, Eaton averaged 7.9 rebounds, 6.0 points and 3.5 blocks in 28.8 minutes per game. He started in 815 of his 875 career games in the NBA. Impressively, Eaton played in at least 79 games a year in all but his final season in the NBA. He never played in fewer than 64 games during a regular season. Every night, he brought the defensive tenacity.

Eaton was one of those marquee players who made up the very fabric of Utah Jazz basketball.