Mookie Blaylock

College career

A 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) push-and-pass point guard, he was rated among the best defensive stoppers in the game. The former Garland High School, Midland College (where he earned NJCAA All American honors in 1987), and University of Oklahoma star is most highly regarded for his quick hands and a ball hawking defensive style that produced more than 200 steals in a season five times and two NBA All-Defensive first-team selections. He was also a capable outside shooter, a fine passer who generally ranked among the league's assist leaders, and a durable instigator of the fast break. In 1988, he helped to lead the Sooners to the NCAA title game.

Professional career

Blaylock was selected by the New Jersey Nets with the 12th overall pick of the 1989 NBA draft and settled quickly into Nets' rotation. He was traded with Roy Hinson to the Atlanta Hawks prior to the 1992–93 season for Rumeal Robinson, where he flourished under newly signed coach Lenny Wilkens. He spent seven years with the Hawks, leading them in career three-point field goals (made and attempted) and career steals. He was also selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game. He was traded to the Golden State Warriors in a deal that brought Bimbo Coles, Duane Ferrell, and the 1999 10th overall draft pick, Jason Terry, to Atlanta, and finished off his career playing as a reserve for the Warriors.

NBA achievements

In popular culture

Fans of the basketball player, the band members of Pearl Jam originally named their group "Mookie Blaylock", but they were forced to change the name. They settled on naming their debut album Ten after Blaylock's jersey number. In addition, Blaylock himself is a fan of Pearl Jam.

In Tom Robbins's 1994 novel Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, character Larry Diamond uses the name "Mookie Blaylock" as a pseudonym for hotel stays.

In the Homestar Runner cartoon "Kick-A-Ball", the Umpire tells the Announcer that Mookie Blaylock gave him the ball featured in the cartoon, a reference to a similar scene in an earlier cartoon about Mookie Wilson.

In the CSI: NY episode "Civilized Lies," two persons of interest are implicated in the same crime, although their characters are not featured in a majority of the episode. The suspects names are Roland "Mookie" Benitez and Eric Blaylock.

Personal life

In 2011, two of Blaylock's sons, twins Daron and Zack, committed to play football for the University of Kentucky. The sons are graduates of Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia. Blaylock resides in Zebulon, Georgia.

During the afternoon of May 31, 2013, Blaylock was involved in a head-on collision in Clayton County, Georgia. He was initially placed on life support, but his condition later improved. Blaylock's vehicle traveled left-of-center, causing the accident. A family member stated he had a history of seizures, but it was unknown if Blaylock was experiencing any symptoms at the time of the collision. Although initially surviving the crash, a passenger in the other vehicle died as a result of injuries from the collision. Blaylock was charged with vehicular homicide, driving on a suspended license and failing to stay in his lane. Blaylock had an outstanding warrant in Spalding County, Georgia on charges of DUI and drug-related offenses at the time, but "investigators did not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash." On October 27, 2014, Blaylock pleaded guilty to killing Monica Murphy, the mother of five, rather than face a jury. Blaylock was sentenced to 15 years for vehicular homicide and other charges in the head-on collision as part of a plea bargain. According to the plea, Blaylock will serve a seven-year prison sentence, of which three years will actually be spent in prison and the remaining four as a suspended sentence, followed by eight years of probation.