Darryl Dawkins, the first NBA player ever to be drafted straight out of high school, has died at the age of 58, the league announced on Thursday.

Dawkins averaged 12 points per game during his 15-year NBA career after being drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 1975 draft by the Philadelphia 76ers out of Maynard Evans High School in Orlando.

Nicknamed "Chocolate Thunder" by Stevie Wonder for his booming dunks, Dawkins shattered a pair of backboards in 1979, prompting the NBA to adopt breakaway rims.

Dawkins went into coaching, leading the ABA's Newark Express after playing his final NBA season in 1988-89 with the Detroit Pistons before brief stints with the Harlem Globetrotters and the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the Continental Basketball Association.

Most recently, he coached the Lehigh Carbon Community College men's basketball team in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.