Malone was found by hotel staff at 8 a.m. unresponsive. Paramedics were called but he could not be revived and was pronounced dead on the scene. There are reports that Malone died from a heart attack.
He was in his native Virginia to play at the Still Hope Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Malone was a three-time MVP and 12-time all-star. Known as one of the game’s most tenacious rebounders, he remains in the league’s all-time top 10 in both rebounding and scoring. He helped the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA title in 1983 and is one of Philly’s all-time most cherished athletes.
“The Chairman of the Boards” also played for the Buffalo Braves, the Houston Rockets, Washington Bullets, Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks and San Antonio Spurs; he began his professional career with two seasons in the ABA. In 2001 he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame.
Malone gave himself an extra dollop of fame in Philadelphia and the NBA in 1983 when he was asked how his team would do in the play-offs. He said that they would win in “four, four, four” (he used the vernacular – “Fo’, Fo’, Fo'”) meaning they would sweep each series in four games.
They swept two and won the other series in five.
“No one person has ever conveyed more with so few words — including three of the most iconic in this city’s history,” Scott O’Neil, the CEO of the 76ers, said today. “His generosity, towering personality and incomparable sense of humour will truly be missed.”
Malone played 1,455 games in the NBA and when he retired in 1995 he left as the league’s career leader in offensive rebounds with 6,731, with the league record for most offensive rebounds in a season (587) and the most in a single game (21); all three of those records still stand.
Known for his humour and generosity, Malone was a great mentor of young players and was praised today by two of them, Dominique Wilkins and Charles Barkley.