Yinka Dare

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Yinka Dare (October 10, 1972 in Kano, Nigeria – January 9, 2004 in Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.) was a professional basketball player; a 7-foot-1, 270 pound (122 kg) center. While outstanding as a college player, he became known for being one of the greatest underachievers in recent NBA history. He played one season at Milford Academy high, a prep school in Connecticut.

Dare was discovered by Nigerian-born lawyer Lloyd Ukwu during a visit to Lagos in 1991. While Ukwu was driving, he noticed a very tall man sitting on a bench eating a bowl of food. When he asked him how tall he was, Dare said he didn't know. Dare had previously spent most of his free time in his native Nigeria playing tennis, but soon picked up basketball for the first time and flourished in his new sport.

Dare played college basketball for George Washington University, where he excelled as a player under coach Mike Jarvis and helped revive the basketball program. As a freshman in 1992-93, he led the Colonials to the NCAA Tournament round of 16 ('The Sweet 16'), the farthest they had ever advanced. The next year, Dare led them to the second round of the tournament. He finished his college career averaging 13.8 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game.[1] After just two seasons, he had become the Colonials' all-time leader in blocked shots, averaging more than two per game.

He left school after two seasons and was selected in the first-round (14th overall) by the New Jersey Nets in the 1994 NBA Draft. The Nets gave him a six-year, $9 million guaranteed contract.

In the NBA, Dare played 110 games in four seasons with the Nets; in his rookie campaign, Dare played for three minutes (thereby earning over $300,000 per minute and the nickname "The Three-Minute Egg") before getting injured and missing the rest of the season. The Nets left him unprotected during the expansion draft, but the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies wouldn't take him. In his first full season (1995-96), in which he played a personal best 58 out of 82 games, he turned the ball over 72 times while registering no assists [2]. He still holds the NBA record for most consecutive minutes played without an assist. During his four-year career, he would rack up a grand total of four assists accompanied by 96 turnovers, creating one of the worst assists-to-turnover ratios of all time. For his career, he averaged only 2.1 points and 2.6 rebounds and less than 0.1 assists per game.

By midway through his third season in 1996-97, the search for Dare's first assist had taken on a life of its own. Several times, Nets fans booed when players missed shots that would have earned Dare his first dime. In January, Khalid Reeves missed an open three-pointer, prompting Dare to later say, "Maybe next game I'll get the same thing and get this over with."

A few nights later, Dare ended 77 games and 770 minutes of frustration when he finally got his first assist. Teammate Jayson Williams laughed that Yinka was so happy about his assist that he "came in after the game and started passing out the towels."

Because of his underwhelming performance and distinct name, Dare was subject to frequent ridicule from fans and players. He was commonly referred to (even by his own teammate Kenny Anderson) as "Stinka" Dare or as the "Black Hole", due to the joke that the ball, once in his hands, "disappeared" after one of his frequent turnovers. One writer also said that "Dare" was Nigerian for "comes to NBA without game."

Almost tragicomic was the fact that in spite of his ineptitude, he straight-facedly compared his game to NBA legends like Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O'Neal, stating that "For instance, Shaq is explosive around the basket, and I am, too.", and that "If I play my best, I'll be better than some of the best big men who ever played. I'm going to be an All-Star. In a couple of years I can be an All-Star and play with the best centers in the NBA. The teams that didn't draft me made a mistake." Then he labeled himself "a great defensive center. A great offensive center. An ideal center." Finally he said: "I have high expectations for myself. I'm confident and self-motivated. I've been on my own for a couple of years now and I've come a long way. I plan to play a long time in this league and to do as much as I can for the Nets." [3].

At the end of his third season, his agent, Brad Marshall burst into a postgame press conference and began yelling at Nets coach John Calipari: "Why isn't Yinka Dare playing? It seems to me he deserves to play. He did everything he was asked and still isn't getting an opportunity. Enough is enough. Trade him, waive him, or play him." Calipari chuckled, and replied: "Oh, that will get him playing time," and traded him to the Orlando Magic in 1998, where he was immediately cut and retired soon after. [4].

He played intermittently in other leagues including the Continental Basketball Association and United States Basketball League until 2003.

Dare died in 2004 after collapsing in his home in New Jersey. A medical examiner determined that Dare had a heart attack due to an arrhythmia condition discovered when he was in college.

Lucious Harris, who joined the Nets in 1997-98, Dare's final season said "It's a bad situation. I feel for his family. Just 32, to have a heart attack, that's scary. It always seemed like he was in shape. But things happen and you don't understand why."

Kerry Kittles, who played with Dare in the latter's final two Nets seasons said: "He was a quiet guy, didn't talk that much. He worked hard - he didn't really play much, but he was a fun guy to be around. [He was] young: It makes you think . . . anything can happen any time. It's in the back of your mind [that] it could happen to you."

Mike Jarvis, who coached Dare at GWU, told The Post, "Yinka was a kind, gentle person. He was nice to my family, as respectful as anybody I've come into contact with. I don't remember him having a bad word to say about anybody; just a nice, sweet kid."

Dare is survived by parents Gabriel and Joan, two sisters and a brother.

[edit] Trivia

Dare appeared in the 1995 Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo video game NBA Jam: Tournament Edition as a "bonus" player, available on the all-rookie squad at the onset of the game, and upon beating the game becomes available for play on his home team.