Farewell to Rockets Icon Carroll Dawson.
It was announced this weekend that longtime Rocket legend, and nearly lifer, Carroll Dawson has died at age 86.
Dawson had not his number, but his initials “CD”, retired in 2007, after Daryl Morey became GM of the Rockets.
Dawson was born in Alba, Texas, which can be found, if not easily, between Dallas and Tyler. He played basketball for Paris, Texas, junior college and Baylor. He then coached the Baylor Bears for four years, before becoming an assistant for the Rockets in 1980. He would remain a Rockets assistant coach for the next 17 years, until 1997. His time included the Rockets only two NBA titles, in the 94-95, and 95-96 seasons.
After 1997 he became the Rockets General Manager, a post he would hold until the appointment of Daryl Morey in 2007. He was responsible for some shrewd and also some controversial moves in that tenure. He made the trade for Charles Barkley, which many still regret to this day, including Barkley. Those Rockets teams did reach the Western Conference Finals, but they were hunting titles.
He also drafted Yao Ming 1-1, which, as much as anything else, opened up China to the NBA. As many as 60,000,000 people in China enjoyed “Breakfast With Yao”, where the Rockets played early in the morning, Chinese time. During Yao’s tenure pretty much every single Rocket had an endorsement deal of some sort in China.
Dawson also assembled the roster for the four time WNBA Champion Houston Comets. The team is now defunct, and considering the rising, indeed skyrocketing, popularity of the WNBA, and the burgeoning value of its franchises, the decision to shutter the dominant Comets appears to have been one of former Rockets owner Leslie Alexander’s more short-sighted decisions.
Dawson remained in a consultative role with the Rockets after Morey took over the GM role in 2007, and would frequently appear at special Rockets occasions.
Dawson was a Texas original, a true servant of the franchise, and an icon of the glory days of Hakeem Olajuwon. Dawson’s tenure at the Rockets saw the rise of the sport, the NBA, from an afterthought to a true global presence.
There has been an outpouring of sympathy and respect from around the basketball world for Dawson upon his passing.
He will be missed.
(No poll.)