In the archive

Looking forbetter example

← BACK TO THE CHECKLIST← JOHN DUREN JERRY EAVES →

☹NO PHOTO YETStill hunting anything signed. Can you help?

RETIRED · No. 53

Center · 1982–93

Mark Eaton

Eaton was a 7-foot-4 auto mechanic fixing cars in Anaheim when a Cypress College assistant coach talked him into basketball. After riding the bench at UCLA — 41 minutes his entire senior year — he took Wilt Chamberlain's advice to guard the rim instead of chasing scorers, and the Jazz gambled a fourth-round pick on him in 1982. He repaid them with eleven seasons, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, and single-season block records — 456 in a year, 5.6 per game — that still stand.

The Jazz retired his No. 53, fitting for a man who helped turn a last-place team into a perennial playoff club. Eaton died on May 28, 2021, at age 64.

HOW HE CAME & WENTThe last-place Jazz took him 72nd overall in 1982 as a long-term project, and he never played for anyone else. A worsening back cost him the whole of 1993-94 and he retired that September, at 37, with two Defensive Player of the Year awards and his number in the rafters.

Full name: Mark Edward Eaton
Utah Jazz tenure: 1982–93
Position: Center
Born: 1957, Inglewood, California
Died: 2021
Height: 7′4″ (224 cm)
Weight: 276 lb (125 kg)
College: UCLA
Drafted: 1982, 4th round (No. 72), Utah

Signatures in the archive

2021-22 Panini Prizm #PM-MET Penmanship
2018-19 National Treasures Penmanship - - 13/49 - SP
2011-12 Panini Preferred Silhouettes 64/99 #239 03hd
1985-86 Utah Jazz Team-Signed Pennant
Utah Jazz Basketball (1987-1988).

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

← BACK TO THE CHECKLIST← JOHN DUREN JERRY EAVES →

With the Jazz

MARK EATON · 1982–93 · PER GAME

SEASON	TEAM	G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
1982–83	UTA	81	18.9	4.3	5.7	1.4	0.3	3.4	.414	.000	.656
1983–84	UTA	82	26.1	5.6	7.3	1.4	0.3	4.3	.466	.000	.593
1984–85	UTA	82	34.3	9.7	11.3	1.5	0.4	5.6	.449	—	.712
1985–86	UTA	80	31.9	8.5	8.4	1.3	0.4	4.6	.470	—	.604
1986–87	UTA	79	31.7	7.7	8.8	1.3	0.5	4.1	.400	—	.657
1987–88	UTA	82	33.3	7.0	8.7	0.7	0.5	3.7	.418	—	.623
1988–89	UTA	82	35.5	6.2	10.3	1.0	0.5	3.8	.462	—	.660
1989–90	UTA	82	27.8	4.8	7.3	0.5	0.4	2.5	.527	—	.669
1990–91	UTA	80	32.3	5.1	8.3	0.6	0.5	2.4	.579	—	.634
1991–92	UTA	81	25.0	3.3	6.1	0.5	0.4	2.5	.446	—	.598
1992–93	UTA	64	17.3	2.8	4.1	0.3	0.3	1.2	.546	—	.700
JAZZ TOTAL	11 SEASONS	875	28.8	6.0	7.9	1.0	0.4	3.5	.458	.000	.649

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗ · Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

MARK EATON · 12 NOTES

Was working as an auto mechanic when a junior college coach spotted him and persuaded him to play.
After basketball he ran a well-known restaurant near Salt Lake City and worked as a motivational speaker on teamwork.
Died in 2021 following a bicycle ride near his Utah home.
Wilt Chamberlain pulled him aside at a summer pickup game and told him to guard the rim instead of chasing quicker players — Eaton called it the turning point of his career.
Wore No. 53 because Darrell Griffith already had his UCLA number 35, so he simply reversed the digits.
Before Utah called, his best offers were 15,000 dollars to play in Israel and 25,000 in Monte Carlo.
He blocked ten shots in a 1985 playoff game against Houston, a record nobody surpassed until Victor Wembanyama's twelve in 2026.
At 6-foot-11 and 175 pounds he appeared in roughly two games as a high school senior, spending the rest of the season on the bench.
He threw away the program the coach handed him and needed four months of after-work sessions before agreeing to try junior college.
Settled near Park City, he skied, kept burros, and rode a Clydesdale-Thoroughbred named Big Tim, becoming the world's tallest cowboy.
He became a friend and mentor to Rudy Gobert, the only other Defensive Player of the Year in franchise history, over a shared love of cycling.
He announced his retirement in a column for the Salt Lake Tribune: 'It has been a great ride, but life does have a way of moving on and I must move on with it.'