Mark Robert McNamara (June 8, 1959 – April 27, 2020) was an American

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

player who was selected by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

in the first round (22nd pick overall) of the 1982 NBA draft. A 6'11" power forward- center from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, McNamara played in eight NBA seasons from 1982 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1991. He played for the 76ers,

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

and

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

. McNamara also dabbled in acting and appeared in the 1985 TV movie "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor".

NBA career

Drafted by the

, he spent his rookie season with the team. Playing alongside

Moses Malone Moses Eugene Malone (March 23, 1955 – September 13, 2015) was an American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1974 through 1995. A cent ...

, McNamara averaged 2.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game across 36 games, and earned his only

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

with the 76ers. McNamara's best statistical year as a professional came during the 1983–84 season as a member of the Spurs, appearing in 70 games and averaging 5.5 ppg and 4.5 rpg. In his NBA career, McNamara played in 278 games and scored a total of 980 points.

Post-NBA

McNamara was an assistant coach of the boys' basketball team at

Haines High School Haines High School is the primary high school for the town of Haines, Alaska and the Haines Borough School District. Extracurriculars Haines High School offers participation for all students in cross country, volleyball, wrestling, basketball, ...

Haines, Alaska Haines (Tlingit: ''Deishú'') is a census-designated place located in Haines Borough, Alaska, United States. It is in the northern part of the Alaska Panhandle, near Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. As of the 2020 census, the populat ...

, and led the team to two state titles. McNamara helped with basketball camps around Alaska.

Death

McNamara died on April 27, 2020, at age 60. He reportedly died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

, culminating from years of cardiac issues.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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, 70, , 3, , 14.8, , .621, , –, , .471, , 4.5, , .4, , .2, , .2, , 5.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

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Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

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L.A. Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

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Playoffs

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1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

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1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

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1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

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1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

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, 2, , 0, , 2.5, , .250, , –, , –, , .5, , .0, , .0, , .0, , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 8, , 0, , 2.0, , .556, , –, , .500, , .5, , .0, , .0, , .0, , 1.4

Film

McNamara worked as a stand-in for Peter Mayhew as

Chewbacca Chewbacca ( ), nicknamed "Chewie", is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a Wookiee, a tall, hirsute, bipedal, intelligent species originating from the fictional planet of Kashyyyk. Chewbacca is the loyal friend and firs ...

on the set of '' Return of the Jedi''.Fox Sports
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNamara, Mark 1959 births 2020 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Basketball players from San Jose, California California Golden Bears men's basketball players CB Murcia players Centers (basketball) Kansas City Kings players Libertas Liburnia Basket Livorno players Liga ACB players Los Angeles Lakers players Orlando Magic players Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players Power forwards Rapid City Thrillers players Real Madrid Baloncesto players San Antonio Spurs players Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball players