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 attended high school at Milford Academy 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 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 farthest they had ever advanced. The next year, Dare led them to the second round of the tournament. 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. He finished his college career averaging 13.8 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game.[1]

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 earning him the nickname "The Three-Minute Egg") before getting injured and missing the rest of the season. For his career, he averaged only 2.1 points and 2.6 rebounds and less than 0.1 assists per game. 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. Traded to the Orlando Magic in 1998, he was immediately cut and retired soon after.

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.

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