Roy Marble, a first-round draft pick of the Hawks in 1989, died Friday after a long battle with cancer.
The Hawks selected Marble with the 23rd overall pick after he left the University of Iowa as the school’s all-time leading scorer. Marble, a guard/small forward, played just one season with the Hawks after being suspended as a rookie for violating the NBA’s substance-abuse policy. He appeared in 24 games with the Hawks during the 1989-90 season. He averaged 2.1 points, 1.0 rebounds and .5 assists in 6.8 minutes.
The Hawks official Twitter account sent the following message Friday night: “Our thoughts, prayers and condolences to the family and friends of former Hawk Roy Marble, who died early today at age 48.”
Marble played the next three seasons in the Continental Basketball Association before returning to the NBA for a five-game stint with the Nuggets during the 1993-94 season. He played one more season in the CBA before finishing his playing career.
Marble remains the all-time leading scorer in Iowa history with 2,116 points. He is the only player to eclipse the 2,000-point mark and also finished with 668 rebounds and 281 assists. Iowa made the NCAA Tournament in all four of his season, including an Elite Eight berth in 1987.
Marble was diagnosed with cancer that began in his lungs in Aug. 2014. A spokesman for Iowa said Marble died at his home in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
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