Wes Unseld, a Hall of Fame center and indefatigable rebounder who was only one of two N.B.A. players to be named rookie of the year and most valuable player in the same season, died on Tuesday. He was 74.
His family confirmed the death in a statement posted on the Washington Wizards’ website, saying that he had received diagnoses of pneumonia and other illnesses. The statement did not say where he died.
At 6-foot-7, Unseld was undersized for a center. But at 245 pounds he was a wide-bodied powerhouse who, it was said, could block out the sun. He fixed his opponents with a glower, set bone-rattling picks and planted himself under the basket with steely determination to grab rebounds against much taller centers like Wilt Chamberlain, Nate Thurmond and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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