Jets' Nick Dawkins, son of NBA legend Darryl Dawkins, pursues NFL dream

Nick Dawkins was in his home in Allentown, Pennsylvania, recently, hoping an NFL team would call when he found something he wasn’t looking for but definitely needed.

It was an old Pennsylvania Pick-4 Lottery ticket that belonged to his father, former NBA legend Darryl Dawkins. Nick, a rookie offensive lineman on the Jets' practice squad, was only 13 when Darryl died of a heart attack in 2015.

Darryl played the lottery every week. He won sometimes, but not enough to break even, Nick said. As a tribute to his dad, Nick has a Pennsylvania Lottery tattoo on his torso. He misses his father terribly. Finding that ticket meant everything to him.

“What I found in my grief is I usually always look for signs,” Dawkins told Newsday. “Sometimes things pop up that kind of just let me know he’s watching. I found a lottery ticket randomly in my house. So I was like, ‘My dad’s watching.’ ”

Darryl, who played for the 76ers, Nets, Pistons and Jazz from 1975-1989, was a larger-than-life figure with a charismatic personality and he was known for shattering backboards.

Nick, 24, wears the No. 53 to honor his father, but he’s trying to make a name for himself in the NFL.

A former center and guard at Penn State, Nick was with the Ravens through training camp and then on their practice squad before being cut Sept. 3. He went home, helped out as an offensive line coach at his alma mater, Parkland High School, and started looking for work in the business world. Nick has a master’s degree in Organization Development and Change.

The Jets, in need of depth up front after left guard Dylan Parham suffered a knee injury, worked Nick out last week before signing him to their practice squad.

The 6-4, 305-pound Dawkins is “digesting the playbook as fast as possible” and hoping to show his versatility and ability to “play all three inside” offensive line positions.

Dawkins is all-in on making his NFL dream a reality.

“I want to play in the league for a long time,” Dawkins said. “I want to make my own path.”

There are other famous athletes in the Dawkins family. Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins is Nick’s distant cousin and Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns is Darryl’s godson.

Nick enjoys hearing stories about Darryl and telling them, too. Nick admitted he has “introverted tendencies,” and his father’s colorful personality helped him become more outgoing.

“His personality wasn’t just a media thing or like go out the house and change faces,” Nick said. “He was that 24/7. That was who he was. It was so entertaining.

“It was just awesome the stories he would tell, people we were able to meet, the places we were able to go, and the people that recognized him. It was such a blessing to have him as long as I did.”

Nick never saw his father play, but he has Googled him often. Of course, his father shattering two backboards with dunks was the “coolest thing” to Nick, who “wanted to do it, too.” Nick said he got in trouble for breaking his Little Tykes basketball hoop dunking on it.

Basketball wasn’t for Nick, though. He said he was “garbage” as a player. Nick eventually tried football. He didn’t like it at first. That changed his sophomore year of high school, a couple of years after his father passed.

“I was fat and out of shape. I was grieving the loss of my father, and I needed something to do to stay in shape and stop being a slob,” Nick said. “I fell in love with football, the brotherhood in the locker room. It’s kind of worked out for me ever since.”

Part of Nick’s ritual at Penn State, where he was a teammate of Jets starting left tackle Olu Fashanu, was watching his father’s highlights or interviews.

During one rough patch in college when Nick “was just going through it,” he looked up his dad on YouTube hoping to get “a message.” Nick got it in a video he had never seen before.

“It was a weird tribute to him,” Nick said, “and it had a poem behind it.”

It was “If—,” by Rudyard Kipling, a father’s advice to his son and it was read by legendary announcer John Facenda while highlights of Darryl Dawkins played. It originally aired at halftime of a 1980 NBA Finals game on CBS. Nick has the poem tattooed on his body.

“It just really spoke to me, and I really appreciated it,” Nick said. “Maybe because I was grieving, I paid more attention to it. But I do believe that that was a sign, and I believe that he still communicates to me, maybe through different ways.”

Fashanu said Nick always talked about his dad at Penn State. Fashanu knew all about Darryl, his nickname and his assault on rims and backboards with his power dunks.

“That was sick,” Fashanu said.

Fashanu described Nick as one of his best friends and one of the smartest teammates that he’s ever had.

“The attention to detail whenever he’s in the facilities,” Fashanu said, “all the questions he asked during meetings, the way he approaches walk-through, practice, games — truly one of the smartest players I ever played with.”

The business world can wait. Nick is not giving up on his NFL dream just yet. Whatever his path is, Nick knows his father will be there with him.