Marcus Hicks, who played a key role in Daegu’s Dongyang victory, is known to have died recently.
Local media Desoto County News has the news of Hicks’ death on the 1st. last month’s report (Korean time). The DeSoto County News reported at the time that “Mississippi Community College, Hicks, on the 30th. May died at the age of 45.” The cause of death was not mentioned.
In the 2001-2002 season, Dongyang reached the V1 after a close match with Seoul SK until the 7th. Game seven. Hicks was then the player who played an active role with Kim Seung-hyun as a key player. Hicks, who was nominated for the first overall victory in 2001, quickly led Dongyang to a strong player with excellent elasticity and firepower that goes in and out.
Hicks won the Foreign Player Award in both seasons with KBL, and Dongyang also won the regular league championship and went to the championship game with Hicks in both seasons. Although it remained in the 2002–03 season, it overcame the sorrow of the last season and wrote the history of a combined championship in the 2001–02 season. This is the first time a team that was at the end of last season won the championship.
Hicks’ career records in the regular league are 25.1 points, 1.63 points (38.7% success rate), 8.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.1 steals and 3.1 blocked shots in 107 games. Even after just two seasons, he’s ranked 16th in career blocked shots (329). In the 2002–03 All-Star Game, he won both MVP and Dark Contest.
Even during his college years, he left a strong resume. Hicks led Mississippi Community College to the NJCAA Final Four in 1998, still the best finish in Mississippi Community College history. Hicks was selected as the NJCAA All-Tournament team at the time, and his 169 career block shots, which were taken during his college years, are also ranked first in his alma mater record.
Kim Seung-hyun, who led the heyday of Hicks and Dongyang, said in the past, “I’ve usually been good with foreign players, but Hicks has gotten along better. The fact that they were the same age as him and that they were rookies who started his professional life together was one thing in common. It was a shame he was only together for two seasons,” he recalled. Kim Byung-cheol also said, “I played basketball to win the team. He looked back on his skills, but he was also a loyal player who took the lead when we were hit.”
Hicks hasn’t left a clear sign since he left KBL. He signed a contract with Vichy Aubergen in the French First Division, but his contract was cancelled because he failed the medical test. He later joined the Venezuelan League, but returned after only two games after his father’s accident.
After his active retirement, Hicks, whose current situation was unknown, left unfortunate news to fans on the local media. Mississippi Community College, his alma mater, expressed condolences on his official website.