NBA great Moses Malone dies at 60

Moses Malone, a three-time NBA MVP and one of basketball’s most ferocious rebounders, died Sunday. He was 60.

Det. Jeffrey Scott of the police department in Norfolk, Virginia, confirmed that Malone died in a Norfolk hotel room. He said there was no indication of foul play. Malone’s body was discovered when he failed to report to a celebrity golf tournament in which he was scheduled to play.

Malone was part of the 76ers’ 1983 NBA championship team, and the club said he will “forever be remembered as a genuine icon and pillar of the most storied era in the history of Philadelphia 76ers basketball.”

A 6-foot-10 center who made the leap right from high school to the pros, the “Chairman of the Boards” is the NBA’s career leader in offensive rebounds and led the league in rebounds per game for five straight seasons from 1980-85.

Malone was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and attended the induction ceremonies for the year’s class this weekend in Springfield, Massachusetts, before returning to his native Virginia.