Donnie Burks, 66, a showman basketball talent and adroit actor who’d fallen on unforgiving times over the last decade or so, was found in his Manhattan apartment yesTerday,
He’d been dead roughly 10 days.
A magician on the court and a craftsman on stage, the boyish-looking Burks gained fame at St. John’s in the early ’60s under Joe Lapchick and later was heralded for his performance in the plays “Hair” and “The Tap Dance Kid.”
His role in the movie “The Pawnbroker” with Rod Steiger earned a solid review.
I caught my first glimpse of the 5-foot-11 junior guard as a freshman at Archbishop Molloy High in 1958.
It was the school’s opening year at Briarwood, Queens, having shifted from Manhattan and changed its name from St. Ann’s.
Coached by Lou Carnesecca, the team went undefeated, beating John Thomas and Tom Hoover (Archbishop Carroll) in a tournament.
Burks’ dazzling around-the-back drives especially stick out in my mind, as do Willie Hall’s body-shop frame, Jim Carrino’s jumper, Max Dente’s defense, Tommy Hunt’s set shot and an acutely executed fast break – second only, at the time, to the Boston Celtics.
Going into Burks’ senior season, The Post labeled him the country’s paramount backcourtman.