NBC 5 sports anchor Daryl Hawks found dead in Atlanta hotel room

Friends and colleagues at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 were shocked and saddened to learn of the death Thursday of sports anchor and reporter Daryl Hawks. He was 38.

Station officials said Hawks (pictured above) was found dead around 9:30am Thursday in a hotel room in Atlanta, where he had been covering the Bulls and Hawks in the NBA playoffs for NBC 5. The cause was not immediately disclosed.

“All of us at NBC Chicago were saddened to learn of our friend and colleague Daryl’s death,” Larry Wert, president, Central and Western Region, NBC Local  Media, said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “Daryl loved covering sports and he was in Atlanta doing what he loved, covering the Bulls. But his first love was his family. It is his wife Sandy, and his children that are in our thoughts and prayers at this most difficult time.” 

“We are all stunned right now. Daryl was a great member of our sports team, and was so excited about covering the Bulls during this playoff run,” Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news, said earlier in a statement online.

Hawks’ sudden passing was reminiscent of the death of NBC 5 sports anchor Darrian Chapman, who succumbed to a heart condition in 2002 at the age of 37.

Hawks joined NBC 5 in July 2008 from NBC-owned KNTV-TV San Francisco, where he had been weekend sports anchor and reporter for three years. A former semi-pro running back and U.S. Marine, he was a broadcast journalism graduate of Buffalo State College.

He also hosted NBC 5’s Sports Sunday.

Survivors include his wife, Sandy, and three children.