Former Coachella Valley Sports Anchor Found Dead In Hotel Room

Daryl Hawks, a former KESQ-TV sports anchor, was found dead in an Atlanta hotel room on Thursday morning after his photographer became concerned when he didn’t show up for a Chicago Bulls event.

Atalanta police said it didn’t appear there were any criminal implications, so they were not investigating his death any further.

Hawks, 38, was a sports reporter for WMAQ-TV in Chiacgo and was in Atlanta covering the Bulls-Hawks playoff game.

When he didn’t show up for the morning shoot-around, his photographer called security. They found him unresponsive in his hotel room around 9:30 a.m.

He was pronounced dead at a local hospital at 11:48 a.m.

“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, WMAQ’s station manager and vice president for news, said in a statement posted on the station’s web site.

During his career, Hawks won three Emmy Awards for his work on-air. He joined WMAQ-TV in July 2008 as a sports anchor and reporter, coming from its sister station KNTV-TV in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Hawks started his career at KESQ News Channel 3 in 1998 as weekend sports anchor and stayed through 2000.

He also worked in Raleigh, N.C. and Jacksonville, Fla.

All of us at KESQ News Channel 3 have his family and the WMAQ news staff in our hearts and prayers.