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Moses Malone, right, with Julius Erving after the 76ers defeated the Lakers for the 1983 N.B.A. championship.Credit Associated Press

Moses Malone, the Hall of Fame basketball player who helped carry the Philadelphia 76ers to a championship in 1983, and whose dominance in the paint earned him the nickname Chairman of the Boards, died over the weekend in Norfolk, Va. He was 60.

His death was announced Sunday by the Philadelphia 76ers, whom he helped lead to the 1983 N.B.A. championship.

The Norfolk police said in a statement that Malone was found unresponsive in his room at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott shortly before 8 a.m. on Sunday by members of the hotel staff and that he was pronounced dead there by Norfolk Fire Rescue. The cause was not immemdiately determined. Officer Daniel Hudson, the chief public information officer for the police, said there were “no signs of foul play.”

Calvin Murphy, Malone’s former teammate with the Houston Rockets, told KRIV, the Fox TV outlet in Houston, that he had spent time with Malone Saturday night and that hotel security was called when Malone did not appear at breakfast before they were to play in a celebrity golf tournament.

Malone played for 10 teams over a 21-year career before retiring in 1995. He had 19 seasons in the N.B.A., was named the league’s most valuable player three times and was a 12-time All-Star.

Tall and slender, he was known for his ferocious defense under the backboard. In his first season with the 76ers, the team swept the Los Angeles Lakers for the 1983 championships and he was named the most valuable player of the finals.

“Moses holds a special place in our hearts,” the 76ers said in a statement, “and will forever be remembered as a genuine icon and pillar of the most storied era in the history of Philadelphia 76ers basketball.”

Moses Eugene Malone was born on March 23, 1955, in Petersburg, Va. After graduating from high school in 1974, he became one of the first players to go straight to the pros after signing with the American Basketball Association’s Utah Stars. He retired in 1995, after a single season with the San Antonio Spurs.