Ex-Duke basketball player leaps to death

A former Duke basketball player jumped to his death from the top of the New York Athletic Club on Central Park South yesterday, police said.

Thomas Emma, 49, who lived in Manhattan, plunged from the 12th floor at around 11:20 a.m. and crashed down on a second floor landing of the Essex House hotel, sources said.

Emma played for Duke from 1980-1983 and was drafted by the Bulls in 1983.

Emma also had been running Power Performance, a sports training company that published conditioning manuals. He also trained athletes such as Suns forward Grant Hill, another former Blue Devil, friends said.

A friend of Emma's remembered him as an "incredible person"

"He was an incredible athlete, a good friend, I have been at a loss for words all day long," said Chuck Metzger, 36, a gym director at the NY Athletic Club.

Emma did not leave a suicide note.