Connie Hawkins

• Born: July 17, 1942
• Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
• Died: October 6, 2017

Basketball player

Hawkins was one of the premier forwards in the history of basketball. His soaring, acrobatic moves were a precursor of the high-flying style of modern play. After he was expelled from college over his connection to a point-shaving scandal, Hawkins successfully sued to play in the National Basketball Association.

Area of achievement: Sports: basketball

Early Life

Cornelius L. "Connie" Hawkins was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. He was the fifth of six children of Isaiah and Dorothy Hawkins. When Hawkins was nine years old, his father left the family. His mother worked as a cook in a local public school until she was stricken with blindness. Hawkins was raised in poverty. A tall, gangly child, he quickly discovered a talent and love for street basketball. He played on the playgrounds of Brooklyn and Queens with some of the best street basketball players in the world.

Hawkins attended Boys High School in Brooklyn and was taken under the wing of Coach Mickey Fisher. In addition to the flashy dunks that Hawkins had learned on the playground, he learned solid basketball fundamentals from Fisher—training that stood him in good stead his entire playing career. He became dominant on both offense and defense. In his junior and senior years, the Boys High Kangaroo basketball team won forty consecutive games and the New York City public school championship. At the time, Hawkins was the most celebrated high school player in New York City history.

During the summers, Hawkins played in Harlem’s famous Rucker League, named for Holcombe Rucker, a teacher at P.S.139 (Frederick Douglass Junior High School) in Harlem, who spent his free time teaching basketball to underprivileged children. Hawkins’s high-flying style earned him the nickname “Hawk.” However, out of either poverty or naïveté, Hawkins became involved with boosters and promoters eager to gain his favor. He was given basketball shoes, clothing, and spending money, all technical violations of amateur athletic rules. College recruiters flocked to him, although he had difficulty with academics.

Hawkins chose to attend the University of Iowa. Shortly after he arrived on campus, however, he was implicated in a financial scandal. He had borrowed $240 from the infamous Jack Molinas, a former player and lawyer who was running a nationwide point-fixing racket involving players and promoters. Hawkins was interrogated by detectives from the New York County District Attorney’s Office. New York District Attorney Frank Hogan labeled Hawkins an “intermediary,” who introduced players to gamblers. Even though no evidence showed that Hawkins was directly involved in the point-shaving scheme, he was expelled from Iowa and, with forty-six other college players, permanently banned from playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Life’s Work

In the fall of 1961, Hawkins signed on with the Pittsburgh Renaissance of the American Basketball League (ABL), newly inaugurated by Harlem Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein. The ABL was an innovative league, and its free-flowing play was perfectly suited to Hawkins’s above-the-rim style. At a height of 6 feet, 8 inches, with huge hands and an iron grip, Hawkins would wave the ball in front of defenders before gliding past them for a thunderous dunk or elegant finger roll. In addition to his astounding leaping ability, he was an outstanding rebounder and shot-blocker and, for a big man, an excellent jump shooter, ball-handler, and passer. He pioneered the running, sky-high hook shot, which would be perfected by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Although he was only nineteen years old, Hawkins was the league’s dominant player and won the most valuable player award.

In 1963, Hawkins married Nancy Foster. They would have three children. He also joined the famed Harlem Globetrotters upon the demise of the ABL. Hawkins played three seasons for the Globetrotters, increasing their popularity with his spectacular play. In 1966, Hawkins filed a six-million-dollar lawsuit against the NBA, alleging that its ban against him violated federal antitrust laws. The following year, he signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pipers of the newly established American Basketball Association (ABA), the successor league to the ABL. As with the ABL, Hawkins was the ABA’s most dominant player, earning the most valuable player award with an average of 26.8 points and 13.5 rebounds per game and leading the Pipers to the league championship in the inaugural 1968-1969 season. The following year, Hawkins averaged more than 30 points per game; in one game against the New York Nets, he scored an ABA-record 57 points. However he also suffered a severe ligament injury to his knee that threatened his effectiveness.

In 1969, the NBA settled Hawkins’s lawsuit, paying him $1.3 million and allowing his long-delayed entry into the league. The expansion Phoenix Suns team won a coin toss for his signing rights. In his first season, Hawkins averaged 24.6 points and 8 rebounds per game and led the Suns to the play-offs. In the following two seasons, the Suns became one of the premier teams in the NBA, and Hawkins averaged more than 20 points per game. He was selected to the NBA All-Star team in each of his first four seasons in the league. However, it was soon clear that his injuries had taken a toll and that his best years were behind him. Nevertheless, Hawkins amazed NBA fans with his soaring rebounds, accurate hook shot, towering blocks, and high-flying dunks.

In 1973, Hawkins was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers; three years later, he was sent to the Atlanta Hawks. He retired after the 1975-1976 season. In 1976, the Phoenix Suns retired his jersey, number 42. In 1992, Hawkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1994, he was designated one of the Harlem Globetrotters’ legends. In retirement, Hawkins returned to the Suns as a community-relations representative in 1992. He worked with the organization to renovate thirty basketball courts, conducted basketball clinics, and visited community centers to speak with children. In light of his own underprivileged youth, Hawkins worked to better the lives of other youngsters. In 2007, he received a diagnosis of colon cancer. After chemotherapy, he was declared cancer-free. He died on October 6, 2017, at the age of seventy-five.

Significance

Hawkins is considered one of the finest forwards in the history of basketball. Banned from the NBA, he starred with the Globetrotters and in the ABA. Even though he only played in the NBA late in his career, he made his mark. For his size, he showed great agility and finesse. His above-the-rim, acrobatic style of play foreshadowed such future stars as Julius Erving and Michael Jordan. Off the court, Hawkins was a reserved, sensitive man who persevered in historic litigation to reach his dream of playing in the NBA. This litigation represented a milestone in the penetration of the legal system into the internal rules of professional sports leagues. In a few decades, such matters as player contracts, league discipline, and team ownership would be determined as much by courts as by the long-standing rules and traditions of sport.

Bibliography

Malozzi, Vincent. Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament. New York: Doubleday, 2003.

Rosen, Charley. The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003.

Shoals, Bethlehem, et al. FreeDarko Presents the Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.

Wolf, David. Foul! The Connie Hawkins Story. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972.