RIP Connie Hawkins

paultzman

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True NYC legend!

Sad hoops day as Connie Hawkins has passed. GREAT book "Foul," on Hawkins, NYC playgrounds & his suspension from NCAA. Was Dr.J before Dr.J.

Per Fran F
 
New York Daily News
(I did not delete all of the extraneous "stuff")

Connie Hawkins, New York playground legend and Hoops Hall of Famer, dead at 75

FRANK ISOLA OCT 7, 2017 1:56 PM
Connie Hawkins, the Brooklyn playground legend who rose from the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant to become a four-time NBA All-Star and gain induction into the basketball Hall of Fame, died on Friday the Phoenix Suns announced.

Hawkins was 75.


Nicknamed “The Hawk”, Hawkins was an athletic, offensive force who made a name for himself with his graceful and acrobatic moves long before anyone had ever heard of Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Michael Jordan.

Connie Hawkins

"Someone said if I didn't break them (the laws of gravity), I was slow to obey them," Hawkins once told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Suns, who retired Hawkins’ No. 42, released a statement saying: “The Hawk revolutionized the game and remains to this day an icon of the sport and one of basketball’s great innovators. His unique combination of size, grace and athleticism was well ahead of its time and his signature style of play is now a hallmark of the modern game.

“A flip of the coin changed the Suns’ fortunes and he helped put Phoenix on the map as the city’s first professional sports superstar. Rightfully, he became the first Suns player inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and his No. 42 hangs in the rafters at Talking Stick Resort Arena as part of our Ring of Honor.

“Connie’s passion for the game was only matched by his desire to give back to the Phoenix community, a role which he played proudly as a Suns community ambassador, spreading warmth and kindness to everyone he encountered. We will miss Hawk dearly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends as we mourn the passing of a true Suns legend.”

Former Suns point guard and two-time MVP Steve Nash tweeted: “Gonna miss the Hawk! Legend!”

Hawkins led Boys High School to back-to-back PSAL titles in 1959 and ’60. He averaged 25 points as a senior including a 60-point performance. He earned a scholarship to the University of Iowa but Hawkins never played for the Hawkeyes because he was linked to a point-shaving scandal in New York. Although Hawkins was never arrested or indicted, he was expelled from Iowa and effectively blackballed from playing college basketball.

Hawkins was initially barred from the NBA as well as Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy informed teams that he would not approve any contract for Hawkins. The result was Hawkins became a basketball nomad. He played one season for the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League and was named the league's Most Valuable Player. When that league folded, Hawkins spent three years with the Harlem Globetrotters.


Photos: In memoriam: Remembering the famous figures we lost in 2017
“I think that it was probably the greatest experience I've ever had in my life,” Hawkins once told NBA.com “I've played all over the world, learned a lot about cultures, and I look back on it as a great experience. I was able to learn and do so much at a young age, in addition to playing basketball. And I couldn't believe how revered the Globetrotters were in Europe - they're much bigger stars there than they are here.”

Hawkins returned to professional basketball for the inaugural season on the American Basketball Association and led the Pittsburgh Pipers to the 1967-69 championship. The Pipers moved to Minnesota the following season but knee surgery limited Hawkins to 47 games.


Hawkins, who had sued the NBA for $6 million for unfairly banning him, reached a case settlement with the league in 1969 and his rights were assigned to the expansion Phoenix Suns.

As a 27-year-old rookie, Hawkins averaged 24.6 points and 10.4 rebounds as Phoenix reached the Western Conference Finals. The Suns lost in seven games to the Los Angeles Lakers team featuring future Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.

In seven seasons with the Suns, Lakers and Hawks was an All-Star four times and made the All-NBA First Team in 1970.
 
I never realized until recently that before the Knicks great team of 1969-70, the NBA was not that big a deal. Before then the NBA finals were broadcast on taoe delay at 11 pm or even a day or 2 later as part of ABC Wide World of Sports.

So i never knew about the scandal, but i was much too young anyway.

Foul is simply one of the best sports biographies ever, and among the very best basketball books ever.

My favorite anecdote was that hawkins was on the freshman team when Iowa was ranked number 1 in the country, led by all american Don Nelson.

It was the freshmen team's big game of the season, because players could prove they belonged on the varsity. They had no chance to be competitive in this game, no less against the top team in the country. Except for one factor - Connie Hawkins.

Behind Hawkins, who was by far the best player on the court, and probably the best player in the country, the freshmen beat the number 1 ranked hawkeyes . He never played a college game that mattered.

His Rucker games against nba stars were legendary, even against Chamberlain.

Even as a 27 year old rookie, it apoears the nba never saw the very best of hawkins, much like the post banned Ali.

I never heard a thing about the post nba hawkins. I hope his life was good. R
I.p. to one of the best ever.
 
Got expelled form Iowa back when just innuendo was enough for you to be banned by NCAA, Now you don't have to go to class or can take basket weaving as they say or get $100K from some shoe company and still play unless the FBI gets involved.

RIP NYC basketball legend back when NYC always had great players
 
I never realized until recently that before the Knicks great team of 1969-70, the NBA was not that big a deal. Before then the NBA finals were broadcast on taoe delay at 11 pm or even a day or 2 later as part of ABC Wide World of Sports.

So i never knew about the scandal, but i was much too young anyway.

Foul is simply one of the best sports biographies ever, and among the very best basketball books ever.

My favorite anecdote was that hawkins was on the freshman team when Iowa was ranked number 1 in the country, led by all american Don Nelson.

It was the freshmen team's big game of the season, because players could prove they belonged on the varsity. They had no chance to be competitive in this game, no less against the top team in the country. Except for one factor - Connie Hawkins.

Behind Hawkins, who was by far the best player on the court, and probably the best player in the country, the freshmen beat the number 1 ranked hawkeyes . He never played a college game that mattered.

His Rucker games against nba stars were legendary, even against Chamberlain.

Even as a 27 year old rookie, it apoears the nba never saw the very best of hawkins, much like the post banned Ali.

I never heard a thing about the post nba hawkins. I hope his life was good. R.i.p. to one of the best ever.
 
Before The Doctor there was The Hawk. A player with a style and flair never before seen in pro basketball. One of those handful of revolutionary players. RIP Mr. Hawkins
 
i also enjoyed the book "foul". easily one of the best sports book i have read.
my favorite part of the book is when he talks about a young part owner of the pittsburg team. how connie thought the owner was too intense. it was g steinbrenner.
 
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