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.
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“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.