Connie Hawkins

Cornelius "Connie" Hawkins (born July 17, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York) is a former National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association player, and New York City playground legend.

Early years

Hawkins was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Hawkins soon became a fixture at Rucker Park, a legendary outdoor court in New York City, where he battled against the best players in the world.

High School

Hawkins didn't play much at Boys High until his junior year. Hawkins was All-City first team as a junior as Boys went undefeated and won New York's ultra-competitive PSAL title in 1959. His senior year he averaged 25.5 ppg., including one game in which he scored 60, and Boys again went undefeated and won the 1960 PSAL title. Hawkins then signed a scholarship offer to play at the University of Iowa.

College and Investigation into Point-shaving

During Hawkins's freshman year at Iowa, he was an innocent victim of the hysteria surrounding a point shaving scandal that had started in New York City. Hawkins's name surfaced in an interview conducted with an individual who was involved in the scandal. While some of the conspirators and characters involved were known to or knew Hawkins, none, including the New York attorney at the center of the scandal, Jack Molinas, had ever sought to involve Hawkins in the conspiracy.

Despite the fact that Hawkins could not have been involved in point-shaving (as a freshman, he was ineligible to participate in varsity-level athletics, due to NCAA rules of the time) Hawkins was kept from seeking legal counsel while being grilled repeatedly by New York City Police Department detectives who were investigating the scandal. Hawkins' story to the detectives, while at times difficult to follow, never contained any admission of wrongdoing.

Expulsion from Iowa and ABL/ABA years

As a result of the investigation, despite not being charged or arrested, Hawkins was expelled from Iowa. No other college--either in the NCAA or NAIA--would offer him a scholarship. NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy let it be known that he would not approve any contract for Hawkins to play in the league. At the time, the NBA had a policy barring players who were even slightly rumored to be remotely involved with point-shaving scandals.

With the major professional basketball league having effectively blacklisted him, Hawkins 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 performing with the Harlem Globetrotters.

During the time Hawkins was traveling with the Globetrotters, he had filed a lawsuit against the NBA, claiming the league had unfairly banned him from participation, and that there was no substantial evidence linking him to gambling activities. Hawkins's lawyers suggested that he participate in the new American Basketball Association as a way to show that he was talented enough to participate in the NBA. ^[1]

Hawkins joined the Pittsburgh Pipers in the inaugural 1967-68 season of the American Basketball Association, leading the team to a 54-24 regular-season record and the 1968 ABA championship.^[2] That year, Hawkins led the ABA in scoring and won both the ABA's regular-season and playoff MVP awards.

The Pipers had moved to Minnesota for the 1968-69 season, and injuries limited Hawkins to 47 games. The Pipers made the playoffs despite injuries to their top four players, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

After the 1968-69 season, the NBA settled with Hawkins, paying him a cash settlement, and assigned his rights to the expansion Phoenix Suns.

NBA career

Connie Hawkins hit the ground running in his first season with the Suns, 1969-70, where he played 81 games, and averaged 24.6 points per game,10.4 rebounds per game and 4.8 assists per game. In the final game of his rookie season, Connie had 44 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 blocks, and 5 steals. The Suns finished third in the Western Conference, and were knocked out by the Los Angeles Lakers in a great seven-game series, in which Connie Hawkins carried the Suns against a team that had Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and Jerry West. Connie Hawkins averaged 25 points per game, 14 rebounds per game and 7 assists per game.

Connie Hawkins missed 11 games due to injury during the 1970-71 season, averaging 21 points per game. He would match those stats the next year, and was the top scorer on a per-game basis for the Suns in 1971-72. His average only dropped because he was taking less shots per game. For some strange reason the Suns weren't built around Connie Hawkins; he played with two good guards who had a shoot first mentality.

He only averaged 16 points per game in 1972-73 for the Suns because he was taking less shots per game, and he was then traded to the Lakers in 1973-74.

Injuries limited his production in 1974-75, and Hawkins finished his career after the 1975-76 season, where he played for the Atlanta Hawks. Hawkins played singer Paul Simon in a one-on-one match. Connie Hawkins was playing around and Paul Simon won; it was all done in fun. They played on NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1975.

Milestones

Connie Hawkins was named to the ABA's All-Time Team.

Hawkins played in the NBA for only seven seasons because of his knees. He was an All-Star for 4 years and was named to the All-NBA First Team in the 1969-70 season. His No. 42 jersey was retired by the Suns.

Voters recognized that Hawkins was denied the opportunity to play in the NBA when he was in his prime, his performances in the ABL, ABA, and NBA helped him get inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.

References

External links

• Basketball Hall of Fame profile
• ESPN list of the Top 10 High School athletes of all time
• Connie Hawkins bio on NBA.com
• Connie Hawkins statistics on Basketball-Reference