Cornelius Lance "Connie" Hawkins (July 17, 1942 – October 6, 2017) was an American professional basketball player. A New York City playground legend, "the Hawk" was to play basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes but was unjustly implicated in a point-shaving scandal that saw him kicked out of school as a freshman and essentially blackballed from the NBA. Hawkins found refuge with the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League, where he won the 1961 league MVP before the league folded. He played four years for the famed exhibition team Harlem Globetrotters before getting to play in the American Basketball Association with the Pittsburgh Pipers in 1967. He won the first league MVP award by averaging 26.8 points and led the team to the ABA championship.
After a stellar second season, Hawkins was allowed to play in the NBA after a lawsuit filed on his behalf proved successful in stirring public opinion. Wracked with injuries, Hawkins would play seven seasons in the NBA for three different teams, most notably the Phoenix Suns before retiring in 1976 at the age of 34. In eleven seasons of professional basketball, Hawkins was an All-Star six times (four NBA, two ABA) while being named a First Team player in each of the three leagues he played in. Hawkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Early years
Hawkins was born on July 17, 1942, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. He was one of six children, whose father left the family when he was 10; supported by a mother who worked as a cook while suffering from glaucoma. He attended Boys High School, and played for coach Mickey Fisher. Hawkins soon became a fixture at Rucker Park, a legendary outdoor court where he battled against some of the best players in the world, such as Wilt Chamberlain.
Hawkins did not play much until his junior year at Boys High. Hawkins was All-City first team as a junior as Boys went undefeated and won New York's Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) title in 1959. During his senior year he averaged 25.5 points per game, including one game in which he scored 60, and Boys again went undefeated and won the 1960 PSAL title. In 1960, he was named a Parade magazine high school All-American. Hawkins then signed a scholarship offer to play at the University of Iowa.
In 2003, the 1959 and 1960 Boys High basketball teams were inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.
Expulsion from Iowa
As a result of the investigation, during which Hawkins maintained that he had no involvement in the scheme, and despite never being arrested or indicted, Hawkins was expelled from Iowa. He was effectively blackballed from the college ranks as no NCAA or NAIA school 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 remotely involved with point-shaving scandals. As a result, when his class was eligible for the draft in 1964, no team selected him.
Professional career
Pittsburgh Rens (1961–1962)
thumb|150px|left|Hawkins in 1962
With the biggest professional basketball league having blackballed him, Hawkins signed an undrafted deal with the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League (ABL), an aspiring rival to the NBA. He played with them for only one season and one partial season before the league unceremoniously shut down on New Year's Eve in 1962. By the end of the season, he would be both named a member of the All-ABL First Team and become the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP), putting up averages of 27.5 points (the league's leader that season), 13.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game in 78 total games played for the Rens.
Harlem Globetrotters (1963–1967)
After that league folded in the middle of the 1962–63 season, Hawkins spent four years performing with the Harlem Globetrotters. He learned how to control the basketball while barnstorming with the Globetrotters, influencing his later playing style Before playing in the ABA, Hawkins also played semi-professionally in a local industrial league called the Young Men's and Women's Hebrew Association for a team called the Porky Chedwicks up until the summer of 1967. Also by this time, Hawkins was facing financial troubles from looking after his wife's brother, who was mentally challenged, as well as his own children.
Pittsburgh/Minnesota Pipers (1967–1969)
Hawkins joined the Pittsburgh Pipers in the inaugural 1967–68 season of the ABA, leading the team to a 54–24 regular season record and the 1968 ABA championship. Hawkins led the ABA in scoring that year and won both the ABA's regular season and playoff MVP awards. He was noted for his highly skillful passing ability (especially for a big man), leaping ability, and his awareness of what his teammates were doing on the court. Hawkins averaged 30.2 points per game and 11.2 rebounds in the series.
Hawkins' lawyer, Roslyn Litman, and her husband, fellow lawyer S. David Litman, who was the brother of the Rens owner, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA in 1966, arguing that the league and its owners blacklisted Hawkins. The NBA had refused to allow any team to hire Hawkins, who at the time the Litmans started working with him, was still playing for the Harlem Globetrotters. and assigned his rights to the expansion Phoenix Suns (who had won a league sponsored coin toss over the Seattle SuperSonics). Although the Pipers made a cursory effort to re-sign him, playing in the NBA had been a longtime ambition for Hawkins and he quickly signed with the Suns. After the 1970 season, the then Pittsburgh Condors unsuccessfully attempted to woo Hawkins back to Pittsburgh. The Suns finished third in the Western Conference. In the 1970 NBA playoffs they were knocked out by the Los Angeles Lakers in a seven-game Western Conference Semifinals series in which Hawkins carried the Suns against a team that had future Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. In Game 2 of the series, on March 29, 1970, Hawkins led the Suns to a 114–101 victory while scoring 34 points, grabbing 20 rebounds, and recording 7 assists. For the series, Hawkins averaged 25.4 points per game, 13.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 46.9 minutes per game (despite his knee problems). He was also a Western Conference starter in the All-Star game. He was tied for fifth in MVP voting that year.
He missed 11 games due to injury during the 1970–71 season, averaging 21 points per game. He matched those stats the next year, and was the top scorer on a per-game basis for the Suns in the 1971–72 season. That year, on January 21, 1972, he scored a season-high 40 points during a win over the New York Knicks. The next year, he averaged a comparatively low 16 points per game for the Suns in the 1972–73 season.
Atlanta Hawks (1975–1976)
Injuries limited Hawkins' production in the 1974–75 season, and he finished his career after the 1975–76 season, playing for the Atlanta Hawks, still playing 24 and 26 minutes a game those last two seasons, but averaging less than ten points a game.
Due to knee problems, Hawkins played in the NBA for only seven seasons. He was an All-Star from 1970 to 1973 and was named to the All-NBA First Team in the 1969–70 season. His No. 42 jersey was retired by the Suns. Hawkins himself called Baylor his model.
Career statistics
{|class ="wikitable"
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{| class="wikitable"
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|Bold
|Denotes career highs
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Regular season
{|class ="wikitable"
|-
|style="background:#afe6fa; width:3em;"|†
|Denotes seasons in which Hawkins' team won an ABA championship
|}
|-
| style="text-align:left; | 1961–62
| style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh (ABL)
| 78 || – ||42.9 || .509 || .167 || .790 || 13.3 || 2.3 || – || – || bgcolor="CFECEC"|27.5*
|-
| style="text-align:left; | 1962–63
| style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh (ABL)
| 16 || – ||41.8 || .491 || – || .770 || 12.8 || 2.6 || – || – || 27.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;left;background:#afe6fa;" | †
| style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh (ABA)
| 70 || – || bgcolor="CFECEC"|44.9* || .519 || .222 || .764 || 13.5 || 4.6 || – || – || bgcolor="CFECEC"|26.8*
|-
| style="text-align:left" |
| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota (ABA)
| 47 || – || 39.4 ||.511 || .136 || .767 || 11.4 || 3.9 || – || – || 30.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix
| 81 || – || 40.9 || .490 || – || .779 || 10.4 || 4.8 || – || – || 24.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix
| 71 || – || 37.5 || .434 || – || .816 || 9.1 || 4.5 || – || – || 20.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix
| 76 || – || 36.8 || .459 || – || .807 || 8.3 || 3.9 || – || – || 21.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix
| 75 || – || 36.9 || .479 || – || .797 || 8.5 || 4.1 || – || – || 16.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix
| 8 || – || 27.9 || .486 || – || .667 || 7.2 || 5.2 || 1.4 || 1.0 || 11.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 71 || – || 35.7 || .502 || – || .772 || 7.4 || 5.3 || 1.5 || 1.4 || 12.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 43 || – || 23.9 || .429 || – || .687 || 4.6 || 2.8 || 1.2 || .5 || 8.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 74 || – || 25.8 || .447 || – || .712 || 6.0 || 2.9 || 1.1 || .6 || 8.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
| 710 || – || 37.0 || .484 || .162 || .780 || 9.4 || 3.9 || .3 || .2 || 19.9
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left; | 1962
| style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh (ABL)
| 1 || – ||53.0 || .609 || – || .929 || 17.0 || 4.0 || – || – ||41.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6fa;" | 1968†
| style="text-align:left;| Pittsburgh (ABA)
| 14 || – ||44.0 || .594 || – || .729 || 12.3 || 4.6 || – || – || 29.9
|-
| style="text-align:left" | 1969
| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota (ABA)
| 7 || – || 45.7 ||.378 || .500 || .645 || 12.3 || 3.9 || – || – || 24.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1970
| style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix
| 7 || – || 46.9 || .413 || – || .818 || 13.9 || 5.9 || – || – || 25.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974
| style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Lakers
| 5 || – || 34.4 || .350 || – || .800 || 8.0 || 3.2 || 1.4 || .2 || 10.8
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
| 34 || – || 43.8 || .473 || .500 || .743 || 12.1 || 4.5 || 1.4 || .2 || 25.5
Personal life and death
The Hawkins' story up to 1971 is documented in the biography, Foul by David Wolf,
One of Hawkins' nephews is Jim McCoy Jr., who scored a school-record 2,374 career points for the UMass Minutemen basketball team from 1988 to 1992.
He was the grandfather of Shawn Hawkins, who played professional basketball internationally and was a two-time scoring champion in Taiwan's Super Basketball League (SBL).
Hawkins moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and worked in community relations for the Suns until his death from cancer on October 6, 2017, at the age of 75.
In popular culture
Hawkins’ story is the topic of a song titled "The Legend of Connie Hawkins" by Dispatch on their 2021 album Break Our Fall.
The Pittsburgh Pisces basketball team and the character Moses Guthrie, played by Julius Erving, in the movie The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh drew inspiration from Hawkins and the Pittsburgh Pipers of the ABA. Hawkins was in the movie.
References
External links
- Basketball Hall of Fame profile
- Connie Hawkins bio on NBA.com
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