Connie Hawkins
1942 - 2017
I never got to see Michael Jordan, Bill Walton, Magic Johnson, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar play live and in person, although I did once see a hobbled Wilt Chamberlain play in a game at the Civic Arena, and there is still a chance that I might one day get to see LeBron James play in the flesh, but until that happens, I can say without equivocation that the absolute best basketball player I ever saw play in person was Connie Hawkins, who died yesterday at the age of 75.
Ostracized from both collegiate basketball by the NCAA and the NBA for supposed involvement in a point shaving scandal, the Brooklyn-born Hawkins first appeared on the scene in 1961 with the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League. Both the Rens and the ABL lasted only one season, but that was long enough for the 19 year old Hawkins to be that league's Most Valuable Player. There followed a several year tour of duty with the Harlem Globetrotters, before Hawkins appeared on the Pittsburgh scene once again with the Pittsburgh Pipers of the American Basketball Association 1967.
As the picture above shows you, the Pipers played mostly before empty seats that first season, but I attended probably a dozen or so of those games that season, and I saw Hawkins do things on the court that I have never seen anyone duplicate. He was simply amazing.
The Pipers won that initial ABA championship that season, then moved to Minneapolis. This was an example of bungling and greedy ownership that deserves a full length chapter - or maybe even its own book - in Pittsburgh's inept history of professional basketball.
Anyway, Hawkins, shepherded by Pittsburgh lawyers David and Roz Litman, soon won a landmark legal battle with the NBA, and he moved on to that league and the Phoenix Suns. Hawkins became a four time all-star with the Suns, although injuries and age prevented both the NBA and it's fans seeing him at his absolute best, and trust me, at his best, Connie Hawkins was as good as anybody, before or since.
Long after his move to the NBA, Hawkins continued to spend a lot of time in Pittsburgh, and the "Connie Hawkins Summer League" was a staple of the Pittsburgh sports scene for over forty years.
Of course, The Hawk's playing days were done well before the establishment of ESPN, so few people know of him, and filmed highlights of him are hard to find, which is a shame. To learn more about Hawkins and his story, I highly recommend the excellent 1972 biography of Hawkins, "FOUL!" by David Wolf. A terrific book.
RIP Connie Hawkins.
