Connie Hawkins

Cornelius Lance "Connie" Hawkins (July 17, 1942 – October 6, 2017) was an American professional basketball player. A New York City playground legend known as "the Hawk," Hawkins was set to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes but was unjustly implicated in a point-shaving scandal that saw him expelled from school as a freshman and effectively blackballed from the NBA. He found refuge with the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League, winning the 1961 league MVP award before the league folded. Hawkins then spent four years with the exhibition team the Harlem Globetrotters before joining the American Basketball Association with the Pittsburgh Pipers in 1967. He won the ABA's first MVP award, averaging 26.8 points per game and leading the team to the league championship. After a strong second season, Hawkins was permitted to enter the NBA following a successful lawsuit filed on his behalf that swayed public opinion. Hampered by injuries, he played seven NBA seasons for three different teams, most notably the Phoenix Suns, before retiring in 1976 at the age of 34. Across eleven seasons of professional basketball, Hawkins was named an All-Star six times, four times in the NBA and twice in the ABA.