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View Full Version : Connie Hawkins, RIP



jimsumner
10-07-2017, 01:57 PM
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/hall-of-fame-forward-connie-hawkins-dies-at-75/ar-AAt1BLr?ocid=spartandhp

Indoor66
10-07-2017, 02:24 PM
RIP. A great player.

wsb3
10-07-2017, 02:59 PM
I remember him waving the ball with one hand before he made his move. As a kid it seemed like his hands were so big the 🏀 was like an orange. He could play but sadly we did not see him at his best. That was probably his ABA days. RIP Connie..

Pghdukie
10-07-2017, 03:50 PM
The very best hoops player to ever come out of Pittsburgh. Dick Groat was a great athlete, But Hawkins was by far a game changer. RIP.

Spanarkel
10-07-2017, 04:59 PM
Connie Hawkins is a Brooklyn product(Boys High).

TKG
10-07-2017, 05:24 PM
In addition to his basketballs skills, he was married to fashion model Iman for 10 years.

sagegrouse
10-07-2017, 05:34 PM
Connie Hawkins is a Brooklyn product(Boys High).

He did win an ABA championship with the Pittsburgh Pipers in 1968 -- Art Heyman was on that team.

mgtr
10-07-2017, 05:39 PM
I read his autobiography years ago. He went to Iowa for college, but before the season started, he was swept up in a basketball scandal, and was effectively blackballed even though he never played a game. Then he went to the Globetrotters, and then was blackballed by the NBA since they didn't allow Trotters to switch to the NBA (as I recall). The ABA was his road to glory. He played on instinct rather than learned skills.

wsb3
10-08-2017, 03:58 PM
I read his autobiography years ago. He went to Iowa for college, but before the season started, he was swept up in a basketball scandal, and was effectively blackballed even though he never played a game. Then he went to the Globetrotters, and then was blackballed by the NBA since they didn't allow Trotters to switch to the NBA (as I recall). The ABA was his road to glory. He played on instinct rather than learned skills.

Blackballed by NBA for point shaving scandal that he was never proven to have taken part in. Wilt Chamberlain actually played for Globetrotters before entering NBA if my fading memory recalls correctly.

Indoor66
10-08-2017, 04:26 PM
Blackballed by NBA for point shaving scandal that he was never proven to have taken part in. Wilt Chamberlain actually played for Globetrotters before entering NBA if my fading memory recalls correctly.

You are correct on Chamberlain. The NBA had an age limitation then and Wilt left Kansas early and had to wait 1 year to enter the League. He was a Territorial Pick of Philadelphia.

sagegrouse
10-08-2017, 04:59 PM
Blackballed by NBA for point shaving scandal that he was never proven to have taken part in. Wilt Chamberlain actually played for Globetrotters before entering NBA if my fading memory recalls correctly.

I agree. Wilt left Kansas after his junior year and toured with the Globetrotters. He received a lot of criticism, mostly from college basketball fans. The NBA had no trouble accommodating Wilt the Stilt, already the most famous basketball player on the planet -- especially the Philadelphia Warriors, which had "territorial draft rights." (Don't ask.)

Indoor66
10-08-2017, 05:25 PM
I agree. Wilt left Kansas after his junior year and toured with the Globetrotters. He received a lot of criticism, mostly from college basketball fans. The NBA had no trouble accommodating Wilt the Stilt, already the most famous basketball player on the planet -- especially the Philadelphia Warriors, which had "territorial draft rights." (Don't ask.)

I saw him with the Globies that year - 1960, IRRC, and he was real impressive. Again, IRRC, they beat The Washington Generals that night. 😄😎

Pghdukie
10-08-2017, 06:58 PM
But the WASHINGTON GENERALS never lost !

mgtr
10-11-2017, 08:05 AM
I wonder how many of the folks here have seen the two old Trotters movies: The Harlem Globetrotters and Go, Man, Go? Both made in the early 1950s I saw Go, Man, Go in maybe 1953, and that probably made me a Trotters fan for a few years, but a basketball fan for life! I have both movies on VHS tape, but currently no means to play them.

DisplacedBlueDevil
10-11-2017, 05:47 PM
"Foul" was a great book, as evidenced by its aftermarket price on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Foul-Connie-Hawkins-David-Wolf/dp/044668970X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=M6DGC5B1GX6Y88VR4482&dpID=51mdhoVnEjL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

I give the Hawk credit for inventing the finger roll - his was better than Wilt's...

slower
10-28-2017, 03:51 PM
RIP. A great player.

Am I recalling correctly that Julius Erving cited him as an influence?