Connie Hawkins ...

[hagarwood]

Connie passed away yesterday. My Dad taught at Iowa when Connie was a freshman and we never missed the freshmen games. He was a kind and gracious person and the best player I ever saw in person. Iowa would have had Don Nelson and Connie Hawkins on the same team if not for a grave injustice. RIP

 

[uihawk82]

Connie passed away yesterday. My Dad taught at Iowa when Connie was a freshman and we never missed the freshmen games. He was a kind and gracious person and the best player I ever saw in person. Iowa would have had Don Nelson and Connie Hawkins on the same team if not for a grave injustice. RIP

Yes, RIP, he got robbed and had to play with or against the globetrotters for awhile instead of play at Iowa and get a degree. They said he was amazing and he was great in the pros

 

[judzeehawk]

R.I.P. Connie Hawkins

 

[thedukeofearl]

We could have been National Champs if Connie hadn't been dropped like a bushel of hot potatoes by the authorities in Iowa City.....

Connie was perhaps the best player in college since Oscar Robertson at that point in time.....

Sinful that he never played a varsity game.....

Friend played on the freshman team with him. Said that, in practice, Connie would race downcourt, full speed, dribbling two balls, then dunking them both with authority.....

 

[thedukeofearl]

Found this article.....

https://historyrat.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/connie-hawkins-playground-hard-court-wonder/

 

[dahlhawk]

He would have been what Magic Johnson is to Michigan State Basketball, along with probably a couple of National Championships.

 

[hagarwood]

Back in those days the season would start with the freshmen playing the varsity. That was the only time the freshmen won (or even came close). They beat a good Iowa team with Don Nelson on it. Connie Hawkins was a generational talent. Too bad Iowa missed out. He was a really nice guy as well.

 

[Duke]

We could have been National Champs if Connie hadn't been dropped like a bushel of hot potatoes by the authorities in Iowa City.....

Connie was perhaps the best player in college since Oscar Robertson at that point in time.....

Sinful that he never played a varsity game.....

Friend played on the freshman team with him. Said that, in practice, Connie would race downcourt, full speed, dribbling two balls, then dunking them both with authority.....

As Paul Harvey would say, "And now the rest of the story".............

Connie did not do anything wrong. A businessman in Brooklyn, NY, where he was from asked him to introduce him to his friend, Roger Brown, a player at the University of Detroit. Connie agreed. The businessman was a gambler and Brown helped in point shaving. Connie had no part in point shaving. Freshmen could not play then and he was unaware of what was going on.

Evy, being the prick that he was, not only sent Connie home, he called Burlington Junior College and told them to send
the three players that Iowa had placed there to their college destinations. The three were as follows:

Mel Daniels, 6-9, future All-ABA Center.
Henry Carr, 6-3, 2G and future Olympic 200 meter Gold Medalist
Jim Boyce, 6-5 WF

Iowa's frontcourt the next year would have been Connie Hawkins, Mel Daniels and Don Nelson. That was a certain
NCAA Championship for Iowa and Scharm Scheurman.