Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 1, 1992 TAG: 9202010011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD, MASS. LENGTH: Medium
HAWKINS HEADS BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Connie Hawkins, who was banished by basketball 30 years ago in a gambling scandal, was awarded the sport's highest honor Friday - election to the Hall of Fame."I don't know what to say. I'm speechless," said Hawkins, who has long maintained his innocence.
"The Hawk" grew up on the playgrounds of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his swooping dunks and high-flying acrobatics changed the game. He was one of five players - including two women - plus three former coaches and Lou Carnesecca of St. John's to be elected in basketball's centennial year.
Lusia Harris, a 6-foot-3 center who led Delta State to three national championships during the 1970s, and Nera White, who led her Nashville-based AAU team to 10 national championships and one world championship during the 1950s and 1960s, were the first women players elected into the Hall.
The Hall of Fame's first three women, including Margaret Wade, Harris' coach at Delta State, were inducted in 1985.
The other players to be inducted May 11 will be center Bob Lanier from St. Bonaventure, who had a 14-year pro career with Detroit and Milwaukee, and Sergei Belov, one of the greatest international players of all time. Belov led the Soviet national team to four European and two world championships and the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics.
Elected as coaches were Al McGuire, the tough guy from New York who cried when his 1977 Marquette team won the NCAA championship; Jack Ramsay, whose 864 career victories with four NBA teams ranks second in league history; and the late Phil Woolpert, who led San Francisco to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956.
They join 179 individuals and four teams already in the Hall in Springfield, where basketball was invented.
Hawkins was tossed out of college during his freshman year at Iowa and banned by the NBA for seven years after being accused of introducing players to a man convicted of fixing games. Hawkins said the accusations were untrue, and the NBA lifted the ban in 1969 after settling his damage suit for more than $1 million.
Meantime, Hawkins toured with the Harlem Globetrotters and won most valuable player honors in the rival American Basketball Association's inaugural season after leading Pittsburgh to the ABA title. He joined the Phoenix Suns as a 25-year-old rookie in a coin toss that sent Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Milwaukee. During his seven years in the league, with Phoenix, the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta, Hawkins played in four NBA All-Star games and was a first-team All-NBA selection in 1970.
"When I settled my lawsuit, that was vindication enough for me," Hawkins said. "Through all those years, I knew I was innocent."