Sports Poets Society

Because of youthful indiscretions, Connie Hawkins, who smothers the ball and foes with giant hands, is the best unknown pro in the land By Peter Carry SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, pp. 51-52 DEC. 16, 1968 Bill Sharman, who played 10 seasons for the Boston Celtics and has coached three pro teams, thinks Connie Hawkins is one of the world's seven best basketball players. Yet unless you hang around Brooklyn's Nostrand Avenue or are among the few who watch the pros at the 11 outposts of the American Basketball Association, you probably have never even heard of him. Now a 6'8" center with the ABA champion Minnesota Pipers, Hawkins inflicted obscurity on himself when he figured in the college basketball scandals of the early '60s. He was not convicted of anything — he was not even brought to trial — but he has had to labor ever since to restore luster to his reputation. Because of a legal precedent — of which he was not a part — he may never convince the older ...

http://airjudden2.tripod.com/books/foul.html This book is one of the basketball "classics," and for good reason. The book tells the story of Connie Hawkins, who maybe the greatest player to ever play basketball, yet the world will never know. Hawkins grew up in the Bedford-Studyvant project of New York. He was shy, dirt poor, and not very intelligent. However, he did have an amazing gift in his basketball abilities. He was 6'8" and handled the ball like a point guard. He could leap and had huge hands. He had superior ball control and became, along with Elgin Baylor, the first of the high-flying acrobats (before David Thompson, Julius Erving, and Michael Jordan). He ran around with Roger Brown (of ABA fame) who introduced him to Jack Molinas, a man of low standards who fixed basketball games. Hawkins borrowed money from Molinas during his freshman year at Iowa University (who paid Hawkins handsomely), and Hawkins paid him back. Freshmen were inel...

http://www.nba.com/article/2017/10/10/despite-interrupted-nba-career-connie-hawkins-fondly-remembered-peers#/ Connie Hawkins' 'interrupted' career will forever be remembered fondly among his peers Jerry Colangelo appreciates 'Hawk' as the one to put the Suns on the map Steve Aschburner, NBA.com @AschNBA Archive Oct 10, 2017 12:22 PM ET Hawkins, who passed away at age 75 Friday , was more mythic than so many of his peers precisely for the hurdles and obstacles he had to navigate, seriously unfair challenges that marred his basketball career and almost torpedoed it. A slender 6-foot-8 forward most remembered for his styling ‘70s facial hair, a glide like Clyde’s and hands big enough to wave the ball around like a grapefruit, Hawkins left us forever wanting more not at the back end of his career but at the front. He arrived late, held off by allegations that proved to be unfounded and a ban from the NBA – first unofficial, then more formal – ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/07/obituaries/connie-hawkins-dead.html?hp=&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0&smid=tw-nytobits&smtyp=cur by RICHARD GOLDSTEIN The New York Times, OCT. 7, 2017 Connie Hawkins, a high-flying basketball sensation who was molded on the playgrounds of New York and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, but whose career was unjustly derailed when the N.B.A. barred him until his prime years had passed on suspicions of involvement in a college point-shaving scandal, died on Friday. He was 75. The Phoenix Suns confirmed the death but did not say where he died. Hawkins, who lived in the Phoenix area, joined the team when he was 27 after starring with two lesser leagues and the Harlem Globetrotters. The Associated Press said he had been in frail health and was found to have colon cancer in 2007. Even as a playground leg...

https://miobasket.blogspot.it/2017/10/new-york-basketball-stories-20-la.html di CLAUDIO LIMARDI New York Basketball Stories 2.0 Una volta, a Harlem, assegnarono a Hawkins il trofeo di MVP di un torneo cui neppure avrebbe partecipato. E glielo assegnarono “perché, ad Harlem, se dai un titolo di MVP, puoi darlo solo ad Hawk”, la geniale spiegazione. Connie ebbe almeno la bontà di presenziare alla cerimonia di consegna del trofeo e poi di giocare l’All-Star Game. Hawkins era un giocatore NBA e anche uno dei migliori, un’ala di 2.03, con apertura di braccia spaziali, che veniva da Beford-Stuyvesant a Brooklyn. Dominava a Rucker Park e anche alla Boys High School di Brooklyn, ma non aveva una buona istruzione, era un ragazzo ingenuo, che un giorno prese 200 dollari da Jack Molinas, sempre lui, senza immaginare fosse contro le regole. Quando l’episodio venne fuori, all’interno di una nuova indagine sulla corruzione nel basket universitario, Hawkins perse la borsa di studio ...

di LUIGI GUELPA LA SESIA, 20 ottobre 2017 “L’ultimo rigore di Faruk” non è soltanto uno dei libri più premiati nel mondo dell’editoria sportiva, ma è tra i migliori fino a oggi pubblicati. La penna è di Gigi Riva, omonimo di Rombo di Tuono, prima firma di politica estera del settimanale “L’Espresso”. Riva parte dalla storia di Faruk Hadzibegic, difensore e capitano della Jugoslavia che sbagliò il suo rigore, decisivo, contro l’Argentina a Italia ‘90. Utilizzando la metafora delle sliding doors e della domanda che è alla base di tutto l’universo, ovvero "what if" si chiede se il rigore fosse andato a segno, avrebbe forse cambiato il corso della storia? Avrebbe ridato al popolo jugoslavo un senso di appartenenza unitario, risvegliano l’orgoglio nazionalista? Il libro analizza dal punto di vista sportivo i drammi di un paese artificiale, dissoltosi attraverso la guerra civile. In tanti sono scappati dagli anni terribili del conflitto dei Balcani. Parecchi di lor...

The journey that Connie Hawkins took to get to the NBA was inspiring to say the least. Foul! , his autobiography with David Wolf, told the tale of Hawkins darker days–his ban from the NBA and his struggle for the right to show his skills to the world. Hawkins was a pioneer for the game of basketball as we know it today. The forward was a high-flyer who could do a little bit of everything and got his flavor from the streets of New York. In SLAM 12 's Old School, Hawkins sat down with Scoop Jackson to discuss his career and his story.–Ed.  by Scoop Jackson  Slam, June 26, 2010 History never repeats itself. Never. The truth always hurts. Always. To be blunt—not Phillie but brutally—none of us know. Somehow history got by us all. Fooled us . Made us believe the hype that only a chosen few ruled, dominated, changed the way the game was played. Too much video games, Inside Stuff. Not enough substance, never enough truth. The history of basketball tells us to love...

https://historyrat.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/connie-hawkins-playground-hard-court-wonder/ Growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, basketball was a winter staple . For me, I loved basketball as a young kid. Growing up in Northern Illinois, the winters were rough and the Nerf hoop in the basement was the perfect antidote to a boring winter day. My early idols were Jerry West and Gail Goodrich. I was a huge Lakers fan through the late 1960s. But then someone caught my eye. At 27 years of age, he was a NBA rookie and he was unlike anything I had seen at that point. His name was Connie Hawkins and he played for the Phoenix Suns. At 6’8″, Hawkins did things with a basketball that would reshape the game, influence Julius Erving, George Gervin, Magic Johnson, and through them, Michael Jordan. He would palm a basketball and hold it away from his body and use it to lull the defender into not paying attention to the rest of his body . He would then swoop into the lane dunk, fing...

http://www.museociclismo.it/content/articoli/5236-Pierfranco+Vianelli/index.html di Maurizio Ricci (Morris) Nato il 20 ottobre 1946 a Provaglio d'Iseo (BS). Completo. Campione Olimpico 1968. Professionista dal 1969 al 1976 con una sola vittoria da professionista.  Con questo bresciano dal portamento gentile, incontriamo un altro che ha ucciso le migliori facoltà fra i dilettanti, lasciando le briciole al ciclismo più importante. Autentico superman tra i "puri" è divenuto progressivamente anonimo fra i professionisti. E dire che Pierfranco ci ha fatto sperare fino all'ultimo, perché era uno di quei talenti che valgono doppio, in quanto sapevano aggiungere alle stimmate, la spettacolarità. Le sue vittorie era colte con un piglio, una espressione che non potevi dimenticare, erano autentici raggi di luce. Al di là di tutto, credo che nella sua ellisse abbia giocato la fatica accumulata in categorie che contano comunque poco, a cui va aggiunta una difficol...