Sports Poets Society

A stubborn protest jars the Games JEREMY LARNER, DAVID WOLF LIFE magazine - 1968, 1st November   When you stop to think about that, the small group of black track stars who organized the "Olympic Project for Human Rights" have got quite a lote done in less than a year. Led by Harry Edwards, a professor at San Jose State, they helped keep South Africa out of the Games. They humbled the prestigious New York Athletic Club by publicizing its discriminatory membership policies and persuading an impressive number of top athletes to bypass the club's famed annual meet. And they've ignited a lasting racial consciousness among the previously uncommitted black American college athletes. The most prominent spokesmen of the original group were Tommie Smith, Lee Evans and John Carlos., all of San Jose State. They are not separatists. They do not believe in violence. They are dedicated to ending what they see as exploitation of black athletes and, in the process, gaining dignity a...

SEQUEL Seven weeks ago LIFE published the results of Reporter David Wolf ‘s investigation into the charges that led the National Basketball Association to blacklist one of the country’s finest players, Connie Hawkins. In 1961, as a college freshman, Hawkins was implicated in a betting scandal. Wolf’s investigation concluded that Hawkins had been implicated unfairly and had done “nothing that would have justified his being banned.” Last week the NBA agreed. by DAVID WOLF LIFE, 1969 June, 27 The memories of the false confessions, of the shame, of the ostracism and of thehand-to-mouth existencewould always be part of him. But for the first time in eight years Connie Hawkins could honestly say he was proud to be himself. “The clouds have gone away,” he said. “I don’t have to hide in a shell. I don’t have to be ashamed anymore.”  For years he had been playing with second-rate teams, often before half-empty houses, always for a small salary. Now the $1 million packa...

https://from-way-downtown.com/2023/07/21/connie-hawkins-the-unjust-exile-of-a-superstar-1969/ Unjustly accused of helping gamblers, a basketball superstar spends his life banned from NBA competition. by DAVID WOLF Life -  1969, May 16 He is six feet eight inches tall, and he does things on a basketball court nobody else his size can equal. He moves with disciplined grace --controlling the ball with one massive hand, dribbling behind his back, passing with the flash of a Globetrotter and making jump shots from 20 feet out. One special move always brings the crowd to its feet. He slithers close to the basket, wards off defenders with his free arm, leaps high into the air and dunks the ball with a one-handed flourish that rattles the backboard. His name is Connie Hawkinsand, according to top professionals who've played against him in summer tournaments, he is one of the five greatest players in the world, a mixture of Bill Russell, oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylo...