YouTube Gold: Connie Hawkins Was Ahead Of His Time

The Hawk was a spectacular talent who was cheated out of his best years

Connie Hawkins was robbed of his prime. A New York City legend, Hawkins was set to play ball at Iowa but the 1961 point shaving scandal erupted and he was unfairly implicated. Iowa booted him and he bounced around for a while before landing in the ABA in 1967. In 1969, the NBA, which had banned him due to the scandal, allowed him to play (only because the league realized it would lose a lawsuit anyway) and he was an immediate sensation.

If you look at this clip, you’ll see why.

Hawkins was way ahead of his time. When Julius Erving exploded on the scene, he was doing stuff that the Hawk had been doing for a decade - just well out of sight.

The first dunk you see here you could see in the NBA today. The other moves - the shifty drives, the swoops, all of it, could be on SportsCenter tonight.

It’s a shame that we were not allowed to see him at his zenith.