Thomas Jerome Hawkins (December 22, 1936 – August 16, 2017) was an American professional basketball player. A 6'5" (1.96 m)

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, Hawkins starred at Chicago's Parker (now Robeson) High School before playing at the University of Notre Dame, where he became the school's first African-American basketball star.100 Years Remembered in 100 Days: The Hawk
Notre Dame Official Athletic Site. December 20, 2004. Retrieved on January 2, 2009. He was then selected by the Minneapolis (later Los Angeles) Lakers in the first round of the

1959 NBA draft The 1959 NBA draft was the 13th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 31, 1959, before the 1959–60 season. In this draft, eight NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball play ...

, and he would have a productive ten-year career in the league, playing for the Lakers as well as the Cincinnati Royals as he registered 6,672 career points and 4,607 career

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

. Hawkins later worked in radio and television broadcasting in Los Angeles and served as vice president of communications for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Hawkins died in his home in Malibu, California on August 16, 2017.

References

External links

Career stats
a
www.basketball-reference.com
a
University of Notre Dame's Official Athletic Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Tom 1936 births 2017 deaths African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Cincinnati Royals players College basketball announcers in the United States Los Angeles Clippers announcers Los Angeles Lakers players Minneapolis Lakers draft picks Minneapolis Lakers players Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Small forwards 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people