A SOARING GOODBYE TO ‘THE HAWK’ #42
Loved ones gather to pay tribute to a Suns legend
Friends, family and Phoenix Suns royalty on Friday honored the franchise’s first legend Connie Hawkins with stories that painted him as an easygoing and loving man.
As a ballplayer, Hawkins was the predecessor to the NBA as we know it.
With his big hands and high-flying style of play, Hawk influenced Julius “Dr. J.” Erving, in turn, influenced Michael Jordan and ‘His Airness’ influ-
enced everyone who’s played since.
Hawkins will be remembered for his “swoop to the hoop,” but he should also be celebrated for his “loving soul,” Suns announcer Al McCoy said at Talking Stick Resort Arena to a crowd of about 300 people.
Here are some memories:
Tom and Dick Van Arsdale
Dick Van Arsdale, the Original Sun, didn’t speak, but Tom relayed his sentiments.
Dick, Tom said, remembered a time where Hawkins was sound asleep holding a telephone. The person on the other end was just yacking away, never realizing that Hawkins wasn’t paying attention.
“To say the Hawk was laidback was an understatement,” Tom Van Arsdale said.
Tom Ambrose, longtime Suns executive
Ambrose told the story of Hawkins and a loaner car from a sponsoring dealership. It was a “big four-door Impala,” Ambrose said, to accommodate Hawkins’ big dog.
Hawkins owned a Great Dane named “Foul,” after the defining book about the Hall of Famer.
Foul, it turned out, “had a hankering for the upholstery in that car,” Ambrose recalled.
“During the course of that season, the dog devoured, basically, the backseat of the car,” he said.
At the end of the season, Hawkins left town and had former teammate Charlie Scott return it to the dealership, Ambrose said.
When the dealership called to ask about the damage, Hawkins simply said that the dog “must have been hungry,” Ambrose recalled.
Jerry Colangelo
Colangelo remembered the first time Hawkins came to Phoenix, getting off the plane in a wool suit.
It was 105 degrees, Colangelo said. Hawkins turned around and went looking for a place to lie down.
“I can never say enough about how much he contributed to this franchise,” Colangelo said.