Basketball Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins dies at 75.

BASKETBALL

PHOENIX — Connie Hawkins, basketball’s dazzling New York playground legend who soared and swooped his way to the Hall of Fame, has died. He was 75.

His death on Friday was announced Saturday by the Phoenix

Suns, the team with which he spent his most productive

NBA seasons. The team did not dis- close the cause of his death.

Hawkins, who lived in the Phoenix area, had been in frail health for several years and was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2007.

“The Hawk,” as he came to be known for his soaring repertoire, was born on July 17, 1942, in Brooklyn, where he could dunk by age 11 and ruled the asphalt playgrounds, tales of his basketball feats spreading across the boroughs.

“One of the first players to play above the rim, and kind of set the tone for those who followed, Julius Erving in particular, in terms of charisma on the court and the ability to do things on court,” said Jerry Colangelo, the Suns general manager when Hawkins played and later the owner of the franchise.

Hawkins toured the world with the Harlem Globetrotters, then played two seasons in the ABA and was the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1968, helping the Pittsburgh Pipers to a title.

He didn’t play in the NBA until he was 27, the league keeping its distance because of a college point-shaving scandal in New York City while Hawkins was a freshman at Iowa in 1961. Hawkins was never directly associated with the scandal and the principals always contended he had nothing to do with it, but the NBA barred him nonetheless.

Hawkins eventually sued the NBA for banning him and, according to his biography on NBA.com, reached a settlement of more than $1 million. Finally, in 1969, then-commissioner J. Walter Kennedy lifted the ban.

The Suns, a 1-year-old franchise at the time, selected Hawkins second overall after losing a coin flip for the rights to then-Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“I was the happiest guy in the world,” Hawkins said. “Once I became an NBA player, I never looked back. People still to this day ask me if I was bitter about that, and I still tell them the same thing — Hell no, I’m just glad I was able to play.”

Hawkins