Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2017 13 UNDER THE DOME Tom Hawkins, a 1959 University of Notre Dame graduate and basketball All-American who was inducted into the school's Ring of Honor in 2015, passed away at his home in Malibu, Calif., on Aug. 16. The first African-American to earn All-America honors as a Notre Dame student-athlete, his 1,318 career rebounds remain the school's oldest stand- ing school record in basketball. His 23.0 career scoring average is No. 3 on the all-time Notre Dame chart, behind only Austin Carr's 34.6 from 1968-71 and Adrian Dantley's 25.8 from 1973-76. Hawkins is the lone player in school annals to average more than 20 points and 15 rebounds per game (16.7) in a career. "I feel blessed and privileged that I got to de- velop a relationship with him as the head coach at Notre Dame," Mike Brey said. "Tom was a trail- blazer, a class act and a true 'Notre Dame Man.'" On Jan. 17, 2015, Hawkins became the seventh Notre Dame basketball player inducted into the Ring of Honor that began in 2010. In 1951, Hawkins was one of 25 students who helped integrate Chicago's Parker High School in an era when segregation was the law of the land. The No. 1 basketball prospect in talent-rich Chi- cago, Hawkins was one of only two black students admitted into Notre Dame in 1955, and 10 were on the campus overall. He would be the lone black on the basketball team and in any class he took all four of his years. "It didn't matter to me and I can't tell you why, but I can tell you that in four years on campus I did not have one racial incident," he said. "I didn't because all of my teammates, my freshman advi- sor, [school president] Father [Ted] Hesburgh … so many people respected me and always looked out for my dignity." The No. 3 overall pick in the 1959 NBA Draft, where he embarked on a 10-year career, Hawkins was a player representative in labor relations, be- came a basketball analyst in Los Angeles, and soon he worked five years apiece next to two of the play-by-play titans in the industry, Curt Gowdy and Harry Kalas, during his own Emmy-nominated radio and television broadcasting career. For 30 years, he also became the master of cer- emonies for the John Wooden Award that honors the nation's top basketball player. The father of five — his son Kevin was a walk-on basketball player at Notre Dame from 1977-81 and is now a federal mediator in Los Angeles — and grandfather of seven, Hawkins served as the vice president for communications for the Los Angeles Dodgers for 18 years, and on weekends he hosted a four-hour network jazz show. In addition he was active as a partner in a Bev- erly Hills public relations and advertising firm and taught "Mass Media and the History of the Black Athlete" at Cal State Long Beach. So respected was he as a community leader, he was one of the Olympic torchbearers when the Games were held at Los Angeles in 1984. An active public speaker, Hawkins recently was the Veterans Day emcee at the Glendale Elks Club and was a staff writer for the Malibu Chronicle magazine. "I couldn't have been all of those things without the background that I got at Notre Dame," Hawkins said. "Notre Dame prepared me to be a man in a man's world, and I will forever be grateful." Basketball Legend Tom Hawkins Passes Away At Age 80 Hawkins, a 1959 graduate, was the first African- American to earn All-America honors as a Notre Dame student-athlete and was inducted into the school's Ring of Honor in 2015. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Get the whole incredible story on DVD a t: – BlueGo ldOn lin e .c o m – No tre Da me B o o k sto re – Amazon.com More info at GreatestTeam.com