All-NBA First Team (1970).

[3], As a result of the investigation, despite never being arrested or indicted, Hawkins was expelled from Iowa. Connie Hawkins was born on July 17, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, USA as Cornelius Lance Hawkins. [November 2003], View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. Connie Hawkins was named to the ABA's All-Time Team. Finally, in 1969, then-commissioner J. Walter Kennedy lifted the ban. Despite the fact that Hawkins could not have been involved in point-shaving (as a freshman, due to NCAA rules of the time, he was ineligible to participate in varsity-level athletics), he was kept from seeking legal counsel while being grilled by New York City detectives who were investigating the scandal. Hawkins soon became a fixture at Rucker Park, a legendary outdoor court where he battled against some of the best players in the world.[1].

People still to this day ask me if I was bitter about that, and I still tell them the same thing. His death was announced Saturday by the Phoenix Suns, the team with which he spent his most productive NBA seasons in a career delayed for years by a point-shaving scandal that led to the league blackballing him, even though he was never directly linked to any wrongdoing. [5], During the time Hawkins was traveling with the Globetrotters, he filed a $6 million lawsuit against the NBA, claiming the league had unfairly banned him from participation and that there was no substantial evidence linking him to gambling activities. An original member of the Suns Ring of Honor, he was a community representative for the Phoenix franchise for many years after his retirement. He was effectively blackballed from the college ranks; no NCAA or NAIA school would offer him a scholarship. A New York City playground legend, "the Hawk" PHOENIX -- Connie Hawkins, basketball's dazzling New York playground legend who soared and swooped his way to the Hall of Fame, has died at 75. Played for the American Basketball League's Pittsburgh Renaissance (1961-1962 until the league's demise in Dec. 1962), the Harlem Globetrotters (1963-1966), the American Basketball Association's (ABA) Pittsburgh/Minnesota Pipers (1967-1968 through 1968-1969); and the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Phoenix Suns (1969-1970 through 1973-1974), Los Angeles Lakers (1973-1974 thru 1974-1975) and Atlanta Hawks (1975-1976).

In 1969, Hawkins hit the ground running in his first season with the Phoenix Suns, when he played 81 games and averaged 24.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.