Connie Hawkins

Matt Petersen

Coin flips are a sensitive subject when it comes to the Suns. Had they called tails in 1969, the league’s eventual all-time leading scorer and six-time champion would have started his career in Phoenix purple instead of Milwaukee green.

Under Lew Alcindor’s ominous what-if shadow, Coin Flip Two is the forgotten story of how the Suns recovered in spectacular fashion.

Phoenix’s second round of high-stakes currency rotation occurred in 1969, against Seattle. Between them, the two fledgling NBA clubs sported a combined 69-177 record. The league determined they were the most deserving candidates for another superstar talent ready to enter the league: Connie Hawkins.

From his days as a high school and playground prodigy in New York through winning the ABA’s inaugural championship and MVP trophies, “The Hawk” had become the stuff of legend. Former NBA and ABA player Jerry Harkness added his first-hand witness of Hawkins in Loose Balls:

“I can recall seeing Connie while still in high school play against a team of pros that included Wilt Chamberlain, and Connie held his own. In high school, he was already the greatest talent I had ever seen. When he played with kids his own age, it was ridiculous. He just toyed with them. He was already as good as the pros when he was 16. He had those huge hands and he could do anything he wanted with the basketball…[In the ABA] it was the same thing, like it was when he played against the high school kids on the playground – he was so great, he could just control the game without breaking a sweat.”

Such game-changing talent would be granted to the winner of this latest franchise-altering coin flip. This time, the Suns made the right call. After a rude welcoming to the NBA world, it was just what Phoenix needed.

“Connie won some games for us, particularly going down the stretch,” former teammate Jim Fox told Suns.com. “He was really clutch and talented. He was a good guy. He could do everything. He was the precursor of Dr. J. Big hands and he was taller. He was Dr. J with a jump shot."

“The three best teams in the Western Division,” said one critic in 1969-70, “are Atlanta, Jerry West, and Connie Hawkins, not necessarily in that order.”

That was no exaggeration. Hawkins took an expansion team and, in just one season, nearly turned them into a playoff bracket buster. The 6-8 forward with enormous hands and aerial flair averaged 24.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 49.0 percent from the field in his “rookie” season. He led the Suns to a 3-1 first-round series lead over a Lakers team that featured Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West (Phoenix would eventually lose, 4-3).

Hawkins’ success as a Sun – which included four All-Star appearances and a place in the team’s Ring of Honor and the Basketball Hall of Fame – was tinged with a bittersweet flavor. Phoenix’s first superstar he might have been, but even that title came with a whiff of what could have been.

Hawkins’ arrival to the NBA was an overdue affair, explained well by Hall-of-Fame Phoenix journalist Joe Gilmartin in his book, The Little Team that Could…And Darn Near Did!:

The Hawk, said by man of his peers to be the premier basketball artist in the land, had been driven from college and barred from playing in the NBA because of innuendo. His name had been mentioned during an investigation of a college betting scandal in 1961, but he had never been accused of being involved in it. Still, no NBA team would sign him. Then David and Roslyn Litman, a high-powered husband-wife legal team from Pittsburgh, filed a $6 million suit against the league on his behalf. And Dave Wolf, a young sportswriter, turned the spotlight on the injustice of it all in Life Magazine. The NBA, hit by a couple of two-by-fours, gave Hawkins its undivided attention.

“He could do everything. He was the precursor of Dr. J. Big hands and he was taller. He was Dr. J with a jump shot.”

By the time Hawkins’ status was resolved, however, he had already undergone the kind of reconstructive knee surgery that, in that era, normally ended a player’s career. His superior talent willed him past the challenge, but there was no mistaking it: the All-Star version of Hawkins was, even at its awe-inspiring peak, a step down from his mystical, pre-surgery self. In his 117 ABA games before the injury, Hawkins averaged an other-worldly 28.2 points, 12.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field.

“I am convinced that the Connie Hawkins that led Pittsburgh to that first [ABA] title could play in the NBA and be on the same level as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan today,” Mel Daniels said in Loose Balls. “The Connie Hawkins that eventually got into the NBA was nearly 30, he had a couple of knee problems – it wasn’t the same guy.”

Even not being “the same guy,” Hawkins was still good enough to morph Phoenix from an NBA outpost to a legit-sized dot on the league map.

“Connie gave us instant big-league status,” said former general manager Jerry Colangelo.

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Connie Hawkins: The Suns' First Superstar

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“’The Hawk’ revolutionized the game and remains to this day an icon of the sport and one of basketball’s great innovators. His unique combination of size, grace and athleticism was well ahead of its time and his signature style of play is now a hallmark of the modern game.

A flip of the coin changed the Suns’ fortunes and he helped put Phoenix on the map as the city’s first professional sports superstar. Rightfully, he became the first Suns player inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and his No. 42 hangs in the rafters at Talking Stick Resort Arena as part of our Ring of Honor.

Connie’s passion for the game was only matched by his desire to give back to the Phoenix community, a role which he played proudly as a Suns community ambassador, spreading warmth and kindness to everyone he encountered. We will miss Hawk dearly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends as we mourn the passing of a true Suns legend.”

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Phoenix Suns Statement on Passing of Connie Hawkins

"Beat L.A." is a significant phrase around the NBA, but it carries an extra edge in Phoenix. The two teams carry a long-standing history as division rivals and playoff foes. The geographic factor also comes into play. There is a sense that, more than team versus team, it is city versus city.

"It was the town of Phoenix against the city of L.A,” recalled former Suns player and current Head Coach Jeff Hornacek. “It was more about the glitz versus the cowboy town or whatever."

Their latest clash resulted in a Suns victory, the 100th time in team history Phoenix has come out on top of the Lakers. Win number one? That occurred on Nov. 7, 1969. Former Suns beat writer and Hall of Fame journalist Joe Gilmartin was there.

"It was a classic mismatch," Gilmartin remembered. "The Suns were practically brand-new. The Lakers, everywhere you looked they had a Hall-of-Famer."

It seemed that way, what with Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West all sporting Laker purple and gold. The Suns? They countered with newly acquired star Connie Hawkins[1] along with expansion year returners Gail Goodrich and Dick Van Arsdale[2].

Ironically, it was Goodrich who led the Suns to the monumental upset over the star-laden Lakers. The future Laker and Hall-of-Famer scored a game-high 37 points, including 13-of-14 from the free throw line, to lead Phoenix to a 122-120 win.

The landmark win set an early tone for the young franchise in Phoenix. They won the season series 4-3 that season, then led them 3-1 in the playoffs before ultimately falling 4-3. Over the next three seasons, the fledgling Suns won eight of 13 regular season meetings against the vaunted Lakers.

“In those early years, the Suns had some stunning success against the Lakers,” Gilmartin said.

The newly established NBA rivalry added another layer to the general sports rivalry between Los Angeles and Phoenix, one that has continued 99 wins later.

“In Phoenix, even when Arizona State beat SC (University of Southern California), anytime Phoenix did anything against L.A., that was huge,” Gilmartin laughed. “That and, of course, the fact that the Lakers were so good.”

[1] This was Hawkins first year in the NBA. The star forward was just over a year removed from winning the ABA championship and MVP trophies.

[2] Gilmartin on Van Arsdale’s early days with the Suns: “When the Suns got Dick Van [in the 1968 NBA expansion draft], they said he was a very aggressive player but he couldn’t shoot very well. He learned to shoot and became a good shooter.”

The season Phoenix beat the Lakers for the first time (1969-70) was the first time he shot above 45 percent from the field. He never dipped lower than that for the rest of his career.

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Throwback Thursday: The First Time Phoenix Beat L.A.

You know an NBA player has arrived when they have their own shoe deal.

That’s just the way it is, and the way it has been since Michael Jordan redefined the relationship between hoops and sneakers back in the 1980s.

But what about the guys before the shoe revolution? What about the superstars who, had they lived in today’s world, might have had a shoe of their own, a shoe that kids would’ve bought at the expense of allowance loans and parents’ long-suffering?

We have a feeling the Suns would have done particularly well in this hypothetical world, so we’ve pooled the best modern-day shoe candidates. Our criteria for the former Suns players selected as shoe-worthy is three-fold:

With that criteria in mind, here are the best Suns candidates for shoe deals before Jordan’s arrival in 1984.

Talent: There was a time when Van Arsdale was one of the best guards in the league in much the same way Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook is now. He did a little bit of everything in pell-mell fashion. His three-year stretch of at least 21 points per contest earned him a corresponding trio of All-Star appearances. He was probably an elite thief on defense as well. Steals weren’t kept track of until 1973, by which time an already-in-decline Van Arsdale was still averaging 1.2 steals per contest.

Name: The one by which Suns fans know him most is “The Original Sun”, due to his status as the first-every player drafted by Phoenix as an expansion franchise in 1968. We’re going with his other nickname, though: The Flying Dutchman. Stich an image of the ship on the outward side of the shoe, and you’ve got a keeper.

Image: Again, Van Arsdale was very good in his prime, averaging over 21 points, six rebounds and four assists per contest. He was most known for his hard-nosed approach on offense. His non-stop drives to the rim earned him well over seven free throw attempts per game for a four-year stretch. If you’re wearing his shoe, it’s because you’re taking it to the rack. We have a feeling that would appeal to ballers of today’s generation.

Talent: Before Hawkins even made a dent in the professional ranks, he had already become a legend on the New York City playgrounds, where he routinely dueled (and beat) some of the best talents in the world. On his pro resume: five All-Star games, one ABA championship and MVP award, three first-team appearances combined, one scoring title and a five-year peak of over 20 points per game.

Name: When a player this good has the nickname “The Hawk”, there is ZERO debate about whether a shoe named after him would have sold well. Logos, casual conversation (“did you see the new Hawks?”)…Connie Hawkins was made for the post-1980s shoe market.

Imagery: Hawkins is considered the godfather of iconic aerial antics in basketball. Julius Erving makes it a point to pay homage to his high-flying predecessor anytime someone tries to credit Dr. J for pioneering the dunk age of the NBA. Simply put, Hawkins could do things in the air with a basketball we simply don’t see anymore. His game fit perfectly with his nickname.

Had shoes/technology/marketing been 20 years further along in 1964, it might have been Hawkins taking basketball shoes to a whole new stratosphere. He had the whole package in terms of shoe marketability.

Talent: Six-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, six seasons averaging at least 20 points per game and a career-shooting percentage of 51.1 percent despite playing a perimeter position (guard). Oh yeah, and he made the cover of Sports Illustrated in his rookie season. He was good.

Name: Because his jump shoot was so smooth, Davis earned the nickname “Sweet D” right away. It’s simple, but awesome, the kind of nickname creativity we just don’t see nowadays. You can’t tell me a pair of Sweet D’s wouldn’t sell (Sweet D6, for his jersey number, if you like that better).

Image: Again, Davis’ jump shot defined his career. Ask anyone who played with or against him, and they’ll struggle to do justice to the beauty of his form and the result thereof. It’d be easy enough to design a silhouette of a perfect jump shot next to the name of his shoe, then market the crap out of it. "Buy these shoes and you'll shoot just like Sweet D."

Talent: Despite living in one of the best rugged forward/center ages of the NBA, Robinson thrived as a double-double machine. Phoenix traded for him the year after he led the league in rebounds, one of six seasons in which he averaged at least 9.4 boards per contest.

Name: It’s hard to beat “Truck”, especially if you’re a big man. The fact that he earned that in an era that included Artis Gilmore, Elvin Hayes and Moses Malone is nothing short of extraordinary. Again, we’re going back to our hypothetical discussion. “Have you seen the new Trucks?” This also lends a helping hand to designers, who would go out of their way to make a shoe that just looks solid or imposing.

Image: Truck’s damage came down low, in dirt-work fashion. Shoes are normally named after smaller players or high-flyers, but we feel the combination of his success and stellar nickname would give aspiring big men a shoe of their own. Let’s face it: post players are woefully underrepresented in the shoe game. Truck would have helped fix that.

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Old-Time Suns Who Deserved New-Age Shoe Deals

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Orange Thoughts From the Hall of Fame

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