Thomas Jerome Hawkins (December 22, 1936 – August 16, 2017) was an American professional basketball player. He played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers and Cincinnati Royals, often in the role of sixth man. His teams reached the NBA playoffs every season of his career, and went to the NBA Finals three times. While still playing professional basketball, in 1966 he founded Athletes for a Better America, in Los Angeles.

Hawkins played collegiate basketball at the University of Notre Dame, where he led the team in scoring and rebounding three consecutive seasons, averaging a double-double each year (the first Notre Dame player to do so). He holds Notre Dame's record for most total career rebounds. He was a consensus second-team All-American in 1959, and a United Press second-team All-American and Associated Press third-team All-American in 1958. He was the first Black athlete at Notre Dame to be selected as an All-American. He played in two NCAA men's basketball tournaments, where he also averaged a double-double.

After retiring from professional basketball, Hawkins became a well-known sports reporter and television and radio host in Southern California, and later served as director of communications for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Major League Baseball from 1987 to 2004.

Early life Hawkins was born on December 22, 1936, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and moved to Chicago as a child with his mother and aunt when he was six years old. It has also been reported that he was born in Chicago, but Hawkins himself said he was born in Winston-Salem and moved to Chicago. Hawkins attended Chicago's Parker (now Robeson) High School, and starred on its basketball team. Hawkins was one of 25 African American teens selected to integrate the school. During his time at Parker, he helped mediate racial conflicts between students.

In 1953, as a 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) sophomore forward, the Chicago Tribune named Parker first-team All-City League among freshmen and sophomores. As a senior, the now 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Hawkins was Parker's team captain in 1954–55. Playing center in the January 1955 Illinois Tech Tournament, he scored 130 points in six games, and led the undersized Parker team to the tournament championship game. Hawkins was selected the most valuable player in that tournament. In 1955, he was a Chicago Tribune unanimous selection as first-team All-City League at forward. He was tied for the City League scoring title that year.

He also played on Parker's baseball team. He played second trumpet in Parker's concert band, and studied at the Chicago School of Music. Later in life he would host a jazz radio program, playing music from his large collection of vinyl records and compact discs.

College career Hawkins was recruited by a number of colleges, and received a scholarship offer from the University of Notre Dame, among others. He chose Notre Dame after visiting its campus, both for the pleasant layout of the campus, and because he felt a sense of belonging. He graduated in 1959 with a sociology degree.

Racial and social experience At the time Hawkins entered Notre Dame in 1955, he was one of two Black students in the freshmen class, and one of ten Black students in the entire school. During his four years at Notre Dame, he was the only Black player on the basketball team and the only Black student in his classes. He felt extra pressure to do well in school because his success at Notre Dame was not just important to him personally, but he understood that how he performed in school socially and academically could have a broader effect on how Black people more generally were perceived. Hawkins' professors and schoolmates treated him with respect and were supportive, and he did not experience racial animus at the school from them. He enjoyed the academic aspects of school, once describing how specific Notre Dame professors made a positive impact upon him personally and intellectually. Almost 50 years later, he still said that he was never made to feel different by the people associated with Notre Dame during his four years there.

While Hawkins was a student, Notre Dame's president was Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, a civil rights advocate whom United States President Dwight D. Eisenhauer appointed to the original Civil Rights Commission in 1957. Hesburgh took the position that if any of Notre Dame's Black students suffered racial discrimination from any business, then Notre Dame and all of its students would refrain from doing any business with those entities. After a pizza restaurant in South Bend, Indiana, where Notre Dame is located, refused Hawkins service because he was Black, Hesburgh issued a directive that no Notre Dame students patronize the restaurant until the owner issued Hawkins a public apology. Several days later, Paul Hornung (a.k.a. "The Golden Boy"), Hawkins' schoolmate at Notre Dame and Heisman Trophy winner on Notre Dame's football team, came to Hawkins' dorm room and told Hawkins they were going to the restaurant to get the apology. The restaurant owner subsequently apologized to Hawkins.

Hawkins did experience racial discrimination at times while traveling to play other teams. In one instance, the Notre Dame team was in Lexington, Kentucky to participate in the 1958 NCAA tournament. When the team went to a movie theater, they were told that Hawkins would have to sit in the balcony, separate from his teammates. Led by teammate Ed Gleason, they all refused this arrangement, and instead went to the Black section of Lexington where they could be seated together.

Basketball Hawkins became the school's first African-American basketball star, and was the first Black athlete at Notre Dame to become an All-American in any sport.100 Years Remembered in 100 Days: The Hawk. Notre Dame Official Athletic Site. December 20, 2004. Retrieved on January 2, 2009. He was a consensus second-team All-American in 1959. In 1958, he was named a second-team All-American by United Press and third-team All-American by the Associated Press (AP). Hawkins is Notre Dame's all-time career leading rebounder (1,318 rebounds). His 23 points per game is third all-time at Notre Dame, and his 1,820 career points is ninth all-time in total points scored for Notre Dame (through 2025–26).

Hawkins averaged over 20-points and over 15 rebounds per game in his three seasons with the Fighting Irish varsity, and was the first Notre Dame player to average a career double-double. As a sophomore (1956–57), he averaged 20.57 points and 17.3 rebounds per game, with a .431 field goal percentage. As a junior (1957–58), he averaged 25.2 points and 17.2 rebounds per game, with a .459 field goal percentage. As a senior (1958–59), he averaged 23.4 points and 15.2 rebounds per game, with a .405 field goal percentage. Hawkins was a team co-captain as a senior. He suffered a severe ankle sprain in an early January 1959 game against the North Carolina Tar Heels, and played in only 22 of Notre Dames' 25 games that season, after playing in 28 and 29 games the preceding two seasons. This was his only Notre Dame season that the team did not make the NCAA men's basketball tournament, finishing with a 12–13 record.

Hawkins led the team in scoring and rebounding three consecutive years (1956 to 1959). In February 1958 against the Air Force Academy, Hawkins set a Notre Dame single game record for field goals in a game (19), while tying the record for most points in a game (43); in March 1958 he set the school's single season record for total points; and in December 1958 (as a senior) he broke Notre Dame's all-time scoring record for total points (1,345) when he scored 39 points in a game against Bellarmine University.

Notre Dame had a 20–8 record in 1956–57, and played in the 1957 NCAA men's basketball tournament. Notre Dame defeated Miami (Ohio) University in the first round of the Mideast Regional, 89–77. Hawkins led Notre Dame with 25 points and 12 rebounds. They lost in the Mideast Regional semifinals to Michigan State, 85–83. Hawkins had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Notre Dame then defeated the Pitt Panthers 86–85, with Hawkins scoring 21 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. The Associated Press ranked Notre Dame 17th at the end of the season.

Notre Dame's record the next season was 24–5. They reached the Mideast Regional final game, losing to eventual national champion Kentucky, though the AP ranked Notre Dame No. 8 at the end of the year, one position above Kentucky. Hawkins had 15 points and 16 rebounds against Kentucky, but only one other player on Notre Dame scored more than seven points in the game. Earlier in the tournament, Hawkins had 31 points and 11 rebounds in a victory over the Indiana Hoosiers, and 30 points and 14 rebounds against Tennessee Tech.

In late March 1959, he played in a college All-Star basketball game, leading all scorers with 18 points.

In his six NCAA tournament games, Hawkins scored 141 points (23.5 points per game) and had 78 rebounds (13 rebounds per game). Over his three-year college career, Hawkins played in 79 games, averaging 23 points and 16.7 rebounds per game.

Professional career

Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers (1959 to 1962) Hawkins was selected by the Minneapolis (later Los Angeles) Lakers in the first round of the 1959 NBA draft, fourth overall. One of the three players selected before Hawkins was Wilt Chamberlain. As a rookie, he played in 69 games, averaging 21.3 minutes, 7.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. He was among 23 Lakers' personnel and family members aboard a team airplane returning late at night from a January 1960 game in St. Louis, when the electrical system went out during a heavy snowstorm. Despite the electrical failure and dark conditions, the pilot was able to land the plane safely in an Iowa cornfield covered with a foot of snow. Hawkins later said of the 5½ hour ordeal, "You're trying not to think of all the negative things that can happen . . . but there's no assurance that they won't. You're scared to death".

The Lakers moved to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season. Hawkins averaged 23.7 minutes, 9.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game over 78 games. He averaged 14.6 points per game against the Detroit Pistons in the 1961 NBA Western Division semifinals, and 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in the NBA Western Division finals against the St. Louis Hawks, playing 25.1 minutes per game. He played in 79 games the following season, starting some games at small forward after teammate Elgin Baylor was called to military service during the season. Hawkins averaged 24.1 minutes, 9.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. The Lakers reached the 1962 NBA Finals, losing to the Boston Celtics in seven games. Hawkins played in all seven games, averaging 10.6 minutes per game.

Cincinnati Royals The Lakers traded Hawkins to the Cincinnati Royals for a future draft choice and first refusal rights on Hub Reed, before the start of the 1962–63 season. Hawkins became the Royal's sixth man during the majority of his time with the Royals, originally playing behind All-Star small forward Jack Twyman. After only a few months with Cincinnati, Royals head coach Charley Wolf stated that he considered Hawkins the NBA's best sixth man. He considered Hawkins a better sixth man than Dick Barnett or John Havlicek because he had a greater impact on the Royals than the other two players had on their teams. It was not until the 1965–66 season that Hawkins played more minutes per game than Twyman (with Jerry Lucas the only Royals' forward playing more minutes than Hawkins that season).