Hersey Hawkins

Hersey Hawkins
Personal information
Born	September 29, 1966 (age 57); Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school	Westinghouse (Chicago, Illinois)
College	Bradley (1984–1988)
NBA draft	1988: 1st round, 6th overall pick
	Selected by the Los Angeles Clippers
Playing career	1988–2001
Position	Shooting guard
Number	32, 33, 3
Career history
1988–1993	Philadelphia 76ers
1993–1995	Charlotte Hornets
1995–1999	Seattle SuperSonics
1999–2000	Chicago Bulls
2000–2001	Charlotte Hornets
Career highlights and awards
	NBA All-Star (1991); NBA All-Rookie First Team (1989); NBA Sportsmanship Award (1999); AP Player of the Year (1988); Oscar Robertson Trophy (1988); Adolph Rupp Trophy (1988); UPI Player of the Year (1988); Sporting News Player of the Year (1988); Consensus first-team All-American (1988); NCAA season scoring leader (1988); 2× MVC Player of the Year (1987, 1988); 3× First-team All-MVC (1986–1988); MVC tournament MVP (1988); No. 33 retired by Bradley Braves;
Career NBA statistics
Points	14,470 (14.7 ppg)
Rebounds	3,554 (3.6 rpg)
Steals	1,622 (1.7 spg)
	Stats at NBA.com
	Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
	College Basketball Hall of Fame; Inducted in 2021
Men's Basketball
Representing United States
Summer Olympics

Hersey R. Hawkins Jr. (born September 29, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. After starring at George Westinghouse College Prep, the 6'3" (1.90 m) shooting guard attended Bradley University. Hawkins played for 4 teams throughout his 12-year National Basketball Association career. Hersey was given his nickname, “The Big Kiss”, by David Gborie.

College

Hersey spent four seasons as the starting shooting guard at Bradley University, starting all 125 games the Braves played and finishing with 3,008 points.^[1] At the time of his graduation in 1988, he was the fourth-leading scorer in NCAA Division I history and is currently 10th.^[2] In 1986–87, he finished fifth in NCAA Division I in scoring with 27.2 points per game, following that season with a historic campaign, averaging 36.3 points per game in 1987–88.^[3] Before being drafted into the NBA, he was a member of the last collegiate USA men's national basketball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul coached by John Thompson. They disappointingly finished with the bronze medal after losing to the all-professional Soviet Union in the semifinals as Hawkins was injured, depriving the U.S. team of his outside shooting and overall scoring ability.^[4]

Career in the NBA

Philadelphia 76ers

He was then drafted 6th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in first round of the 1988 NBA draft, but his rights were immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for the draft rights to former 1988 Olympic teammate Charles Smith. On the 76ers, "Hawk" was the second scoring option after Charles Barkley. Hawkins earned NBA All-Rookie First Team Honors in 1989. In 1991, he averaged 22.1 points and appeared in the NBA All-Star Game. In a game against the Boston Celtics, he had 9 steals. He also scored a career-high 43 points in a game against the Orlando Magic.

Charlotte Hornets

In 1993, Hawkins was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for Dana Barros, Sidney Green and draft picks. In 1994, he grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds against the Houston Rockets. Hawkins wore #32 with the Hornets during the 1993–94 season since Alonzo Mourning wore #33. Next season, he would change his jersey number to #3.

Seattle SuperSonics

After two productive seasons in Charlotte, Hawkins and David Wingate were traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Kendall Gill. In 1996, he played a key role, complementing Gary Payton, Detlef Schrempf and Shawn Kemp on a Sonics team that made it to the NBA Finals but lost 2–4 to his hometown team, the Chicago Bulls. He won the NBA Sportsmanship Award in his final season in Seattle.

Chicago Bulls

On August 12, 1999, Hawkins was traded along with James Cotton to the Bulls for Brent Barry, but his one-year tenure in Chicago was marred by injury, and he only averaged 7.9 points per game in 61 games.

Return to Charlotte

He returned to Charlotte as a free agent in 2000 for his final season, and he retired in 2001 with 14,470 career points.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
*	Led the league

Regular season


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1988–89	Philadelphia	79	79	32.6	.455	.428	.831	2.8	3.0	1.5	0.5	15.1
1989–90	Philadelphia	82	82	34.8	.460	.420	.888	3.7	3.2	1.6	0.3	18.5
1990–91	Philadelphia	80	80	38.9	.472	.400	.871	3.9	3.7	2.2	0.5	22.1
1991–92	Philadelphia	81	81	37.2	.462	.397	.874	3.3	3.1	1.9	0.5	19.0
1992–93	Philadelphia	81	81	36.8	.470	.397	.860	4.3	3.9	1.7	0.4	20.3
1993–94	Charlotte	82	82	32.3	.460	.332	.862	4.6	2.6	1.6	0.3	14.4
1994–95	Charlotte	82*	82*	33.3	.482	.440	.867	3.8	3.2	1.5	0.2	14.3
1995–96	Seattle	82	82*	34.4	.473	.384	.874	3.6	2.7	1.8	0.2	15.6
1996–97	Seattle	82	82*	33.6	.464	.403	.875	3.9	3.0	1.9	0.1	13.9
1997–98	Seattle	82*	82*	31.7	.440	.415	.868	4.1	2.7	1.8	0.2	10.5
1998–99	Seattle	50*	34	32.9	.419	.306	.902	4.0	2.5	1.6	0.4	10.3
1999–00	Chicago	61	49	26.6	.424	.390	.899	2.9	2.2	1.2	0.2	7.9
2000–01	Charlotte	59	0	11.5	.409	.370	.857	1.4	1.2	0.6	0.2	3.1
Career		983	896	32.6	.461	.394	.870	3.6	2.9	1.7	0.3	14.7
All-Star		1	0	14.0	.600	.000	–	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	6.0

Playoffs


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1989	Philadelphia	3	3	24.0	.125	.000	1.000	1.7	1.3	1.0	0.3	2.7
1990	Philadelphia	10	10	41.5	.497	.389	.937	3.1	3.6	1.2	0.7	23.5
1991	Philadelphia	8	8	41.1	.465	.538	.937	5.8	3.4	2.5	1.3	20.9
1995	Charlotte	4	4	32.5	.406	.308	.882	5.3	2.0	1.5	0.5	11.3
1996	Seattle	21	21	34.0	.452	.344	.895	3.0	2.2	1.3	0.2	12.3
1997	Seattle	12	12	40.3	.470	.458	.914	4.5	2.8	2.5	0.3	15.3
1998	Seattle	10	10	33.7	.466	.395	.875	5.7	3.6	1.8	0.1	13.4
2001	Charlotte	6	0	8.3	.375	.250	.714	1.5	0.7	0.5	0.0	2.0
Career		74	68	34.2	.455	.396	.907	3.9	2.6	1.6	0.4	14.1

Post-playing career

Hawkins was named as an assistant by head coach Ty Amundsen for the 2006–2007 season at Estrella Foothills High School varsity basketball in Goodyear, Arizona.^[5] He also came to the Hoopfest in 2009. He is currently the Player Development Director for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Hawkins is married with three sons. His son Corey, who holds the Arizona high school record for most points in a career, now plays for the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League. He played for Arizona State from 2010–11 and UC Davis from 2012–15.^[6] His son Brandon played college basketball at University of the Pacific before finishing his career at Portland State. His son Devon played basketball at West Linn High School in Oregon and Clark College in Washington.^[7] Former NFL offensive lineman Flozell Adams is Hersey's cousin.

References

^ "NCAA Division I Records" (PDF).
^ "NCAA Division I Records" (PDF).
^ "NCAA Division I Records" (PDF).
^ "Philadelphia Inquirer: Hawkins to miss remainder of Olympics".
^ Vacancies filled on Wolves' coaching staff Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ ASU sophomore guard Corey Hawkins to transfer
^ "2015–16 Men's Basketball Roster". Official Athletics Site Of The Clark College Penguins. Retrieved January 1, 2022.

External links

Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
1988 Oscar Robertson Trophy

[1] "NCAA Division I Records" (PDF).

[2] "NCAA Division I Records" (PDF).

[3] "NCAA Division I Records" (PDF).

[4] "Philadelphia Inquirer: Hawkins to miss remainder of Olympics".

[5] Vacancies filled on Wolves' coaching staff Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[6] ASU sophomore guard Corey Hawkins to transfer

[7] "2015–16 Men's Basketball Roster". Official Athletics Site Of The Clark College Penguins. Retrieved January 1, 2022.

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