”The Hawk” swoops in on poetry

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The 6’5” Hawkins poses with giant former teammate and Lakers legend Wilt Chamberlain. Inset: Hawkins’ first book of poetry, “Life’s Reflections: Poetry for the People,” is a life’s work written over 40 years, featuring artwork from LeRoy Neiman and Ernie Barnes.

After successful careers in the NBA, TV and radio, and as vice president of communication for the Dodgers, Tommy Hawkins takes on yet another career with his book “Life’s Reflections.”

By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times

“Did you know that Thelonious Monk was once an incredible schoolyard basketball player?” Tommy “The Hawk” Hawkins quizzes a reporter.

Jazz and, of course, basketball, are subjects near and dear to the former Los Angeles Laker and longtime TV and radio personality. They represent two of the themes for the poems that comprise Hawkins’ new book, “Life’s Reflections: Poetry for the People.”

“When you say poetry, people start to snooze,” Hawkins said, laughing. “What they are,” he continued of his own poems, “are life’s narratives…as I have seen it and as I have lived it. In each narrative, the reader will find me, themselves, his family, his friends.  The narratives are life’s grabbers. It’s impossible to read the narratives without getting caught up in the message.”

If life is a narrative, then Hawkins has lived something like a tall tale. From a basketball career that saw him star at Notre Dame University and later the Los Angeles Lakers, to sports broadcasting, deejaying on jazz radio and serving as vice president of broadcasting for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hawkins is a true original.

Written over a period of 40 years, “Life’s Reflections: Poetry for the People” captures that life in 45 poems, each accompanied by a painting from artists such as LeRoy Neiman and Ernie Barnes. The topics include everything from love and relationships to travel and everyday life.

“Knights of the Round Ball Realm,” for example, captures “the essence of national basketball and its history,” Hawkins said. A Neiman NBA scene accompanies the opening lines, “Four nights a week they take the court/Proud sons of delighted mothers.” Another poem, “Psychoanalysis,” is paired with a painting of Sigmund Freud.

A Chicago native, Hawkins attended the University of Notre Dame from 1956-59 as the only black member on the college basketball team as well as the only black student in his entire graduating class. By graduation, Hawkins had finished as the university’s leading scorer and rebounder. He became a two-time All-American at Notre Dame. The school’s history books rank Hawkins seventh in scoring and he still retains first place in rebounds.

At the university, Hawkins also excelled in academics.

“I received a very personalized education that prepares you to be a man in a man’s world,” Hawkins said. “In leaving the university, I never thought that basketball was going to be my complete life. I was ready to do whatever I had to do in life and I always worked in different capacities. Without the educational background and the people skills, you can’t do it.”

Hawkins parlayed his phenomenal college basketball experience into a decade-long run in the NBA with the Cincinnati Royals and later the Los Angeles Lakers, alongside Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor.

Remarkably, after hanging up his uniform, Hawkins only became busier. Hawkins moved into broadcasting and enjoyed a 19-year career as a sports anchor for KNBC-TV and KABC radio. He co-hosted shows on KHJ-TV and KABC TV, deejayed on jazz stations KKGO and KJAZZ, and taught a media class at Cal State Long Beach.

In 1987, Hawkins left broadcasting to take on the title of vice president of communications for the Los Angeles Dodgers for nearly two decades. He said that Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley requested that he end his media career in exchange. Ready for a new challenge, Hawkins signed the contract.

Today, Hawkins does not rule out a return to jazz radio, however “these days they want puppets to make announcements and push buttons,” he said. “That’s not who I am. I have my own collection of music that is extensive and comprehensive. I would not come and work for a program director who tells me what to play … That is not the freedom that is jazz. Until we can work that out, I spend a lot of my time in record stores.”

A Malibu resident of 30 years, Hawkins wrote much of the material in “Life’s Reflections” locally. Hawkins and his wife of 24 years, Layla, have a daughter, Neda, who attended Webster Elementary, Our Lady of Malibu, and Malibu High. Hawkins currently sits on the sports advisory board at Pepperdine University.

“I love Malibu because of the peace that you can have here,” he said. “I live on an acre of land that has a view of the ocean. It’s quiet. There are no street lamps here, no sidewalks. I see 10 different species of birds, listen to the coyotes, see all of the flowers, hear the wind and live in relative peace. And when I need the noise, I go to Santa Monica and Los Angeles.”

The ambitious new author conceived “Life’s Reflections” as the first of a trilogy. “A View from the Rim” will explore “my experience in the NBA’s greatest growth period” as a pro athlete in 1959-69. “Hanging Out” will cover celebrity anecdotes.

Right now, his focus is on “Life’s Reflections.” Another poem, “Jackie, Do They Know?,” serves as a reminder. “Because of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line, major colleges began to recruit black players,” Hawkins said. “I look at my entry into Notre Dame, as the only black player for four years,. I attribute it all to Jackie Robinson.”

In 1959, the year he entered professional basketball, Hawkins met the baseball legend, “a very special, dynamic man that I will never forget. Jackie came to Minneapolis for a book signing at Dayton’s Department Store…I sat at his right-hand side as he signed books.”

Now Hawkins has come full circle, embarking on a national book signing tour of his own that began last Thursday at the Museum of Tolerance.

“Here I was last [week] signing books,” Hawkins said, “and it was like deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say.”