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| Hawkins Award has deep meaning if you knew the coach, the son |
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7/2/2010
By Dan Mnnley
Advocate Sports Editor
Someday, maybe I’ll come across the tape in a box that’s been stored away.
I hope I do.
But if not, the words and the expression and the moment in time are as vivid as yesterday.
The year was 1979 and we were sitting across East High Street from Jones Field where The Hawk and his wife lived for many years. A good placekicker could have booted an extra point right through the upstairs window.
I’ve always had in mind to preserve as much history of sports in the county as possible, there just never seemed to be enough time to follow through on the project.
But I was there, tape recorder in hand, to talk with Coach Hawkins about his son Robert being drafted in the eighth round of the NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders.
For those who may not be old enough to remember and have never been told, Arthur Hawkins was the football coach at Du Bois High School prior to the burning of the school in the early 1960’s and the subsequent integration of the schools in Montgomery County.
Hawkins would then move on to Mt. Sterling High School where he was a teacher, track and field coach and assistant football coach under Chili Ishmael.
And in the early 1970’s, Coach Hawkins’ son, Robert, was one of the top high school football players in Kentucky. Ultimately he signed with the University of Kentucky, played under Fran Curci and went on to have a brief professional career with the Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Cardinals.
Hawkins once was clocked in a 9.2 100-yard dash at Cunningham Field. At UK, Hawkins got the knock of not being a tough-enough practice player to suit Curci.
The result was that we watched slower players take the ball on end sweeps for gains for three and four yards when you could envision Hawkins on the same play going the distance. He just rarely got the chance. But the pros didn’t miss him and one has to wonder if a more active collegiate career wouldn’t have led to a successful career in the NFL.
But getting back on track...
Arthur Hawkins had been a talented football player himself. In 1934 playing for Henry Kean, Hawkins helped lead what was then known as Kentucky State College for Negroes in Frankfort to the Negro National Football Championship. From 1931 through 1942, Kean’s teams compiled a record of 73-17-6 at Kentucky State and he’s still the winningest coach of all time for the Thoroughbreds.
But again, getting back on track...
As we talked that afternoon, now over 30 years ago, Coach Hawkins had tears well up in his eyes as he talked about the feeling of having a son drafted into the NFL. But the tears were not for his getting a chance at a professional sports career.
Coach Hawkins hesitated, trying to force out the words.
“Danny,” as he always called me. “You can’t imagine what it felt like when we walked on the campus in Lexington after Robert had signed to play at Kentucky, realizing that when I was a student coming along, the racial barriers prevented me from attending the university, let alone playing football.”
He said he felt both a great sense of pride that day, which was much greater than any regret he felt that his opportunities in another era had been less.
The late Arthur Hawkins did much for the black community in Mt. Sterling and Montgomery County, even while taking much criticism from many who felt him to be too “peaceful” in his demeanor and approach.
Coach Hawkins has been dead for several years, but his memory lives on in an annual award presented by the Montgomery County High School football program each year named the Arthur Hawkins Award.
Recently his son Robert, who lives in Colorado, was in Mt. Sterling, and presented the award for 2010 to Andre McCall along with a scholarship award. McCall, ironically, is going to be attending Kentucky State University (the name was changed to Kentucky State College in 1952 and Kentucky State University in 1972).
McCall will be playing for the Thoroughbreds and is expected to be used in the offensive line.
Any recognition that Arthur Hawkins received in life or after his death certainly pales in terms of what was deserved.
Hopefully those who have won the award in the past will always cherish it as a source of pride.
Arthur Hawkins Coaches Award
2009—Andre McCall
2008—Grant Darnell
2007—Joe Stanfield
2006—Austin Maples
2005—Marlon Rash
2004—Marc Boyd
2003—John E. Montgomery
2002—Joe Manning, Jason Joiner, Dustin Martin
2001—Wesley Rogers
2000—Tyler Mark
1999—Jason Goodpaster
1998—Jason Fair
1997—L.C. Coons
1996—Ryan Owens
1995—John Morton
1994—Greg Johnson
1993—Jerry Stephens
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