R.I.P. Alex Hawkins

Hawkins was one of the great characters in the game during the 1960s. I would say I interviewed him a couple of times over the years, but really I would ask a question or two and he would just talk forever. I have one his books somewhere around here.

South Carolina football great Alex Hawkins dies

 

Paraphrased from One More July by Bill Curry:

Hawkins' nickname was Captain Who, from when Don Shula named him a game captain. He walked out for the coin toss and the ref introduced them: "This is Captain Unitas, this is Captain Marchetti, and this is Captain Hawkins." And one of the opposing players said, "Captain Who?"

As a TV analyst he remarked on a player with two casts: "When you're wearing two casts and go to the bathroom, that's when you find out who your friends are."

 

Hawkins was great on those old NFL Films highlight shows.

I wish I could find the NFL Films video, but Art Donovan told a great story about retaliating against the Lions' Gil Mains after he cheap-shotted Hawkins during a game in 1960. Somebody transcribed it for a story on the Bengals a few years ago:

The Colts were arguably the best team in football in 1960 and looked destined for a third consecutive NFL title. But while playing the Lions in a low-key, regular season game, they came unstuck thanks to a moment of ill-discipline.

Baltimore had just gone ahead in the final minute and kicked off to the Lions. On the kick return, Mains hit Alex Hawkins with something of a cheap shot, which Donovan, who was on the kick team, saw as he was running downfield.

Donovan takes up the story. “I saw Mains hit Alex Hawkins, blind-sided him, just knocked the hell out of him. Hawkins wasn’t my favorite player but he was still my teammate.

“And as I ran by, I saw Mains lying on the ground. So I drop-kicked him, right in the face, as hard as I could. Anyway, I got caught and I got thrown out of the game.
“Lo and behold, on the next play, Earl Morrall throws a pass to Jim Gibbons, the slowest guy on the field except for me, and Gibbons runs for a touchdown.


“(Coach) Weeb Ewbank blamed me for losing the damn game. And I’ll tell you, I didn’t know what to say. I got fined a thousand dollars for doing it but I got satisfaction out of it. I didn’t like Mains to begin with. I thought he was a jerk.

“But then you meet the guy down at the National Football League alumni thing…great fella…going out, buying me beer, buying me pizza…wonderful fella.”

Bengals blow Super Bowl chances with careless penalties

 

The story I remember about Hawkins was that he was taken by the Falcons in the expansion draft. After the first day of training camp, he saw how bad the team was, and called the Colts, begging for them to take him back. They eventually did a year later.

RIP