Brooklyn Must Honor Connie Hawkins, The Legend it Forgot

On Oct. 6, 2025, Brooklyn marked eight years since the passing of one of its own — basketball great Connie Hawkins. A Boys High School, Bed-Stuy phenom street ball genius, American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association All-Star, and eventual Hall of Famer, “The Hawk” soared higher than anyone before him. Yet in the borough that raised him, his name is still missing from a park, court or street sign.

Since Hawkins’ death, people from Brooklyn, Pittsburgh and Phoenix — the three cities that shaped his life and career — have joined local sports groups to push for a simple honor: name a Bed-Stuy basketball court after him. It should have been easy. Instead, it’s become another uphill fight for a man who spent much of his life battling injustice.

Anyone who knows Hawkins’