Hersey Hawkins

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. At the time of his graduation in 1988, he was the fourth-leading scorer in NCAA Division I history and is currently 10th. 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. 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.

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.

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. 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. 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. Former NFL offensive lineman Flozell Adams is Hersey's cousin.