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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Larry
4 Hawkins, a longtime Chicago educator, championship basketball
5 coach and athletics enthusiast, on January 30, 2009; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Larry grew up on the South Side, near 30th and
7 Prairie; he attended Phillips High School, Wilson Junior
8 College, George Williams College, Roosevelt University, and
9 finally the University of Illinois, where he earned his Ph.D.
10 in education; to pay for his education, he sold newspapers,
11 shined shoes, and worked as a stock boy; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Larry played basketball under the name Hawk
13 Washington with the old Brown Bombers, a spinoff of the Harlem
14 Globetrotters; as he traveled with the team throughout the
15 South, he saw people who needed help and vowed to teach
16 children how to cope with discrimination; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Dr. Hawkins began his career coaching basketball
18 at Carver High School; he discovered Cazzie Russel in a gym
19 class and groomed him into one the greatest NBA players ever
20 produced in Chicago; in 1962 he coached his team to second
21 place in the State tournament and won the championship a year
22 later in 1963; he was named Coach of the Year by the city's

 

 

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1 Prep Sports Writers Association in 1962 and 1963; his
2 championship team was welcomed home by over 15,000 fans,
3 including Mayor Richard J. Daley who said, "Hawkins not only
4 builds great basketball teams, he builds character in men"; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Larry's coaching garnered headlines, but he
6 dedicated most of his career to helping struggling students
7 prepare for college; since 1968, he had been Director of the
8 Office of Special Programs - College Prep at the University of
9 Chicago, a program that provides tutors and classes, sponsors
10 trips to college campuses and helps young people increase their
11 opportunities to continue their education beyond high school;
12 he founded the institute for Athletics and Education in the
13 early 1970's to work with student athletes; he was president of
14 Big Buddies Youth Services, which dealt with troubled youth and
15 was often heard saying, "You got to give a joker a break"; and
 
16     WHEREAS, In 40 years as an educator, through the Office of
17 Special Programs, the Institute of Athletics and Education and
18 Big Buddies Youth Services, Dr. Hawkins and his staff annually
19 taught, tutored and counseled hundreds of children; former
20 Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas once asked Mr. Hawkins
21 to become the Public League's sports supervisor, an offer Larry
22 declined saying, "I've got kids I have to look after, kids who
23 need me"; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
2 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
3 mourn, along with his family, friends, and the many people
4 whose lives were touched by him, the passing of Dr. Larry
5 Hawkins; and be it further
 
6     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7 presented to the family of Dr. Larry Hawkins as a symbol of our
8 sincere sympathy.