Hersey Hawkins

Hersey R. Hawkins Jr. (born September 29, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. After starring at Chicago's Westinghouse High School, 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. Career in the NBA 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.