HARRY HAWKINS

Harry Hawkins was born July 11, 1905 and attended Arthur Hill High School where he played two years of varsity football and participated three years in track (1920-22). At 6-foot and 198 pounds, he was nicknamed “Jumbo” by his teammates. Hawkins was the first recipient of the Julius W. Ippel Merit Cup which went to the outstanding member of the senior class at AHHS. He received a football scholarship to the University of Michigan where he earned three varsity letters in football as an offensive tackle and was named All-America his senior year – thus becoming the first football All-American to come from Saginaw County. Then-Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost called Hawkins one of the finest tackles to play for the Wolverines. During his tenure at Michigan (1923-25) the Wolverines were 21-3 and outscored its opponents 532-69. He was also on the Michigan’s track and field team where he excelled in the hammer throw, winning the event at the Big Ten, National and Penn Relays in 1926. Hawkins graduated in 1926 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was honored in 1961 as an inaugural member of the Arthur Hill High School Letterwinner’s Hall of Fame – the same year the school honored him to their Honor Alumni Roll. He would go on to become the president of the Letterwinner’s Association in 1941. He was very involved with the YMCA and worked as a volunteer on the building committee when they built their new building. He was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Fame this year. Hawkins passed away August 10, 1977, at the age of 72 and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.