By Luke Feltenberger ‘27
“It was a great feeling hoisting that trophy,” Frank Hawkins said about his state basketball championship victory at Red Lion Christian High School. Hawkins felt blessed to make it to the state championship all 4 years of high school, and won back-to-back state championships in his junior and senior seasons. He also broke the all-time scoring record for all of York County.
Hawkins said, “it was a feeling I will never forget” about that moment when the game stopped, the refs awarded him the game ball, and the fans erupted in cheers for his amazing accomplishment.
“I put goals in place in order to achieve them,” Hawkins said on what helped him reach such a high level of success in basketball. “I ended up not having normal summers.” He attended a minimum of 4 basketball camps every summer to help improve his skill. His dad became his coach and encouraged him to keep working hard. While his friends were on their way to the beach and sleeping in, Hawkins was training and working on his skills, not going anywhere without a basketball in his hand.
Hawkins’ idol in those years was Larry Johnson, a power forward in the NBA. Hawkins’ toughest opponent he had to guard during his time in high school basketball was during the “Tennessee all-star game – Mookie Blaylock,” who ended up becoming a professional NBA player.
Faith is important to Hawkins’ career, but for a while he “allowed my goal to become my god,” feeling that he put his career and goal above his relationship with God. He continued, “If I could do it all again I would’ve structured that relationship better.”
He needed faith to overcome the challenges that came with athletics. Many athletes have experienced injuries. For Hawkins, it was a horrific accident, which caused his career to be put on a pause. Hawkins said, “I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to walk again, let alone play basketball.”
Despite the gruesome injury, Hawkins said that it helped him be able to do things he couldn’t do before. “Injuries can set you back,” Hawkins said, “but they can also strengthen the weakest parts of your body.”
Hawkins grew up in the York area and attended Red Lion Christian School. It was very difficult for Hawkins to be one of the first African American students to attend Red Lion Christian. For the first 2 weeks he attended he was not referred to by his name, but by a racial slur. This caused a lot of resentment and fighting, which got Hawkins suspended on multiple occasions and also caused bad grades. In the 8th grade Hawkins finished with all D’s. However, in 9th grade Hawkins found God and started to look at people with a different view. This allowed Hawkins to become the first African American student to graduate from Red Lion Christian.
His abilities helped him go to the army, where he was again one of the few African Americans. His drill sergeant said directly to Hawkins, “you will never advance in my squad.” Unfortunately, this prejudice caused Hawkins to not have the military career he had hoped for. He was eventually honorably discharged from the military. Then as that chapter of Hawkins’ life ended, a much darker one started.
Hawkins was a supervisor at a cellphone company when he was accused of something he did not do. This caused Hawkins to be charged with 4 federal crimes. He was looking at years in prison. Hawkins spoke of his feelings at the court, saying “I went out in the hall and cried,” feeling scared that he would become another victim of racial inequality in a trial. But “by the miracle of God” he was found not guilty. However, he was given no restitution for the time and money he had spent proving his innocence.
This is when Hawkins bounced around jobs like coaching, Harley Davidson, and Athletic Director at York and Donegal school districts. Speaking on his progression and his choice to move onto Conestoga Valley, Hawkins said he was “being obedient to what I was told” and that CV is a “positive environment.”
After all of these ups and downs, faith is still a huge aspect of Hawkins’ life. One of the most important verses to him is Jeremiah 29:11 – “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”