Graham Norman Hawkins (5 March 1946 – 27 September 2016) was an English football player and manager. During a 16-year playing career in the English Football League, he made 502 league and cup appearances, scoring eleven goals. He spent 14 years coaching and eight years in management and spent the later years of his life working as a football administrator.
A commanding defender, Hawkins began his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1964 and helped the club to win promotion out of the Second Division in 1966–67. He was sold to Preston North End for a £35,000 fee in January 1968. In six and a half seasons with Preston, he made 269 league and cup appearances and also served as their captain as they won the Third Division title in 1970–71. He was sold to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £18,000 in June 1974. He was named on the PFA Team of the Year as the club won the Third Division title in 1974–75. He made 131 league and cup appearances in three and a half seasons at the club before being sold to Port Vale in January 1978 for £6,000. He worked as a player-coach but left the club in acrimonious circumstances during the 1979–80 season after being overlooked for the caretaker manager position.
He served Shrewsbury Town as assistant manager from June 1980 until he was appointed as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 1982. In his first season of management, 1982–83, he led the club to promotion out of the Second Division despite budget constraints. Wolves were relegated out of the First Division the following season, and Hawkins was sacked in April 1984. He then spent six years coaching in the Middle East, with Bahrain SC, Al Hala SC and Al-Arabi SC. He led Bahrain SC to the Bahraini Premier League title in the 1984–85 season. He later worked as Head of Player Development at the Football League and retired in March 2011.
Graham Norman Hawkins was born on 5 March 1946 at 10 Castle Street, Darlaston to Ernest Norman Hawkins – a die miller at a forging works – and Ida Mary Hawkins (née Skitt). He had four siblings: Ernie (born 1935) – who drowned at the age of seven, Maureen (born 1950), Susan (born 1954) and Andrew (born 1962). He attended Addenbrooke Street Primary, Slater Street Secondary Modern Boys School and Wednesbury Technical College. He represented both Staffordshire Boys and Birmingham Boys, playing as a full-back. He married Jane on 26 June 1967, a secretary from Wolverhampton, who he had first met at the age of 16. They had two sons, Ian (born December 1969) and Richard (born December 1971). Ian became a financial adviser and played non-League football, whilst Richard attained a PhD in sports science and went on to work for various Football League and Premier League clubs.
Hawkins was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August 2009. He died on 27 September 2016, at the age of 70.
Hawkins was spotted playing for Staffordshire Boys by Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) scouts and was taken on as an apprentice on wages of £8-a-week. He made his professional debut in the Black Country derby against West Bromwich Albion on 10 October 1964, which ended in a 5–1 defeat, with West Brom debutant Jeff Astle scoring two of the goals. Under the stewardship of Andy Beattie, Wolves suffered relegation out of the First Division in 1964–65, though Hawkins did not play in any further games. His second appearance came on 11 December 1965, when first-team defenders David Woodfield and John Holsgrove were both out injured, in a 4–1 victory over Ipswich Town at Molineux. His third appearance came on 26 Match 1966, when a win at Norwich City started a run of six unbeaten games, and Hawkins kept his place in the team until the end of the 1965–66 season. He picked up the nickname "Harry the Horse" after manager Ronnie Allen criticised his running technique during pre-season, comparing his face with that of a tired horse.
Wolves secured a return to the top flight after finishing second in the Second Division in the 1966–67 campaign, though Hawkins spent most of the season on the bench behind Woodfield and Holsgrove. He also had to spend three months on the sidelines after tearing his ankle ligaments in a clash with Derby County's Kevin Hector. He did start the game that secured promotion, a 4–1 win at Bury on 22 April. However, Wolves missed the chance to win the division after losing on the season's final day. In the summer he spent three weeks on tour with the club's affiliated soccer team in the United States, Los Angeles Wolves, where he shared a room with Derek Dougan. He made seven appearances in the first half of the 1967–68 season, playing his final game for the club in a 3–2 defeat to Manchester United on 30 December.
Hawkins joined Preston North End for a £35,000 transfer fee on 13 January 1968. After a slow start to his Deepdale career, primarily due to injury, he became a regular in the starting eleven. He was appointed captain by manager Jimmy Milne at the young age of 21. However, he would relinquish the captaincy after finding it too much of a burden. Preston finished the 1967–68 season just one place above the Second Division relegation zone, before rising to 14th-place in 1968–69 under the stewardship of Bobby Seith, with Hawkins making 42 appearances in all competitions. He was selected by Jimmy Armfield to tour Asia and New Zealand with an England "A" team in the summer of 1969, taking the place of the absent Alan Bloor, for five uncapped matches in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Tahiti and New Zealand.
Preston finished bottom of the division in 1969–70, though finished only three points short of safety, and Seith was dismissed. Hawkins put in a transfer request, as did many of his teammates, but the board asked him to reconsider. New manager Alan Ball reappointed Hawkins as club captain and Hawkins, this time, felt experienced enough to accept the role. He was an ever-present as the "Lilywhites" made an immediate return to the second tier, winning the Third Division championship by a one-point margin over Fulham in 1970–71. Ball valued his captain at £150,000.
Preston finished 18th in the Second Division in the 1971–72 season, with the highlight of the campaign coming in the FA Cup, where they came close to taking Manchester United to a replay. Hawkins missed the match with an injury, and Ball stated that Preston could have got a positive result if Hawkins had played. Ball was sacked in February 1973 and Preston ended the 1972–73 season above the relegation zone only on goal average. Hawkins was upset at Ball's sacking and felt that his successor, Frank Lord, confused the players with his tactics. Despite former World Cup winner Bobby Charlton being appointed as manager, Preston continued to decline and were relegated at the end of the 1973–74 season, with Nobby Stiles – another World Cup winner – taking Hawkins place as club captain. Plymouth Argyle and Blackburn Rovers made bids for Hawkins in January 1974, though he rejected the former as he did not wish to relocate to the south coast.
Hawkins signed with Blackburn Rovers for a transfer fee of £18,000 in June 1974. Recently appointed manager Gordon Lee was in the process of revamping the first-team, as he also signed Ken Beamish, Pat Hilton, Don Hutchins, Jimmy Mullen and Graham Oates. Hawkins formed a strong central defensive partnership with Derek Fazackerley, and played 49 games as Rovers won promotion as Third Division champions in 1974–75. For his performances that season, Hawkins was named on the Third Division's PFA Team of the Year alongside teammates Roger Jones (goalkeeper) and Andy Burgin (full-back). Hawkins credited Lee with teaching him the concept of playing the ball out from the back, permitting him to use flair and patience rather than direct football tactics.
Now managed by Jim Smith, the club finished mid-table in the Second Division in 1975–76 despite Hawkins and other players struggling with various injuries. Hawkins won the club's Player's Player of the Year award, though lost out the Fan's Player of the Year award after receiving only one vote fewer than winner Tony Parkes. Blackburn finished 12th at the end of the 1976–77 campaign and Smith began to blood new signing Glenn Keeley as a future successor to Hawkins at centre-back. Now aged 31, Hawkins became more of a reserve team player at Ewood Park in the first half of the 1977–78 season, and though he looked for a move away he rejected an approach from Shrewsbury Town as he wanted to secure a coaching role as well as a playing one.