Larry Fleming: Hawkins’ contributions remembered by Shorter

Randy Hawkins spent four of the best years of his life at Shorter College in Rome — Georgia, not Italy. Not that there’s anything wrong with Italy’s version. There probably aren’t many baseball players around the pope’s neighborhood, but Hawkins made a name for himself — and almost made a profession out of it — by playing baseball in Dalton and later at Shorter College.

Hawkins’ diamond talents when he played at Dalton High put him on a path to Shorter, which has a nice baseball program nowadays but was an NAIA power back in the 1970s, when the slender Hawkins took up residence there.

He was a four-year starter in high school and college, earning most valuable player honors his senior season with the Catamounts. His primary position was shortstop, although during his junior and senior years Hawkins pitched quite a bit for coach David Cady. Hawkins baseball exploits at Dalton paved the way for a scholarship at Shorter, where he played from 1974-77.

“That scholarship was based on my hitting ability,” Hawkins said the other day.

At Shorter, Hawkins played the outfield his first two years with the Hawks and shifted to first base for his junior and senior seasons.

“Those were some of the best years of my life,” he said. “It was a real privilege to play with the guys down there.”

Hawkins was good for Shorter baseball, too. Take note:

• He was a three-time All-Conference/All-District 25 selection, two-time All-Area 5 pick and twice named to the NAIA honorable mention All-America team.

• He is considered one of the best hitters to play at Shorter. During his four years with the Hawks, Hawkins hit 34 home runs and drove in 134 RBIs. His junior year jumps out because he hit 20 homers and drove in 51 runs while batting .328.

• He helped the Hawks to four straight conference championships and back-to- back District 25 titles.

• In 1976, after that sterling junior season, Hawkins was drafted by the San Francisco Giants.

So, he had a decision to make: Take the money and run or return to Shorter for his senior season. The Giants offered to sign Hawkins, ship him to Great Falls, Mont., and pay him $550 a month.

Hawkins felt the best thing he could do was go back to Shorter, put up more good numbers, put his name back in the draft and, he hoped, get a better deal with a big-league club.

That’s exactly what he did. It was a risk — would his senior year be good enough to keep the scouts coming around? — he was willing to take.

However, 10 games into his final season at Shorter, Hawkins raced in from his outfield position in a game against Oglethorpe University, chasing a shallow popup. At the last minute, Hawkins dove for the ball and dislocated his left shoulder. He was hospitalized for a couple of days and managed to finish the season.

But the scouts didn’t come around after his injury and he was not drafted after the 1977 season. His baseball career, which included playing at Dalton High, Shorter, American Legion ball out of Calhoun for three summers — one of those with Rick Honeycutt, former Lakeview High and University of Tennessee standout and currently the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers — was over.

“But I have no regrets about going back to Shorter for my senior year,” Hawkins said. “I had watched the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Braves play and felt I could have gotten to Double-A baseball, but probably not beyond that. So, I was OK with my decision.”

Well, Shorter College didn’t forget what Hawkins did for the school’s baseball team.

On Nov. 13, Hawkins was inducted into the Shorter College Athletic Hall of Fame, along his former roommate, baseball pitcher Zane Holland, fellow Daltonian and four-sport (tennis, baseball, basketball and volleyball) standout Melvyn Ottinger, Jonas Jarvholm (tennis), Marie Mercer Lewis (tennis), J.J. Merritt (basketball), Tammie Simpson (basketball) and Andy Wade (distinguished service as statistician for basketball, baseball and tennis).

“The real highlight of my time at Shorter was the induction ceremony,” Hawkins said. “It was really special. I got to see some old friends and, while I knew of coach Ottinger, I had never met him before the ceremony. The whole thing was neat.”

(Later this week, Daily Citizen correspondent Doug Hawley will profile Ottinger, who is best remembered around town as the coach of the Dalton Junior College Roadrunners basketball team).

Now a project manager for J&J-Invision;, a commercial carpet manufacturer in Dalton where he’s been since 1978, Hawkins said he has been on a “real high” since receiving the letter of induction from Harold E. Newman, Shorter College president, back in September. And it was nice that Holland, his old roomie, was inducted the same night.

“We started together,” Hawkins said, “and finished together.”

Larry Fleming is sports editor of The Daily Citizen. You can write to him at larryfleming@daltoncitizen.com.