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Who Is Chris Hawkins?

Who is Chris Hawkins?  He says he is not an agent, but the NCAA, which suspended University of Georgia stand-out wide receiver A.J. Green for four games because he sold his jersey to Hawkins for $1,000, has no problem labeling Hawkins as an agent.

Is he a financial advisor?  A memorabilia collector?  If he just wanted a jersey, then why is it that people are saying that Hawkins also contacted sports agents about their interest in UNC players and arranged trips for players to met with agents, as well?

Here is who Hawkins is:

  • Former cornerback for UNC who was kicked off the team and finished playing at Marshall University.
  • Nickname is Hawk.
  • Favorite former UNC player is Dre Bly.
  • Former college roommate of NFL RB, Willie Parker.
  • Self-proclaimed manager of Willie Parker.
  • Good friends with UNC cornerbacks Kendric Burney and Charles Brown.
  • Someone who many athletes trust to give them advice regarding sports agents.
  • Facing felony drug charges in Georgia, including a felony charge of trafficking cocaine.

Hawkins has hired Atlanta-based attorney Page Pate to deal with the felony drug charges.  This is who many players are trusting to give them good advice regarding hiring competent people to represent them in contractual negotiations.  At this point, we know that Peter Schaffer of All Pro Sports & Entertainment and Kevin Conner of Universal Sports Management are under the microscope regarding their relationships with Hawkins.

Schaffer represents 40 NFL players including former Tar Heel, Hakeem Nicks.  Connor is listed as representing 5 NFL players: Dekoda Watson (Buccaneers), Chauncey Davis (Falcons), Gerald Sensabaugh (Cowboys), Morgan Burnett (Packers), and Patrick Robinson (Saints).  Sensabaugh played college football at UNC and Burnett played at Georgia Tech.  The other three Connor clients played college ball at Florida State University.

“I do not have a relationship of any kind with Mr. Hawkins,” Conner said in a statement e-mailed to ESPN.com on Thursday. “In no way is Mr. Hawkins affiliated with me or Universal Sports Management, Inc. I have not been contacted by the NCAA or any other organization in regards to any investigation, and I have never received any correspondence from the NCAA.”

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

One reply on “Who Is Chris Hawkins?”

Pretty fascinating, I mean it happens all the time, yet this one little incident may bring down possibly two agents. This is why I believe that “runners” should be held even more accountable than agents. These guys know what they are doing – agents may even have a high amount of ethical trust in this “runners” or “assistants” that they are actually conducting business appropriately.

What bothers me the most and sickens me is that these amateur athletes are trusting some guy probably shouldn’t even be allowed around any citizen. For those of us who consider ourselves ethical, let the NCAA, private investigators, and state officials dig up all the dirt they need to bust all parties involved — should not be near athletes or anyone else for that matter.

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