"That's my story and I am sticking to it" -Alex Hawkins | Eastern North Carolina Now

    He was not one of my old drinking buddies, but I shared a few drinks with him over the years. He was a fixture in Atlanta after his football days with the Falcons. In the 1970s, Hawkins worked as a color commentator for Falcons radio, and for TVS's Thursday night World Football League (WFL) telecasts and CBS's NFL telecasts. He could be found in the bars at happy hour, late at night or maybe in the morning waffle house on the way home. When it comes to colorful characters and outright funny guys, you would have to rank Alex Hawkins right up there near the top. He went from being Captain Midnight for his after hour escapades to Captain Who because he was always semi famous as a football player.

   Hawkins acquired the nickname "Captain Who" prior to a Baltimore Colts/Chicago Bears game, when the team captains were being introduced to each other before the game. Bears' Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus responded to the official's reference to "Captain Hawkins" by blurting out "Captain Who?" (wiki)
Alex Hawkins, South Carolina Gamecocks, Baltimore Colts, Atlanta Falcons,

    He was a football player back when football players were nothing more than big overgrown kids. He probably never grew up but we are all better for it. He could tell a story and the truth was never a requirement for his yarns. There may have always been a slight passing nod to truth but it was the telling of the story that was important. If you ever met him, you had no problem believing that he was telling the "God's honest Truth" because his delivery and enthusiasm was infectious.

    My favorite story told by him and eventually finding it's way into a book is as follows (See credit from Georgia Trend below)

    "When he stayed out all night (which he frequently did), his wife, sick with worry, looked everywhere. He walked in the house one morning at 8. Libby, his first wife, greeted him. "Alex," she screamed anxiously, "where have you been?"

    Alex replied, "I have been out in the hammock all night. The moon was so beautiful I didn't want to leave it." His wife, fraught with worry, said frantically, "Do you expect me to believe that? We took the hammock down two weeks ago."

    "Well," Alex replied, "that's my story and I'm sticking to it." Georgia Trend

    Click here to read more about him: USC great Alex Hawkins battles illness

    Alex is suffering from old age, miles traveled and possible brain damage of many years of banging his head against the world on the field and off. He is 78 years old now but boy, what a ride it must have been.    Here is the video that was inspired by his book.