Some basketball-loving police officers want to give an assist to one of the game’s greatest scorers.
Cops, who found in their property warehouse a 40-year-old high-school trophy awarded to NBA legend Connie Hawkins, want to match him up with the long-lost prize.
In 1960, Hawkins led Brooklyn’s Boys High School to its second consecutive city championship. For his efforts, Hawkins was named the city’s most outstanding high-school player, and given a trophy to mark the honor.
Somewhere along the line, between his high-school days and his stellar professional career, the trophy and the future Hall of Famer became separated, which is hard to imagine, considering how few things slipped through Hawkins’ giant hands.
But there it was, tucked away on the back of a dusty shelf at a Police Department warehouse in Long Island City – a trophy with Connie Hawkins’ name on it.
“It would be nice if we could get it back to him,” said Sgt. Joseph Beuther. “I’m sure he’d want it.”
Hawkins, who works in community relations with the Phoenix Suns, the team that retired his No. 42 jersey, has so far not responded to The Post’s queries.
Beuther said cops have long since lost the paperwork on the trophy, so they don’t know how long it has been there or why they ever got it.
All Beuther knows is that the officers cleaning out the property office to make room for new inventory almost committed a costly turnover. When the trophy was first discovered, someone less proficient in the annals of basketball dunked the trophy in a trash basket.
The missed shot prompted a hoop history lesson from Beuther, who told his fellow officers all about the high-flying Hawkins, from his legendary playground days to his long-suffering years on the outskirts of the NBA, the game’s greatest stage.
Despite being a high-school standout, questionable ties to a gambler who fixed games forced “The Hawk” out of college ball before he ever took a shot. The guilt by association also kept him out of the elite NBA until he was 27.
Even so, his outstanding play in seven NBA seasons was enough to merit Hall-of-Fame honors, as well as the adoration of legions of fans who call him the model for such aerial masters as Vince Carter and Michael Jordan.
“I knew right away who Connie Hawkins is,” Beuther said. “I’m a basketball fan. He was Julius Erving before Julius Erving.”