Francis Marion University athletic officials recently announced that former basketball players Kim Slawson Hawkins and Bob Wilson, both of whom also returned to coach at the university, are the newest inductees into the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Both Hawkins and Wilson are residents of Florence and employed by Florence School District One; Hawkins at Lester Elementary School and Wilson at Wilson High School.
A product of Summerville High School, Hawkins played four seasons of basketball at Francis Marion from 1982 to 1986. She also played volleyball during her sophomore year. She earned a B.S. degree in economics from FMU in 1986.
She is married with two children and has been the administrative assistant at Lester Elementary for the past 10 years.
During her playing career with the Patriots, she appeared in 131 games for then coach Sylvia Hatchell and helped Francis Marion to a 113-18 record, including three national tournament appearances and the 1986 NAIA national championship. She scored a career-high equaling 22 points in her final contest – the national title game win over Wayland Baptist University – after which she earned All-Tournament Team recognition.
She ended her career with 1,198 points (currently 19th on the all-time FMU list), 524 rebounds (26th), and 370 assists (6th). She recorded a school-record 462 steals – a total that also stood as the NAIA national record until 1990 – while committing only 246 turnovers.
Named to the 20th-anniversary FMU Team, she still owns the Francis Marion records for free throws attempted in a game (19) and steals in a season (150) and career. She connected on 49 percent of her career field goal attempts.
Hawkins was named to the American Women’s Sports Federation Freshman All-America Team in 1983 and to the AWSF All-America squad (fourth-team) as a senior in 1986. She garnered honorable mention NAIA All-District Six team honors in 1986 and was named to the District Six All-Tournament Team in 1985.
Following her FMU career, she played briefly with the professional Women’s Basketball League’s Charlotte franchise. She returned to Francis Marion and served as an assistant coach for volleyball in 1989 and as an assistant for women’s basketball from 1992 to 1995. She has also assisted with the Wilson High School soccer and girls’ basketball programs in the past.
