(Atlantic) The Atlantic Rotary Club had to roll out an extra table and chairs to accommodate the crowd they had for their featured guest this week.
Atlantic hometown hero Ryan Hawkins spoke about his recent experience in New Orleans. Hawkins was named MVP of the National 3-on-3 Tournament. Rotarian Dave Chase gave a very complimentary introduction. Chase noted that a common response to the question, “Where is Atlantic, Iowa?” used to be “That’s where Ed Podolak is from. Chase says, “Now we have new one we can use. We can say that Atlantic, Iowa is where Ryan Hawkins is from. You put Atlantic on the map and we really appreciate that.”
Hawkins admits participating in the National 3-on-3 Championships took some convincing. Tournament officials called and ask three times before he committed. The week before the tournament he got a call and, “I had said no. I had no desire. I was ready to be done with basketball for a little bit and just kind of relax. I got a call on Friday again asking me to go to New Orleans and play in this tournament. They thought it would be a lot of fun for me, but I still said no. My old school, Northwest, was in the national championship game last Saturday in Evansville, Indiana. So I’m making the nine hour drive to Evansville and I get a call again. This time it is from the director of the tournament. He says, ‘Here’s the thing. We’ll fly you out. We’ll put you up in a hotel for the week. You get $1,000 per game that you win.’ I said, ‘You should have led with that.'” His team of four ended up winning $70,000.
In New Orleans he was able to rub elbows with a few former NBA players including Mike Miller, Danny Manning, and Paul Pierce. Next up on his basketball journey is the Portsmouth Invitational April 12th-17th which gives the top 64 prospects a chance to impress NBA and European scouts.
Dave Chase introduction:
Ryan Hawkins presentation:
