Arguably the most successful Southport footballer to span the Second World War, Harry Hawkins was—on his day—a good ball-player who knew the way to goal. He represented Yorkshire County Schoolboys in 1928–30 but it was from South Bank East End (a Middlesbrough nursery club) that he joined the Ayresome Park side. In 2½ seasons with Middlesbrough he scored some 60 goals from inside-right and centre-forward but had only one League outing. He added a mere five League games at Watford but, coming to Haig Avenue for a modest fee, he soon got into his stride and was one of a record three ever-presents in 1938–39. During the war, Harry went back to the Middlesbrough steel works and was unable to play regularly, though he became the club’s leading marksman with 18 goals in 27 games in 1945–46. Despite registering a hat-trick inside 29 minutes against Hull City when the Football League resumed in 1946–47, he became unsettled and asked for a transfer as he found the travelling unsatisfactory. An accident at work involving some detonators in the early ‘fifties led to his withdrawing from football; he continued to live in Acklam and was reunited with his striking partner Joe Patrick at the 1981 reunion. He died after a brief illness in Middlesbrough General Hospital in 1992.

Profile reproduced with Permission from:
The Sandgrounders: The Complete League History of Southport F. C., by Michael Braham and Geoff Wilde (Palatine Books, 1995). ISBN 978-1-874181-14-9