Hall of Fame
Ron Hawkshaw spent two seasons with the York men’s hockey team and is one of its most dominant players. In his final season he won the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Award as the CIAU player of the year, one of only two recipients in program history, and that same season he was also named a CIAU first-team all-Canadian and an OUAA first-team all-star. He also earned all-star honours in his first year at York and helped the team win back-to-back OUAA silver medals. Prior to coming to York for law school, Hawkshaw starred for the Waterloo men’s hockey team and helped them win their only University Cup title. He remains the only hockey player ever to be named an all-Canadian at two schools.
Many student-athletes split their years between multiple institutions, but few do it while experiencing so much success at both. Ron Hawkshaw is part of that rare group, and his induction into the York Sport Hall of Fame adds to a list of accomplishments that includes induction into the University of Waterloo Hall of Fame in 1990.
Hawkshaw was such a talented hockey player that he dominated wherever he went, and he has the distinction of being the only player in his sport to ever be named an all-Canadian at two schools. It almost didn’t play out that way as York was the place he originally intended to be.
“I was scheduled to go to York for my undergrad and to play hockey. The head coach at the time was Bill Purcell, who my family knew quite well. But that spring, the university replaced Bill with Dave Chambers because they wanted someone who could teach at the university as well, and that made me angry at the time. I was put in touch with the Waterloo head coach and I had two high school friends who were going to Waterloo as well and so I changed my mind and went there instead.”
The decision proved to be a good one for Hawkshaw as he was part of a golden era for Warriors hockey. He spent three seasons at Waterloo, twice earning the team’s most valuable player award to go along with a pair of OUAA all-star selections. In his second year, he was part of the squad that won the 1974 University Cup, Waterloo’s only men’s hockey national championship and one of eight national titles won by all Warriors teams combined.
Hawkshaw made his way to York after all. Following graduation from Waterloo with a degree in history, he was accepted into Osgoode Hall Law School and joined the Yeomen hockey team at the same time. He had only two years of eligibility left but made the most of them. In his second season he won the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Award as the CIAU player of the year, one of only two recipients in program history and its most recent. He was a CIAU first-team all-Canadian that same season, as well as a two-time OUAA all-star, and led the team to back-to-back OUAA silver medals.
It was all a whirlwind few years for Hawkshaw as he went from university undergrad to married man to law student.
“We had a life-changing couple of weeks in the summer of 1975! We were married that August and went on a small honeymoon. Immediately after returning from that I went to a tryout camp for the NHL’s Atlanta Flames, but I didn’t stay and a few days later I came back home and started law school.”
Hawkshaw began practicing law in 1980 and has spent his entire career at the firm in Ajax, Ont., where he is now a partner (Polak, McKay & Hawkshaw). He went there after being called to the bar to practice municipal law and never left. He and his wife Sheila, a former University of Toronto cheerleader whom he met in high school, went on to have two children, Erin and Craig, and the family moved in Ajax in 1986 so he could be closer to his office.
After nearly 40 years working long hours, Hawkshaw is slowly winding down his practice as he nears retirement. He continued playing hockey for many years after finishing his varsity career but was forced to give it up about five years ago following hip replacement surgery. He prefers golf and skiing now, and is eyeing travel and more time with his grandchildren, Madeline and Lauren, as his schedule opens up.
