Rip Hawkins Explained

Position:	Linebacker
Number:	58
Birth Date:	April 21, 1939
Birth Place:	Winchester, Tennessee, U.S.
Death Place:	Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.
Afldraftyear:	1961
Afldraftround:	2
Afldraftpick:	12
Draftyear:	1961
Draftround:	2
Draftpick:	15
College:	North Carolina
Pastteams:	Minnesota Vikings
Statlabel1:	Games played–started
Statvalue1:	70–66
Statlabel2:	Interceptions
Statvalue2:	12
Statlabel3:	Touchdowns
Statvalue3:	3
Highlights:	Pro Bowl (1963) First-team All-ACC (1960)

Ross Cooper "Rip" Hawkins (April 21, 1939 – July 28, 2015) was a professional American football player. He played five seasons in the National Football League with the Minnesota Vikings.

Hawkins died in 2015; at the time of his death, he had Lewy body dementia.^{[1] [2]} He was one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head.^{[3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Original Vikings' Player Rip Hawkins Dies After Battling Dementia KSTP TV - Minneapolis and St. Paul . kstp.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150814141519/http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3866904.shtml . 2015-08-14.
2. Web site: Obituaries.
3. News: The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) . Concussion Legacy Foundation . July 2, 2023 . July 2, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230702123543/https://concussionfoundation.org/cte-resources/subconcussive-impacts . dead .
4. News: Ken Belson and Benjamin Mueller . Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E. The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease. . . June 20, 2023 . July 2, 2023 .