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LIFE
Hawk's Highlights
Here's a look at just a few of the highlights from the life and career of the late Huntington native country singer Harold "Hawkshaw" Hawkins.
1921 -- Harold Franklin Hawkins is born Dec. 22.
1943 -- Hawkins, who dropped out of Huntington High School during his senior year to pursue music, joins the Army as an engineer. He is stationed in Texas before being sent overseas. Staff Sgt. Hawkins wins four battle stars during 15 months of combat duty, including the Battle of the Bulge. He also spent time in Manila in the Philippines where he had a radio show.
1945 -- Signs with the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling and King Records out of Cincinnati.
1947 -- Hawkins, who is helping the Jamboree draw sold-out shows of 1,400 twice a night on the weekends, makes the cover of the National Hillbilly News in July-August.
1948 -- His first hit single is "Pan American," which is a top 10 hit. He racks up four more top 10 hits over the next four years.
1954 -- Hawkins, the headliner at the Wheeling Jamboree, moved over to the ABC-TV "Ozark Jubilee"
1955 -- Hawkins becomes a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
1958 -- Hawkins and his first wife, Reva Barbour, divorce.
1960 -- Hawkins marries fellow Grand Ole Opry star Jean Shepard.
1963 -- Hawkins dies March 5, 1963, in the same plane as Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and others.
1991 -- Bear Family Records out of Germany releases a box set called "Hawk."
2004 -- In September, RCA Victor's Camden label releases a 22-song CD, "Country Gentleman."
2009 -- Hawkins is inducted into the Huntington Wall of Fame and the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
2009 -- Shepard is set to release a new memoir about her life called "Down Through the Years."
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