By Karenlyn Barone
Hawkins, a Malverne resident, was a senior at Valley Stream Central High School in the winter of 1981. He was the captain of the football team and played varsity lacrosse. One night that December, the 17-year-old was on his way home from a party. Hawkins was asleep in the passenger seat of a friend's car when his life changed forever.
The car went out of control on Ocean Avenue, crossing Sunrise Highway and throwing Hawkins through the windshield and onto the street. He suffered a life-threatening gash in his head and a dislocated spinal cord, with fractures of the T-7, 8 and 9 vertebrae. Hawkins lapsed into a coma, in which he remained for five days. While his friend miraculously walked away from the accident, Hawkins would never walk again. He was paralyzed from the waist down.
He spent four months at Mercy Medical Center, and two more months at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, part of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of New York University School of Medicine in Manhattan. There, Hawkins was taught the most basic skills all over again, everything from how to sit up to how to navigate a wheelchair.
"They can teach you how to get back into life again, but no one can teach you how to really prepare for your new life," he said.
Hawkins finished his senior year of high school with the help of tutors, but his days as an athlete, which, he says, were so integral to who he was, sadly seemed over. This was the kid who scored two touchdowns in his last football game and did a flip in the end zone, much to the delight of the crowd. But in 1982, there weren't many options open to wheelchair athletes. The only established teams were in wheelchair basketball, which did not appeal to him.
"I was never any good at any sport where I didn't get to run into someone head first," Hawkins laughed.
He decided to train with weights, though, and joined a local gym, where he started working out with a dual purpose in mind. "I needed to do something to stay in shape," said Hawkins. "And being in shape made getting around easier for me."
To make working out more convenient, Hawkins eventually started training in his garage with his brothers. He developed what he thought was a satisfying routine for staying in shape, but the problem was that lifting weights did not give him the aerobic exercise he wanted. Determined to create a total-body workout, Hawkins eventually found himself buying a racing wheelchair. He credits his old science teacher, Dennis Treubig, with the suggestion.
"He wrote in my yearbook that maybe he would meet me at a marathon someday, and at the time I thought, 'No way. I am not going to do a marathon in a chair,'" Hawkins recalled.
He admits he hated the racing chair the first time out, as the process proved much more difficult than he anticipated. The physical challenge of maneuvering his body and his lifeless legs into the racing chair was time-consuming and tiring.
"But the race chair did provide me with an aerobic workout," he said.
The muscles that do the work in wheelchair racing are in the shoulders, back and arms, and Hawkins had to re-train them to work aerobically. He continued to lift weights and added conditioning to get his body in top racing form. He entered his first half-marathon, 13.1 miles, placed third, and was hooked. To date, Hawkins has raced in marathons throughout the United States, and for the past two years he has competed in the Oita Marathon in Japan.
"I spend an entire week in Japan with athletes from 30 different nations, and I get to race against some of the best athletes in the world," he said.
Today Hawkins works out with a high-intensity trainer, Ken Leistner of Valley Stream, on a regular basis. A moderate workout includes front pull-downs with 180 pounds of weights on a Nautilus machine, 15 repetitions on an incline press with 200 pounds ... and a snack of Yodels and water. "During my first marathon, all I could think about was how badly I wanted a Yodel, so now it's like a superstition with me," he said. "I condition, and Dr. Ken gives me Yodels after my workout."
Hawkins has worked as a coach of the seventh- and eighth-grade football team at Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School and as assistant coach of Valley Stream Central's lacrosse team. Eventually he gave up coaching to train full time and embark on another career -- that of motivational speaker. Hawkins inspires young people across the country when he talks to them about the dangers of drinking and driving.
"I go in and tell my story, and if I can keep one kid from doing the same stupid thing that I did, then that's great," he said. "By the time some kids get to high school, they already have a drinking problem. I tell them, 'Look what happened to me because of one night of drinking.'"
Hawkins inspires disabled people and able-bodied people alike. He actually trained All-Pro NFL linebacker Stephen Boyd, who played for the Detroit Lions until last season, in his garage. "I've known Peter just about all my life," said Boyd. "He's great."
Hawkins remains grounded about his abilities and his commitment to overcoming whatever limitations he's faced with. "I am confident in my ability, but I don't think I do anything to inspire anyone," he said. "As a choice, it stinks -- but I wasn't given a choice. It took some time, but I am very comfortable with who I am."
