ABOVE IS A SAMPLE VIDEO FROM MANY OF THE HAWKINS 16MM FILMS WE ALREADY TRANSFERRED TO HD VIDEO!

​We have taken on the monumental task of preserving part of recorded history by having hundreds of unseen footage of yesteryear sports legends captured on 16mm film over half a century ago.

About the Project

In the 1970s, Tommy Hawkins—former Los Angeles Laker, Notre Dame standout, and pioneering sports broadcaster—captured an extraordinary series of 16mm sports films documenting athletes, events, and community stories that shaped the golden era of American sports. For decades, these reels have been carefully stored, but time is catching up. Film naturally deteriorates, and each year risks losing vivid color, sound, and detail forever.

Our mission is simple yet vital: to professionally transfer and preserve these historic films in HD so that the spirit and story of that era live on for generations to come.

Why This Matters

This is more than film restoration—it’s sports heritage preservation.

Tommy Hawkins was one of the first athletes to bridge the worlds of sports, media, and culture. His 16mm films offer a rare, firsthand view of athletes and moments that defined the 1970s—an era of transformation, pride, and cultural progress.

Preserving these films means:

Protecting authentic visual history from the early days of televised sports

Honoring the contributions of Black athletes and community voices often overlooked in mainstream archives

Educating future generations about sportsmanship, creativity, and perseverance

These films belong to history—and history deserves to be seen.

Our Preservation Plan

Your donations will fund:

Professional film inspection and cleaning

Frame-by-frame HD transfer of each reel

Digital color correction and sound enhancement

Secure archival storage and public access

Every contribution directly supports the technicians, archivists, and historians working to save these films before they fade.

How You Can Help

Together, we can bring these stories back to life.

$25 – Helps clean and stabilize a section of film

$100 – Funds an HD transfer session

$275 – Sponsors restoration for an entire reel under 11 inches in width

$350+ – Supports full restoration, mastering, and archival preservation for reels over 11 inches in width

Preserve the Legacy

Tommy Hawkins’ legacy extends beyond the court—he was a visionary storyteller who saw beauty and purpose in sport. These films are living artifacts of an era that defined athletic achievements, cultural change, and creative expression.

Let’s honor his contribution to sports and culture by ensuring his films survive—and inspire—for decades to come.

Join us in preserving sports heritage. Donate today and help bring Tommy Hawkins’ 16mm legacy into the HD era.

 

WE USE YALE FILM AND VIDEO TRANSFER SERVICES IN VALENCIA, CA, TO TRANSFER THESE FILMS. IRONICALLY, THIS IS THE SAME COMPANY THAT SHOT THE FOOTAGE OVER HALF A CENTURY AGO AND IS NOW RUN BY THE ORIGINAL OWNER'S SON, KEITH ANBERSON.

16MM FILM TRANSFER PROTOCOL:

Because these 16mm films have already been heavily edited decades ago with media outtakes, all film splices are repaired to ensure the best possible transfer.

Head and tail leaders are added and then properly labeled, and the film is put onto a 3" core for cleaning. The film is then run through a Lipsner Smith Isopropyl Alcohol film cleaner.

Once that process is done, it gets transferred on a Cintel DSX Machine to an HD 1920 x 1080 ProRes 422 HQ Digital file. After the film gets transferred the Colorist / Operator has full control over the Red, Green, Blue, gain, and gamma, using waveform monitors and a vectorscope, or he can do a "one lite" or flat pass" when we set the exposure in the beginning and just let the film go, where it's light, where it's dark, when the film is dark, you're getting what the film actually looks like. 

 

Once the film has been transferred to a digital file, the film footage is run on a 16mm / 35mm MagnaTech fullcoat player/recorder to capture the audio (magnetic strip or fullcoat) onto an electronic "wave file" which now gets synced up with the original film and outputted to an HD file.

 

MEET THE MANAGING DIRECTOR:

Dean Prator is the person responsible for overseeing the digital transformation and archival collection of these historical films.

THE LEGENDARY TOMMY HAWKINS

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