Fred Hawkins

Although he never won a national gymnastics title, Fred Hawkins came through the trials to qualify for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Four years later, he came close to a second appearance but failed in the final trial for the Amsterdam Games. Hawkins, who started competitive gymnastics before World War I, later became a gymnastic judge, and was a top-class instructor and physical director of the Hanley YMCA. Through that role, he helped with the running of physical education courses for the many unemployed of the Stoke-on-Trent area in the 1930s.