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Hawk McGinnis

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Harry Lee "Hawk" McGinnis (born August 28, 1927[a]) is an American traveler who walked at least 80,000 miles (130,000 km) on an around-the-world walking tour, from 1992 to c. 2012.[1][5] Earlier in his life, he walked through all 50 United States from 1983 to 1987.

Life and career

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Born in 1927, Hawk grew up in Indiana on a farm.[3][2]

In 1944, he joined the U.S. Army and was posted in Japan and the Philippines during the Second World War.[3][4] During the war he received the nickname Hawk, which later stuck as his name.[6] He returned to the U.S. in 1947 and became a singer.[3] Later, he changed his career and joined a local magazine as a magazine editor and then finally a Methodist minister.[3]

Hawk started on his first walking expedition on August 29, 1983, on his 57th birthday, setting off on a planned 3-year walk to go in and through all the 50 states of the United States.[7] He was sponsored by both The North Face, who provided him with camping equipment, and Nike, who supplied him with shoes, during his walk.[2] On June 20, 1984, Hawk entered Crater Lake National Park after walking through ten states and still hoped to finish by his 60th birthday.[8] He finished in April 1987.

In 1992, he started in Dublin's Saint Patrick's Day parade of 1992, and by March 2008 has completed sixty-six countries.[3][9]

Dorian Haarhoff wrote that in 1996, Haarhoff encountered Hawk while walking around the world and he was given a card that read "Dimensions of a Seeker: Desire, Discipline, Determination, Discrimination", which read to Haarhoff like a "poet's manifesto".[10]

He reported on his website that he finished in January of 2012 when he crossed the boarder from Mexico into Texas.[11]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Earlier sources written during his walks tend to put his birth year as 1926,[1][2] while later sources discussing his life have it as 1927.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "TRAVELING PREACHER: REST WOULD RUST ME". Orlando Sentinel.
  2. ^ a b c "Man treks through United States with shillelagh and leprechaun". The Black Hills Weekly. November 14, 1984. p. 4. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Walker Talks About Journey". NPR.
  4. ^ a b Staff, Chron com (August 21, 2018). "Midtown Apartment fire 0821". Chron.
  5. ^ "Walker, 80, aims to see world". April 19, 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  6. ^ "Yuma Sun Newspaper Archives, Sep 30, 1986, p. 13". Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Hawk plans to visit states step by step". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. August 22, 1983. p. 19. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ eifert (2020-04-02). "Smith History – 137 News from 1984". Crater Lake Institute - Enhancing the Visitors Experience. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  9. ^ "American walker goes round the world at 80 years". Reuters. 2008-04-17. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  10. ^ Haarhoff, Dorian (1997). The inner eye : Namibian poetry in process. Basel : Afrika Bibliographien. p. 11. ISBN 978-3-905141-68-9. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  11. ^ "History of the Walk". hawkwalk.net. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022. After Twenty; consecutive years a {backpacking} trek is finished. The Hawk has landed. The last border was crossed between Mexico and Texas, (January 2012).
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