Council stamps NBL Champion Hawks Keys to the City honour
They earned the key to our hearts, and the 2025 Illawarra Hawks can add the keys to our city to their collection after Wollongong Council unanimously endorsed bestowing the honour on the now-reigning NBL champions.
The league’s only foundation club, the Hawks were there on day one of the then fledgling National Basketball League in 1979 and have contested every season since – the only club to have done so.
The ever-loyal Hawks faithful had to wait 22 years for its first title in 2001. Patience was again a necessary virtue, with the club enduring roller coaster fortunes over the ensuing two decades before once again reaching NBL mountaintop and ending a 24-year wait.
“The Hawks motto through this season was ‘we rise together’ and there’s no better way to describe what the team did in uniting our city en route to the NBL championship,” Lord Mayor of Wollongong Councillor Tania Brown said.
“The Illawarra Hawks club has shown remarkable resilience over many years club and, since 1979, have held a special place in the hearts and minds of the city and region it represents.
“Where so many NBL teams have come and gone, the Hawks emblem has kept Wollongong on the national sporting stage for almost half a century.
“It is only fitting that Coach Tatum and his team be awarded Keys to the City of Wollongong and it is a great privilege of this Council to be able to bestow that honour.”
Their 2025 success capped a season that also saw the Hawks claim their first regular-season title after finishing top of the NBL standings, setting a host of new offensive benchmarks for the 40-minute era.
Along with the entire community of Wollongong, Council was right behind Coach Justin Tatum and his team through the best-of-five Championship Series that required all five fixtures to determine the champion.
It meant Hawks fans got to see their team hoist the silverware on their home floor at the WIN Entertainment Centre for the first time, with the club’s previous championship-winning game coming in Townsville.
Many businesses and sites were lit up red through the series, including the Wollongong Harbour Breakwater Lighthouse, while Globe Lane live sites and a Thursday night community celebration in the Crown Street Mall where the space was packed with excited fans.
Coach Tatum’s team will now join its 2001 championship predecessors on the honour roll, with the inaugural title-winning team also awarded the Keys to the City in the wake of their championship heroics. Others who’ve been recognised with Keys to the City include Alex Volkanovski, the late Professor Justin Yerbury AM, Richard Tognetti and Emma McKeon.
See Council’s website for a full list of Keys to the City recipients. Awards and Recognition | City of Wollongong
Council will work with Hawks management on a plan to hand over the Keys to the City and, it’s hoped, this can be coordinated to happen at the first game of the season when the 2025 Championship Banner is also raised at the Sandpit.
Want more Council news?
Visit our News page to find out what's happening in your community, or sign up for e-news.