Difference between revisions of "Justin Hawkins"

Latest revision as of 23:17, 28 September 2026

Justin Hawkins

Noted subjects	literature, history, fine arts
Current college	Indiana (2019–present)
Past colleges	Maryland (2015–19)
High school	John Carroll (2011–15)
HSQB profile	thebluehawk1
Pronouns	he/him
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Justin Hawkins currently plays at Indiana, where he is a doctoral candidate in history. As an undergraduate, he played quizbowl at Maryland. Justin is renowned in the quizbowl community not just for his playing ability, but also for his organizational acumen and his commitment to bringing people into quizbowl and making the game a welcoming environment. When Justin came to Indiana, the school had not had an active quizbowl club in a decade, but he was able to restart the organization and turn it into a championship contender.

Early years

Justin Hawkins in his younger days

Justin Hawkins is a native of Harford County, Maryland, where he was an avid tennis player in his youth. At the John Carroll School in Bel Air, Maryland, Justin was a member of the school newspaper and founder of the school's history club in addition to playing local quizbowl formats. His brief exposure to good quizbowl in high school came with an HSAPQ event in February 2014, where his John Carroll team finished third with one of its losses coming to a Pikesville team led by Sam Rombro.

As a high school senior, Justin was deciding between Maryland and Wake Forest when he received a message on X (then known as Twitter) from Dan Puma concerning Maryland quizbowl. This led to his opting to come to Maryland with a heart brimming with enthusiasm for what he might accomplish in collegiate quizbowl.

Maryland

After arriving in College Park in the fall of 2015, Justin quickly distinguished himself through his passion for the game. Outside of Maryland's regularly scheduled practices, he began to hold extra "C team practices" with fellow freshmen Weijia Cheng and Ani Perumalla. Justin also demonstrated for the first time his strong recruiting acumen when he met Jason Shi in the College Park Scholars Justice and Legal Thought program and convinced him to start attending quizbowl practice.

At 2016 ICT, playing with Weijia, Jason, and Daniel Galitsky (who had been convinced to play after spending the bulk of his time as an undergraduate pursuing other interests), Justin was the third scorer on a Maryland B team that finished in thirteenth place in Division II. At 2016 ACF Nationals, playing with Weijia and Jason, Justin was the second scorer on a Maryland B team that qualified for the third of five brackets, although he managed just 1.43 points per game in the playoffs.

As a sophomore, Justin was the top scorer on a Maryland B team that finished sixth out of twenty-three teams at the VCU site of 2017 ACF Regionals. Playing with Jason Shi and Rose Kunkel, he led Maryland B to a twenty-ninth-place finish at 2017 ICT. Justin did not play 2017 ACF Nationals, instead attending the tournament as a staffer and watching as Maryland won its first ACF Nationals championship.

Maryland at 2018 ICT immediately after defeating Chicago: Justin Hawkins in front with (from left to right) Graham Reid, Weijia Cheng, and Jack Nolan behind

With Jordan and Sam graduating, Justin was promoted to Maryland A for his junior year alongside Weijia, newly arrived graduate student Graham Reid, and Jack Nolan. At 2018 ICT, in his first appearance in the top bracket of a national championship tournament, he memorably converted a tossup on John Updike's "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" in a game that Maryland won by five points over third-place finisher Chicago. At 2018 ACF Nationals, Justin was the overall second scorer on a top-bracket Maryland A team.

That year, Justin's recruiting efforts paid off when, after repeated entreaties, Caleb Kendrick enrolled as a doctoral student at Maryland. Caleb's addition to the existing trio of Weijia, Graham, and Justin made Maryland one of the best teams in the country. At 2019 ICT, Maryland finished fifth after being the unfortunate victim of that tournament's policy of breaking ties by alphabetical order. At 2019 ACF Nationals, Maryland entered superplayoffs with just one loss, a game behind leaders Chicago and Minnesota, and appeared to have an inside track to a finals appearance after starting superplayoffs with a dominant victory over Minnesota before losing the next two games to eventual finalists Columbia and Chicago. Maryland's last game of the tournament, a victory over Michigan State in which Justin scored ten points, was the last game of his undergraduate career.

The Indiana Years

Upon arriving at Indiana University to begin his PhD in History, the landscape Justin encountered was not promising for the establishment of a championship-caliber club. Indiana's quiz bowl club had been in occultation for years, and the only organized competitive trivia presence was a bar trivia-oriented student group called In the Know. It was from these humble foundations that Justin would build an institution that would serve as a Midwest circuit stalwart and top bracket regular at national tournaments. With key recruitments of graduate students including physicist Alex Akridge in 2020, music theorist Drake Eshleman in 2021, historian Jakob Myers in 2022, and Central Eurasia scholar Danila Kabotyanski in 2023, together with his skill at nurturing promising undergraduate players such as Trenton Burgess and Zane Kierczyk, Indiana would soon grow from a de facto solo vehicle for Justin into a robust club that fielded three teams at 2026 ACF Regionals. A major milestone in the club's progress was Indiana's undefeated run at the 2022 Ohio State site of ACF Winter, with a team on which Justin was the lead scorer.

This was not, however, a team that neglected everything else in the pursuit of victory. Justin prided himself on his efforts to build an inclusive club, maintaining near-gender parity among its membership for years. He also served as the team's informal general manager, maintaining morale and setting team compositions. Although often overshadowed by his teammates (for two years, playing alongside two fellow historians), Justin remained capable of scoring firepower: his 60-point game provided the margin of victory in a 2025 ACF Nationals rout of top-bracket opponent Waterloo A, and he jointly led a Jakob-less team in a top bracket run at 2026 ICT.

Tournament record

ACF Nationals

Year	Team	Placing	PPG
Year	Team	Placing	Prelim	Playoff	Overall
2016	Maryland B	28 of 44	8.50	1.43	6.18
2017	Did not play
2018	Maryland	12 of 47	21.43	14.55	17.06
2019	Maryland A	4 of 48	7.86	5.00	7.14
2020	No tournament
2021	Did not play
2022	Indiana	33 of 51	46.25	40.91	43.33
2023	Indiana	20 (tied) of 48	30.00	30.91	30.00
2024	Indiana	7 (tied) of 48	14.29	5.00	8.53
2025	Indiana	5 (tied) of 48	12.14	20.00	17.35
2026	Indiana	2 of 48	9.29	5.91	7.65

ICT (Division I)

Year	Team	Placing	PP20TUH
Year	Team	Placing	Prelim	Playoff	Overall
2016	Maryland B	Played Division II
2017	Maryland B	29 (tied) of 32	19.61	23.77	21.45
2018	Maryland A	8 (tied) of 36	18.18	11.21	13.73
2019	Maryland A	5 (tied) of 36	13.45	8.25	10.15
2020	No tournament
2021	Indiana	25 (tied) of 32	25.71	52.5	35.45
2022	Indiana	22 of 32	44.22	41.61	42.91
2023	Indiana	22 (tied) of 32	30.82	24.06	27.74
2024	Indiana	21 (tied) of 32	27.04	38.89	32.28
2025	Indiana	25 of 32	29.22	62.67	45.72
2026	Indiana	7 (tied) of 32	33.12	17.42	25.24

ACF Regionals

Year	Team	Site	Placing	PPG
Year	Team	Site	Placing	Prelim	Playoff	Overall
2016	Maryland C	Virginia	9 of 23	22.50	19.29	19.50
2017	Maryland B	VCU	6 of 23	24.29	15.00	22.27
2018	Maryland A	Virginia	1 of 14	30.83	25.71	28.08
2019	Maryland A	Swarthmore	4 (tied) of 20	20.62	10.00	17.08
2020	Indiana	Illinois	13 of 20	57.22	98.33	65.45
2021	Indiana	Minnesota	9 (tied) of 15	47.50	57.50	52.50
2022	Indiana A	Kentucky	1 of 4	73.89
2023	Indiana	Northwestern	5 (tied) of 15	56.67	50.00	54.50
2024	Indiana A	Purdue	4 (tied) of 17	38.75	21.00	33.18
2025	Indiana A	SIUE	4 of 13	22.08
2026	Indiana A	Northwestern	1 of 18	17.50	13.33	16.92

SCT (Division I)

Year	Team	Section	Placing	PP20TUH
Year	Team	Section	Placing	Prelim	Playoff	Overall
2016	Maryland C	Mid-Atlantic	Played Division II
2017	Maryland A	Mid-Atlantic	1 of 8	6.67	1.05	4.49
2018	Maryland A	Mid-Atlantic	4 of 8	16.88	18.18	17.27
2019	Maryland A	Northeast	3 of 11	16.82	40.91	19.01
2020	Did not play
2021	No tournament
2022	Indiana A	Midwest	4 of 8	46.1	42.42	45
2023	Indiana A	Midwest	6 of 8	47.4	46.97	47.27
2024	Indiana A	Midwest	5 (tied) of 10	40.4
2025	Indiana A	Midwest	3 (tied) of 8	37.66	31.82	35.91
2026	Indiana	Midwest	1 of 6	60.45	13.64	56.2

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 That year, Justin's recruiting efforts paid off when, after repeated entreaties, [[Caleb Kendrick]] enrolled as a doctoral student at Maryland. Caleb's addition to the existing trio of Weijia, Graham, and Justin made Maryland one of the best teams in the country. At [[2019 ICT]], Maryland finished fifth after being the unfortunate victim of that tournament's policy of breaking ties by alphabetical order. At [[2019 ACF Nationals]], Maryland entered superplayoffs with just one loss, a game behind leaders [[Chicago]] and [[Minnesota]], and appeared to have an inside track to a finals appearance after starting superplayoffs with a dominant victory over Minnesota before losing the next two games to eventual finalists [[Columbia]] and Chicago. Maryland's last game of the tournament, a victory over [[Michigan State]] in which Justin scored ten points, was the last game of his undergraduate career.
-== Maryland ==
+== The Indiana Years ==
-Upon arriving at Indiana University to begin his PhD in History, the landscape Justin encountered was not promising for the establishment of a championship-caliber club. Indiana's quiz bowl club had been in occultation for years, and the only organized competitive trivia presence was a bar trivia-oriented student group called In the Know. It was from these humble foundations that Justin would build an institution that would serve as a Midwest circuit stalwart and top bracket regular at national tournaments. With key recruitments of graduate students including physicist Alex Akridge in 2020, music theorist Drake Eshleman in 2021, historian [[Jakob Myers]] in 2022, and Central Eurasia scholar [[Danila Kabotyanski]] in 2023, together with his skill at nurturing promising undergraduate players such as Trenton Burgess and Zane Kierczyk, Indiana would soon grow from a de facto solo vehicle for Justin into a robust club that fielded three teams at ACF Regionals 2026. A major milestone in the club's progress was Indiana's undefeated run at the 2022 Ohio State site of ACF Winter, with a team on which Justin was the lead scorer.
+Upon arriving at Indiana University to begin his PhD in History, the landscape Justin encountered was not promising for the establishment of a championship-caliber club. Indiana's quiz bowl club had been in occultation for years, and the only organized competitive trivia presence was a bar trivia-oriented student group called In the Know. It was from these humble foundations that Justin would build an institution that would serve as a Midwest circuit stalwart and top bracket regular at national tournaments. With key recruitments of graduate students including physicist Alex Akridge in 2020, music theorist Drake Eshleman in 2021, historian [[Jakob Myers]] in 2022, and Central Eurasia scholar [[Danila Kabotyanski]] in 2023, together with his skill at nurturing promising undergraduate players such as Trenton Burgess and Zane Kierczyk, Indiana would soon grow from a de facto solo vehicle for Justin into a robust club that fielded three teams at [[2026 ACF Regionals]]. A major milestone in the club's progress was Indiana's undefeated run at the 2022 Ohio State site of ACF Winter, with a team on which Justin was the lead scorer.
-This was not, however, a team that neglected everything else in the pursuit of victory. Justin prided himself on his efforts to build an inclusive club, maintaining near-gender parity among its membership for years. He also served as the team's informal general manager, maintaining morale and setting team compositions. Although often overshadowed by his teammates (for two years, playing alongside two fellow historians), Justin remained capable of scoring firepower: his 60-point game provided the margin of victory in a 2025 ACF Nationals rout of top-bracket opponent Waterloo A, and he jointly led a Jakob-less team in a top bracket run at [[2026 ICT]].
+This was not, however, a team that neglected everything else in the pursuit of victory. Justin prided himself on his efforts to build an inclusive club, maintaining near-gender parity among its membership for years. He also served as the team's informal general manager, maintaining morale and setting team compositions. Although often overshadowed by his teammates (for two years, playing alongside two fellow historians), Justin remained capable of scoring firepower: his 60-point game provided the margin of victory in a [[2025 ACF Nationals]] rout of top-bracket opponent Waterloo A, and he jointly led a Jakob-less team in a top bracket run at [[2026 ICT]].
 == Tournament record ==