History 

In the early 1990’s, Dr. Richard Hawkins, a shoulder surgeon from London, Ontario, Canada and Dr. Richard Steadman, a knee specialist, from Lake Tahoe, California joined up to form the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colorado.  Their mission was to build a world renowned practice to treat athletes, a place to teach the next generation their craft, and build an environment to produce novel research.  They formed the Steadman Hawkins Sports Medicine Foundation and quickly took the sports medicine world by storm.  Also formed was the Steadman Hawkins Fellowship Program which became the one of the most sought after program for physician orthopaedic training in the world.  

In the mid 1990’s, a group of past fellows created the Steadman Hawkins Clinic Denver, with the main purpose to provide coverage for the Denver Broncos and the Colorado Rockies.  The Denver practice then started their own fellowship and produced research with these professional teams.  

In 2004, the group again expanded creating the Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas in the upstate of South Carolina.  Dr. Hawkins relocated to Spartanburg, South Carolina and built a team of top notch physicians, therapists, and researchers to continue the mission of advancing orthopedics through research and education.  In 2011, the Orthopaedic Research Foundation of the Carolinas was formed to facilitate the fellowship program and provide research support to the group.  

Before the retirement of Dr. Hawkins in 2016, the Orthopaedic Research Foundation of the Carolinas was renamed the Hawkins Foundation to honor Dr. Hawkins and his legacy in the world of orthopaedics.  Still today, the Hawkins Foundation continues to provide fellowship education and research support to the exceptional physicians and therapist working with the Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas.  The Steadman Hawkins name is one of the most recognized brands in sports medicine and orthopaedics in the world and is sought out as one of the best places premiere fellowship programs in the country.