History
The Hawks' Club was formed in 1872 when a proposal to allow members of other colleges into the St John's College Eagles club was rejected. This led to the Hawks' being set up as an equivalent club university-wide. In its early history it was primarily a cricket club, but by the turn of the century other sports were well represented.
As is common with student-run organisations, records are patchy in places and old lists of presidents and members have long been lost. The record is better for the period 1889–1963, as during this time a picture of each year's president was added to a display in the clubhouse, and these have survived to the present day. During the 1950s a number of subsequently notable sportsmen were presidents, and several are listed below.
It is not known whether a Blue was originally a prerequisite for membership; some early presidents do not appear to have competed against Oxford in any sport. However, the personal 'suitability' of candidates for membership does not appear to have changed since the Club was founded. The Club website states that "Candidates have to be clubbable" (i.e. "clubbable" in the sense of a traditional gentlemen's club) and "the Hawks' Club remains unashamedly elite", claiming to include only "the top one per cent" of University sportsmen.
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