Former rodeo man Hawk Shayne, the father of Reva, Rusty, and Roxie Shayne, left his wife Sarah and their three little children in order to avoid any responsibility. While he would end up spending a lot of time in prison, Sarah raised the children alone by working for the rich Lewis family whom Hawk had never liked much.

In 1985, Miss Sally Gleason found Hawk somewhere in prison and brought him to Springfield. Sally disapproved of Reva, who, though married to Hawk's old rival, H.B. Lewis, had started a relationship with her son Kyle Sampson. So to stop the relationship, Sally paid Hawk to break them up. To do this, Hawk harrassed Kyle's former love, Maeve Stoddard, with phone calls so that Kyle would help her and be distracted from Reva. Though Hawk was unsuccessful in separating Kyle and Reva, he decided to remain in town to get reacquainted with the children he'd abandoned years earlier. Though his children were initially wary of him, he tried to convince them that he was a changed man and was ready to redeem himself. Though essentially a good man, Hawk wasn't altogether morally responsible. In order to ensure that Roxie won the coveted Sampson Girl contest in 1986, he bribed Kyle who promptly laughed in his face. Upset, Hawk conspired with Alexandra Spaulding to fabricate evidence that showed that the contest was a fraud. Hawk redeemed himself later though, when he saved Roxie's life in a fire at Mindy and Kurt Corday's house. When Hawk learned that Mindy caused the fire by knocking over a kerosene lamp, he blackmailed her. Mindy paid him off until she finally confessed the truth to Kurt. While Hawk finally reunited with Reva and Roxie, he was determined to prove to his children that he wasn't the irresponsible man he once was, so he started managing Company as Kurt's partner. When Kurt died in an explosion months later, Hawk became the sole owner.

In 1987, while becoming reacquainted with his son, Rusty, Hawk began a relationship with nurse Lillian Raines. However when Sarah arrived in town to take care of a now-pregnant Reva, Hawk realized that he still had feelings for her. Though engaged to Lillian in 1988, Hawk's feelings for Sarah were stronger than he had thought and he convinced Sarah that he finally had his life together. When Lillian realized Hawk's true feelings, the couple parted amicably. In April 1989 Hawk and Sarah remarried in a small double ceremony with Rusty and Rose. Also, at this time, Hawk finally befriended his old rival, H.B. Lewis.

Together, Hawk and Sarah ran Company until Reva's apparent death in 1990. In 1991, when reports came from Billy and Sarah that Reva might be alive and living in Italy, Josh moved to Italy to search for her and later asked Sarah to follow him to take care of Marah and Shayne. Hawk then led a secluded life running Company and, in 1992, he followed the group to Italy.

In 1995, after being thrown out by Sarah after losing their money at poker games, Hawk returned to Springfield to stop Josh from having Reva declared legally dead. Anxious to end Josh's engagement with Annie Dutton, Hawk investigated her, found out about her secret marriage to Rick Bauer and promptly told Josh. However, Josh later forgave Annie anyway. Meanwhile, one day, Hawk picked up a ringing phone and was shocked to discover the voice of the other person was Reva's! Hawk tried, unsuccessfully, to convince Josh and the judge that Reva was still alive. Not long after, Hawk was shocked to see Reva alive in Springfield and suffered a heart attack. Luckily, Reva saved him and was spotted by Alexandra Spaulding.

In 1996, Hawk was hired by Alexandra to help wrest power away from Amanda and Alan Spaulding by acting as a couple. In the process, Hawk fell in love with Alex and tried to convince her that they made a good couple. Unfortunately, Hawk was not Alex's type and, when his work was done, he and Alex parted ways. Not long after, Hawk told Reva that he was worried about Sarah because she would not return his phone calls. Hawk admitted that he still had feelings for Sarah and wanted to make amends to her. Later, Buzz Cooper, Reva's new husband, learned that Sarah, now living in Italy, had been taken to the hospital a few days earlier, so Hawk, Buzz, Rusty, Josh and Reva rushed to Sarah's bedside. To their sorrow, they were told that Sarah was dying.

On Sarah's deathbed, Hawk apologized to her for what a miserable husband and father he was and told her that he loved her. Sarah said that she knew that and loved him too despite of himself. Before Sarah died, she made Hawk promise that he would look after the children, especially Reva. Meanwhile, Sarah confessed to Reva about her affair with a businessman from Chicago 25 years earlier which resulted in her giving birth to a child. Sarah had given the baby up for adoption and begged Reva to find her child. Hawk never knew about that since Sarah was afraid that he would have left he had known the truth. After this revelation, Sarah died. In April 1997, Hawk decided to return to Tulsa. After he arrived at Reva's house to say goodbye, he came across a picture of Sarah that he thought was about 15 years old, while Reva thought it was 25 years old since Reva thought the photo was proof that Annie Dutton was Sarah's daughter. After Hawk left Springfield his claim was confirmed: the photo was indeed 15 years old, and with Rusty's help, Reva was able to expose Annie as a liar. Sarah's real daughter would later turn out to be Cassie Layne.

In September 1997, Hawk returned to Springfield to attend the funeral of his former rival, H.B. and, in May 1999, he returned to attend Reva's second wedding to Josh. In 2000, Hawk called Reva and said that he was in the hospital with a broken hip, so Reva visited him in Tulsa.

In March 2002, Hawk was asked by Josh to come to Cross Creek so that Josh could ask for Reva's hand in marriage. Knowing that the two were made for each other, Hawk happily gave his blessing. Later that year, he returned to Springfield to attend their third wedding.

In September 2004, Hawk returned to Springfield to meet the newest addition of his family--his grandson, Jonathan. Having been given up by Reva as a baby, Jonathan had been living in Springfield for over a year and was using the name Sandy Foster. After visiting Reva and Sandy, Hawk told Josh that someone connected to Phillip Spaulding was looking into acquiring Cross Creek. Meanwhile, Hawk starting noticing how nervous Sandy acted and wondered if he was hiding something. When Hawk learned that he'd have to stick around town a little longer due to a fierce storm, he decided to get to know Sandy a little better. However, his plan was cut short when Sandy surprised him with a train ticket back to Oklahoma so Hawk could make the meeting he had to attend. Weeks later, it would turn out that Hawk had a right to be suspicious of Sandy--he wasn't Reva's son; he was an imposter.

In 2005, both Hawk and Rusty paid Reva a Christmas visit. While there, they noticed the tension between Josh and Reva and were saddened to learn they'd separated again. However, the tension didn't end there, Cassie was also furious about her daughter's relationship with Reva's youngest son, Jonathan. Hawk ended up awkwardly meeting Jonathan (the real one, this time) who was caught kissing Tammy. Later, a secretly drunk Billy dropped by, fueling the flames by insulting Jonathan. When Jonathan took a swing at Billy, Hawk and Rusty got into it and, finally, Jonathan and Josh ended up knocking down the Christmas tree. The next day, Hawk and Reva tried unsuccessfully to talk an incensed Cassie down when she decided to have Jonathan arrested on arson charges.

In 2006, Reva asked Hawk to come to New York for a family get-together. In New York, not only did Hawk notice that Reva looked pale and tired, but he was also disturbed to learn that Josh wasn't present. Suspecting something was wrong in their marriage, Hawk immediately tried to call Josh but Reva stopped him. She then got unusually sentimental and spoke of how glad she was to be his daughter and how much she loved him. The next day, Hawk went to Springfield and was shocked to see Josh kissing Cassie right there on Main Street! Hawk immediately lit into the pair and blasted both of them for betraying Reva. Josh tried to defend himself by placing the blame on Reva but his words only disgusted Hawk who walked away after telling Cassie he was glad her mama wasn't here to see this. Soon after, a website called SpringfieldBurns ran a picture of Cassie, Josh, and RJ with the caption "Who's your Daddy?" Incensed, Hawk confronted Josh and Cassie at the Beacon. When Cassie's son, RJ, entered the room, Hawk began comforting the boy about the situation. Unfortunately, neither Cassie nor Josh had told RJ about the relationship yet--leading RJ to get upset that his mother was keeping secrets. Angry, Josh threw Hawk out. A few months later, Hawk and Rusty returned to town to attend a party thrown by Reva. Though she and Josh were now divorced, Hawk fumed at seeing Josh and Cassie together and Rusty had to spend the evening trying to calm him down.

In 2008, Hawk paid Reva a surprise visit. Hawk explained that while taking tourists on fishing tours, he often told them stories about her. Apparently, one tourist was a movie producer who offered Hawk a chunk of money for the rights to Reva's life story. Although Reva was overwhelmed at the thought, Hawk introduced her to the producer, Carson, and they convinced Reva to sign off. Ultimately, Carson decided that the film should focus on Reva's tumultuous relationship with Josh. Things got dicey for Reva though when the movie script ended with Reva and Josh living happily ever after. Unfortunately, that wasn't true-Reva was in a committed relationship with Jeffrey O'Neill and didn't want to hurt Jeffrey. Ultimately, Hawk convinced her to go with the changed ending, arguing that if she didn't approve it, the movie people would air the movie anyway and change all the names. Weeks later, when the movie was almost complete, Hawk confessed to Reva that his real motivation for the movie was his hope that she and Josh would reunite. Hawk explained that as he was getting older, he felt the need to make sure everything was in order. Touched, Reva assured her father that she was happy in her life with Jeffrey. Though Hawk initially refused to give Jeffrey permission to marry his daughter, Jeffrey was able to win Hawk over.

In 2009, Hawk returned to Springfield for Reva's baby shower. Two months later, Hawk return for the birth of his new grandson, Colin. However, the moment was bittersweet because Hawk was worried that he'd lose Reva to cancer. Fortunately, Reva's cancer when into remission again and, that summer, Hawk celebrated Independence Day with Reva and Colin when Jeffrey was away. Mere days later, Jeffrey was presumed dead following a plane crash and Hawk returned to town again to attend his memorial service.