Eugene Blake Hawk attended Holston College at Blountville for one year. He then entered Emory and Henry College and graduated with an A. B. degree in 1903. Following graduation Hawk taught school in Damascus, Virginia and studied law. He accepted a teaching position in McAlister, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Later, Hawk left teaching to join a law firm with the intention of becoming a lawyer. He subsequently felt a call to the ministry and entered Vanderbilt University in order to receive ministerial training. After graduating from Vanderbilt with a B. D. degree in 1909, Hawk accepted an appointment at Walnut Springs church in the Cleburne district of Texas.

In 1933, Dr. Charles C. Selecman, president of Southern Methodist University (SMU), invited Hawk to become the Dean of the School of Theology (later Perkins School of Theology). Hawk accepted and served as Dean from 1933 until 1951. While at SMU he also served as Vice-President of the university and as Acting President during the interim period between Selecman's and Umphrey Lee's presidencies. Thereafter, Hawk served as Executive Vice-President of SMU until his retirement in 1952.

Soon after retirement, Hawk became the Associate Minister of University Park Methodist Church (Dallas) and remained there until 1962. After finishing that ministerial appointment, Dean Joseph Quillian invited Hawk to return to Perkins, have his old office, and become an advisor to the Dean. Thus, Hawk returned to the Perkins School of Theology. He died of a heart attack a year later on October 11, 1963.

Eugene B. Hawk made two distinctive contributions to Methodism in the Southwest: first, the construction of the First Methodist Church facility in Fort Worth during his six-year pastorate, and second, the building of the Perkins School of Theology Quadrangle on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Hawk's contributions to the Perkins School of Theology, in addition to the Quadrangle, include the introduction of Ministers' Week and the initiation of the Perkins School of Theology Journal.