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Ronald
R. "Scat" Lawson, Sr., was born on April 26, 1941,
in Opelousas, Louisiana. He was the son of Dr. James R. Lawson,
former president of Fisk University, and Lillian Arceneaux
Lawson.
The Lawson
Family moved to Nashville shortly after his birth and began
his education at St. Vincent DePaul. He graduated from St.
Vincent DePaul and entered Father Ryan High School in 1956.
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In 1957,
Lawson transferred to Pearl High School and began playing
with the basketball team. Lawson helped lead the team to two
of its three straight Black National High School Championships
from 1958 through 1960 under the legendary coach William J.
Gupton. Upon graduation from Pearl High, Lawson was offered
basketball scholarships by Notre Dame, Loyola University,
University of Kansas, University of Cincinnati, and UCLA,
among others. Lawson selected UCLA so that he could play for
legendary coach John Wooden.
While
at UCLA, Lawson set freshman team scoring and rebounding records
which stood until broken by Lew Alcindor, whom later became
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As a sophomore, Lawson was selected third
team All-West Coast and honorable mention All-American.
In 1962,
Lawson transferred to Fisk University where he received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963 and a Master of Arts degree
in 1966. After receiving his degrees, Lawson played for the
Harlem Magicians and a local semiprofessional team, the Nashville
Shamrocks.
Lawson
decided to try coaching in 1964, when he accepted his first
head coach job at Cameron High School, long-time rival of
Pearl High. Under Lawson's direction, Cameron won their first
state championship in 1970 with a 29-1 record, and repeated
in 1971 with a perfect 32-0 record. They went 61-1 over those
two seasons including 55 straight victories. The Cameron Middle
School gymnasium was named in his honor
When Cameron
High was dosed in 1971, Lawson became head coach of the men's
basketball team at Fisk University. In Lawson's second year
at Fisk, the team went 24-5, and won the Southern Inter-Collegiate
Athletic Championship (SIAC). He was named SIAC Coach of the
Year. The following year the Bulldogs went 26-4 winning the
SIAC for the second consecutive year. That earned Fisk a trip
to the NCAA South Region where they played rival Tennessee
State University, beating TSU 65-54 at Kean's Little Garden
at TSU.
Lawson
finished his coaching career at Fisk in 1979. At that time
he was ranked in the top ten winningest coaches in Division
III. Seventy-five percent of Lawson's Fisk players graduated,
and a scholarship is named in the coach's honor.
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