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. Lawson entered Father Ryan High School in 1956.
In 1957, he transferred to Pearl High School and began playing basketball. Lawson helped lead the team to two of it’s three straight Black National High School Championships from 1958 through 1960 under coach William J. Gupton.
Upon graduation from Pearl High, Lawson was offered basketball scholarships by many prominent universities. 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 closed 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 defeated rival Tennessee State University 65-54.
Lawson finished his coaching career 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. Since his untimely death in 2002, Lawson has been inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 2004 and will be inducted into the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Sports Hall of Fame later this year.