MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[wilburt]

Some basketball history for you all:

COACH RON LAWSON - Fisk Class of 1963  Tennessee Basketball Hall of Famer

He was the son of Dr. James R. Lawson, former president of Fisk University. In 1957 Lawson began playing with the basketball team at Nashville's Pearl High School and became a starter on the varsity team in 1958. During Lawson's time with Pearl High the team won three straight Black National High School Championships under legendary coach William J. Gupton.

At Pearl he was an honor student and Senior Class President in 1959. 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 under legendary coach John Wooden. After two years at UCLA, Lawson transferred to Fisk University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963, and a Master of Arts degree in 1966.

Lawson decided to try coaching in 1964, when he accepted his first head coach job at Nashville's Cameron High School, long-time rival of Pearl High. Under Lawson's direction, Cameron won their first Tennessee State championship in 1970 with a 29-1 record, and repeated in 1971 with a perfect 32-0 record. The Cameron Middle School gymnasium was named the "Ronald Lawson, Sr. Gymnasium of Champions," 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 played rival Tennessee State University (TSU), beating TSU 65-64 at Kean's Little Garden at TSU. Lawson finished his coaching career at Fisk in 1979, when he was ranked in the top ten winning coaches in the nation among Division III coaches. Seventy-five percent of Lawson's Fisk players graduated. Ronald R. "Scat" Lawson, Sr., died unexpectedly on February 6, 2002.

Lawson was inducted posthumously into the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Hall of Fame on March 20, 2004.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POST NOTE: Both Dr. Larry Glover and Tony Jones played for Coach Lawson at Fisk.

[mattgrubb]

Little bball history for the renaissance man
Current Belmont coach Rick Byrd coached at Maryville College just before Randy Lambert.  Also, Lambert will be inducted into the hall of fame soon enough

[wilburt]

Technically Grubb your post was about Maryville trivia, my post was about basketball history!!!!

[mattgrubb]

Well here is a little more trivia then,
Texas A&M played a U dallas transfer in the NCAA tourney this year

Ed Nelson, a friend of mine, plays for UCONN, was the ACC Rookie of the year at GT, his redshirt year was 2004 think about it

The MVC has 2 teams in the Elite 8, The GSAC is very similar to the MVC, D3 world look out for next year

Va Wes. is the first southern team to win the title since Lemoyne Owen in 1975, when Lemoyne was ranked #1 in the country in the D2 polls they were beat by a little D3 school from Nashville called Fisk, one of my church league teammates was on that team for LO

And b/c of wilburts post i am going to ask Tony Jones about coach lawson the next time i see him

Also, Bobby was spotted again today at the far east buffet

[Ralph Turner]

Texas A&M played a U dallas transfer in the NCAA tourney this year

Matt, Chris Walker played at UT-Dallas and was ASC Freshman of the Year in 2001-2.

http://www.aggieathletics.com/bios.php?SID=MBB&PID=7452&YOS=2006

[wilburt]

Va Wes. is the first southern team to win the title since Lemoyne Owen in 1975, when Lemoyne was ranked #1 in the country in the D2 polls they were beat by a little D3 school from Nashville called Fisk, one of my church league teammates was on that team for LO

Grubb I believe that was during the 1998-99 season that Fisk upset previously undefeated and #1 ranked in Division II Lemoyne-Owen in the Johnson Gymnasium.  I think Asst. Coach Latrae Hampton played on that Fisk team.

[Spencer Beaty]

You know who was a big time under achiever...Brent Watts isnt that right Grubb.

[mattgrubb]

Wilburt,
You are right Latrae was on that team.

Spencer,
He did underachieve, you can sympathize with the short and fat, Lambert probably should not have played you or him, he should have recruited some real athletes, not Cliff and Norm from Cheers

[scottiedoug]

OK all you experts at things historical...do you know of players who have made themselves into good three point shooters between seasons and if so, how?  And if so, Spencer can you get some Scots who are going to be around next year to to whatever it is?

Is any of y'all scotties old enough to remember Bill Morris or Bill Padgett?  Speaking of people who could score.

[coachwgh]

It is simple...if you want to be a better shooter...SHOOT!  In the day of McDonalds and cars that run 135 MPH when there aren't any speed limits higher than 70, we want things to happen as fast and easy as possible.  Our guys want a quick fix, I want a quick fix, everybody wants a quick fix, but there isn't one.  You have to get in the gym(or on the blacktop) and shoot.  Example: ( I am not trying to toot my own horn but it is a working example)  I made 7 threes my senior year in high school and thanks to my roommate in juco I made 40something threes and shot over 40% my sophomore season.  He drug me to the gym everyday.  I was one of those guys that could show up and play without stretching or warming up and was not a fan of dribbling drills or a whole bunch of extra shooting.  He made me do ballhandling and shooting with him and then we played one on one.  He was a lot quicker than me so I had to learn real quick how to guard people on the perimeter.  Players need challenges and goals.  He challenged me and I wanted to be as good as he was, so we both got better.  There is no substitute for hard work.  All players are looking to somebody for guidance.  At the DIII level the coach can't be that guy in the offseason.  It has to come from a peer who doesn't mind sticking his neck out and challenging his teammates.

[old_lion]

Players need challenges and goals.  He challenged me and I wanted to be as good as he was, so we both got better.  There is no substitute for hard work.  All players are looking to somebody for guidance.  At the DIII level the coach can't be that guy in the offseason.  It has to come from a peer who doesn't mind sticking his neck out and challenging his teammates.

Well said, Coach.

[mattgrubb]

Well here is something Don Meyer the legendary NAIA coach and now D2 coach used to emphasize at the largest bball camp in the country
Perfect practice make perfect, that is why some seniors can be more effective in 20 minutes in the gym than some freshman can be in 3 days, it is all about going in and getting better

Lambert emphasizes game shots at game speeds, coming from a guy who made roughly 200 threes in college, once kids learn to practice at a faster pace then they play they will improve immensely and their consistency will pick and heck they may even become a POY someday, if it can happen to Watts it can happen to anyone.
I always firmly believe that players are made in the off season, like Bobby Golden he was spotted at Cici's again today

[Spencer Beaty]

Randy did influence my basketball career.  I used to want to be the next fighting scot prodigee but then I learned that i knew about basketball but i didnt have the physical assests it took to play it...height.  But we used to do a lot of fast paced shooting games and things like that.

[njlincolnlion]

wilburt:

Congratulations to Coach Ron Lawson on becoming a Tennessee Basketball Hall of Famer and the FISK family.

[wilburt]

wilburt:

Congratulations to Coach Ron Lawson on becoming a Tennessee Basketball Hall of Famer and the FISK family.

Thanks njlincolnlion. I'd like to think that we do have some sort of basketball tradition at Fisk...