Football

MacArthur High School

Class of 1984

Inducted October 2021

The son of DPS Athletic Hall of Famer George "Butch" Smith, Lawson entered MacArthur already touted as a future star, and he showed it for the Panthers his freshman year in football, basketball and track. But it was when Lawson transferred to MacArthur as a sophomore that he really began standing out.

By the time Lawson was a senior, he was being recruited by Nebraska, UCLA and Illinois, among others, and was widely acknowledged as the most recruited athlete in Decatur history after one of the greatest senior seasons the city had seen. Lawson was the H&R Macon County Player of the Year, rushing for what was then a city record, 1,380 yards and scoring 18 touchdowns to run his career varsity totals to 2,995 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns.

But Lawson, also a standout on the basketball court and track for the Generals, shocked the more than 50 schools recruiting him by choosing Millikin over several Division I colleges and junior colleges, wanting to focus on academics over athletics.