Douglas Lawson

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1890–1969)}}

{{for|the paleontologist and computer scientist|Douglas A. Lawson}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Douglas Lawson

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|6|21}}

| birth_place = Winchester, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1969|01|13|1890|6|21}}

| death_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1912

| player_team1 = Harvard

| player_positions = Tackle

| coach_years1 = 1921–1922

| coach_team1 = Williams (line)

| coach_years2 = 1923–1924

| coach_team2 = Columbia (line)

| coach_years3 = 1925–1927

| coach_team3 = Williams

| coach_years4 = 1928

| coach_team4 = Brown (line)

| overall_record = 8–12–4

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships =

| awards =

| coaching_records =

}}

Douglas Lawson (June 21, 1890 – January 12, 1969) was an American football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Williams College from 1925 to 1927.{{cite news|title=Williams Signs Lawson Again|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|date=January 24, 1927|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/300855852.html?dids=300855852:300855852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jan+24,+1927&author=&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=WILLIAMS+SIGNS+LAWSON+AGAIN&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102150536/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/300855852.html?dids=300855852:300855852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jan+24,+1927&author=&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=WILLIAMS+SIGNS+LAWSON+AGAIN&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 2, 2012}}{{cite news|title=Lawson Williams Coach|newspaper=The Lewiston Daily Sun|date=January 24, 1927|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oggiAAAAIBAJ&pg=3804,1760484&dq=douglas-lawson+football&hl=en}}{{cite news|title=Williams Retains Lawson|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 9, 1926|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/01/09/archives/williams-retains-lawson-dispels-rumors-that-football-mentor-would.html}}{{cite news|title=Lawson Withdraw Name At Williams|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 16, 1927|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/12/16/archives/lawson-withdraws-name-at-williams-will-not-consider-reappointment.html}}{{cite news |author= |title=Doug Lawson, Football Coach at Williams Three Years, Refuses Reappointment |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99037588/hartford-courant/ |newspaper=Hartford Courant |location=Hartford, Connecticut |agency=Associated Press |date=December 16, 1927 |page=19 |access-date=April 5, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }} He also served as an assistant football coach at Columbia University and Brown University.{{cite news|title=C. Caldwell Named Coach at Williams|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 27, 1928|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/01/17/archives/c-caldwell-named-coach-at-williams-exprinceton-star-appointed-to.html}}

Biography

Lawson was born on June 21, 1890, in Winchester, Massachusetts. He attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire.{{cite book |author= |title=Harvard Class Album |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bJJIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA161|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=161 |date=1913 }} His father, Thomas W. Lawson, was a well-known Boston financier.

Lawson played tackle on the undefeated 1912 Harvard Crimson football team.{{cite news |title=Columbia Football Practice Tuesday |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fOFcAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA19&dq |access-date=29 June 2025 |work=Evening Tribune |date=April 1, 1923}} After graduating, he worked in a warehouse in Washington, was a cowboy in Oregon, was a bookkeeper in Michigan, and served in the United States Army.

Lawson began his coaching career as an assistant under Percy Wendell at Williams. In 1923, he joined the coaching staff of his former Harvard coach, Percy Haughton, at Columbia. On December 9, 1924, he was chosen to succeed Wendell as the head coach at Williams.{{cite news |title=Lawson Named Coach |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4P9gAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA10&dq |access-date=29 June 2025 |work=Evening Tribune |date=December 10, 1924}} He left after three seasons to become the line coach at Brown.{{cite news |title=Doug Lawson Named Brown Line Coach |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3RHAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA14&dq |access-date=29 June 2025 |work=Meriden Record |date=January 17, 1928}}

After leaving football, Lawson worked in the insurance business. He owned the Lawson Agency for the Travelers Insurance Company. From 1933 to 1934, he was partners with John A. Sargent and James Roosevelt. He was also a conservative activist who supported Joseph McCarthy, was an associate of Robert W. Welch Jr. until he accused Dwight D. Eisenhower of being a communist, and invited Douglas MacArthur to speak in Boston the day after he was relieved of his commands by President Harry S. Truman.

Lawson died on January 12, 1969 at New England Deaconess Hospital. He was survived by his wife and two sisters. One of his nephews, Tom McCall, was the Governor of Oregon.{{cite news |title=Douglas Lawson, Coach, Cowboy, Conservative |work=The Boston Globe |date=January 13, 1969}}