Heyward Dotson

Heyward Harrell Dotson (July 12, 1948 – May 1, 2020) was an American professional basketball player, attorney, and civil servant.

Biography Dotson was born on July 12, 1948, in Lugoff, South Carolina and was raised on Staten Island. Dotson averaged more than 18 points a game in the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons. Dotson was initiated into the Eta chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

After graduating in 1970, Dotson was drafted by the Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers. He declined to join either franchise and studied European history at Worcester College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship. He was Staten Island's first Rhodes Scholar.

Dotson then graduated from Columbia Law School in 1976 and worked for Shea & Gould. He later joined the office of assemblymen Keith L. T. Wright and then the New York City Comptroller's Office.

Dotson sued the New York City government in 2012, when courthouse guards forced him to pass through a metal detector and caused his defibrillator to go haywire.

Dotson died of liver failure on May 1, 2020, in The Bronx.