Patricia Lawson

Patricia Lawson (November 18, 1929 – October 10, 2019) was a Canadian multi-sport athlete and coach who played basketball, golf, speed skating, swimming, tennis and track and field. She won provincial championships in all six sports and claimed two national basketball titles in 1955 with the Vancouver Eilers and in 1959 with the Saskatoon Adilman Aces. Lawson took five Saskatchewan Senior Women's golf titles and two Canadian Senior Women's golf championships and played for the Canada women's national basketball team at the 1959 Pan American Games. Lawson worked in the University of Saskatchewan's faculty of the Department of Physical Education from 1956 to 1990 and coached the Huskiette basketball team for two periods. She is a member of various halls of fame and a women's rookie of the year trophy was named after her by the University of Saskatchewan.

Early life and education On November 18, 1929, Lawson was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She was the eldest daughter of English immigrants William Henry Lawson from Darlington who worked for the Campbell, Wilson and Millar, dry foods and grocery sellers as well as serving in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in World War One action on the Western Front and Irene Victoria Chater of Sunderland. She had one sister. Lawson attended Caswell Elementary School and later Bedford Road Collegiate. and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950. She then earned a Bachelor of Education degree in 1953. Lawson won each of the single track and field events she entered at Caswell Elementary School before enrolling at Bedford Road Collegiate. In October of that year, she won the 440 yard relay, the running high jump and the broad jump competitions at the Western Canada Intercollegiate Athletic Union track and field championships. She claimed victory in the women's competition of the Canadian Amateur Speed Skating Championships in February 1949, and went on to claim wins in each of the 100 yards free style, 50 years back stroke and the 50 years freestyle to tally 15 points in the intercollegiate swimming meet at Saskatoon the following month. Lawson won the ladies' singles, ladies' doubles and mixed doubles at the 1950 Central Saskatchewan Tennis tournament. In 1954, Lawson tied for first with Doreen Ryan for the senior women's title at the Canadian Speed Skating Championship.

She was named most valuable player in her debut season with the Saskatchewan Huskies. She went on to claim the 1955 Canadian Basketball Championship playing for the Vancouver Eilers and the 1959 Canadian Basketball Championship as part of the Saskatoon Adilman Aces. She took the Waskesiu Ladies' Lobstick five times over the course of four decades between 1968 and 1991 and chaired the River Ladies Classic competition from 1988 to 1990. In 1956, she joined the University of Saskatchewan's faculty of the Department of Physical Education and was made Women's Athletic Director until 1967. Lawson coached the Huskiette basketball team between 1956 and 1964 and again from 1967 to 1968. The following year, Lawson coached the Huskiette team that competed in the basketball event at the 1967 Canada Winter Games.

In 1975, she was appointed to the National Advisory Council on Fitness and Amateur Sport, having previously served on it from 1967 and 1970. Lawson was made chairperson of the council in 1978, and served one term in the position. the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1986; the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame in 2011, the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019; and the Bedford Road Wall of Honour. In 1996, the College of Kinesiology recognised Lawson as one of the "First and Best" and was presented a University of Saskatchewan alumni achievement award in 2018. The University of Saskatchewan named the Patricia Lawson Trophy after her and it is presented to the Saskatchewan Huskies female athletic rookie of the year.