Aldophus "Doc" Lawson (born February 11, 1958, in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

) is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

defender best known for his long indoor career. Lawson played the third most games in the history of the original

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word wikt:مثل#Etymology_3, مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian ...

. He also spent four seasons in the North American Soccer League. Known for his tenacious defending, Doc earned the nickname, The Indoor Warrior. Lawson earned three caps with the U.S. national team in 1979, was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic soccer team and was with the U.S. Futsal team when it took third place in the 1989

FIFA Futsal World Championship The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherland ...

Youth

While born in

, Lawson moved with his family to the United States as a child. His family settled in Queens, New York where he began playing soccer at the age of fourteen. He attended Jamaica High School, earning the PSAL Iron Horse/Pegasus award for soccer for the 1975–1976 season. Following graduation from high school in 1976, Lawson attended Southern Connecticut State University, playing on the men's soccer team from 1976 to 1978. He was the first Fighting Owl to receive All American recognition when he was named a third team All American in both 1977 and 1978. In 1978, he left college to turn professional.

Professional

Lawson signed with the

Cincinnati Kids The Cincinnati Kids were a soccer team based out of Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati that played in the original Major Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League. They played only in the 1978–79 MISL season and were partially owned by Pete Rose. Thei ...

of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) in 1978 as both the team and league prepared for their first season. On December 22, 1978, Lawson played in the first game in MISL history as the Kids lost to the

New York Arrows The New York Arrows were an indoor soccer team that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1978 to 1984. They won the first four MISL championships. History Preparing for the first season In 1978, the New York Arrows beg ...

Nassau Coliseum Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (or simply the Nassau Coliseum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, east of New York City. The Long Island venue is approximately east of the eastern limits of the New York City Borough of ...

. The Kids folded at the end of the season, and Lawson moved to the Philadelphia Fever. In 1982, Lawson signed with the

. The Arrows had dominated the league since its inception, but were now on a downward slide. Lawson played two seasons with them before they folded in 1984. He then moved to the New York Cosmos where he played the final NASL season. When the NASL folded in 1984, the Cosmos jumped to MISL for the 1984–1985 season. However, they folded during the season. Lawson signed as a free agent with the Dallas Sidekicks on October 1, 1985. Lawson became one of only five players to have his jersey number retired by Dallas, having played for the Sidekicks for six seasons. He was an integral part of the 1986-87 MISL championship team. When he retired in 1991, he was the last active original member of MISL. In addition to his long indoor career, Lawson also spent several seasons in the North American Soccer League. Following his first MISL season, Lawson moved west to sign with the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

for the 1979 NASL season. He was then traded to the San Diego Sockers and played the 1980 NASL outdoor season with them. He did not play outdoors again until 1984 when he signed with the New York Cosmos for the last year of the NASL. He retired after the 1990–91 season and went into private business in Dallas. In 1992, he briefly played for the

Dallas Rockets The Richardson Rockets were a soccer club based in Richardson, Texas, United States, a suburb of Dallas. The club originally started in the indoor SISL league. They became the North Texas Mid-Cities Flyers for the 1991/92 USISL indoor league an ...

in the USISL.

International

Lawson earned three caps with the U.S. national team in October 1979. His first came in a 3–1 win over Bermuda on October 7. His second was a 3–0 loss France three days later and his last game was a 2–0 loss to Hungary on October 26. Lawson was selected for the U.S. Olympic team as it began qualification for the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

to be held in Moscow. Qualifications continued into 1980 and the U.S. ultimately qualified for the games, its first since the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. However, President Jimmy Carter declared that the United States would boycott the games after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In 1989, Lawson played eight games, scoring one goal, with the United States national futsal team which competed in the first

. The U.S. took third place.

Post playing career

Since retiring in 1991, Lawson has held several positions in the Texas soccer community. Lawson has also traveled back to his home country, Liberia, numerous times since his retirement, running camps to teach local children the game of soccer. In 2014, Lawson had to cut short a visit to Liberia due to the Ebola outbreak.

References

External links

''kicksfan.com'' profile page for Lawson

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Doc Living people 1958 births American men's futsal players American soccer players Americo-Liberian people Cincinnati Kids players Dallas Rockets players Dallas Sidekicks (original MISL) players American people of Liberian descent Association football defenders Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players New York Arrows players New York Cosmos players New York Cosmos (MISL) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Philadelphia Fever (MISL) players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players San Diego Sockers (NASL) players Southern Connecticut Fighting Owls men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players USISL players