Joe Dawson (Hebrew: ג'ו דאוסן; born May 16, 1960) is an

American-Israeli , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = , population = 110,000–150,000 , popplace = New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Miami metropolitan area, and other large metropolitan are ...

former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball at

Druid High School Druid High School, originally Industrial City High School was a senior high school for black students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and a part of Tuscaloosa City Schools. The school had black children from all social classes. The instruction emphasized ...

in his native

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

, and played four years of

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Miss ...

, leading the team in scoring and rebounding multiple times and was an all-conference selection. After going undrafted in the 1982 NBA draft, he started his professional career in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

, and was selected as an all-star in each of the three seasons he played there. After a brief experience in the

USBL The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

he moved abroad, playing in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(where he was the

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

top scorer). In 1987 he had his first experience in the

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i league with

Hapoel Holon Hapoel Holon Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל הפועל חולון), known for sponsorship reasons as Hapoel Atsmon Playgrounds Holon (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli ...

: he would play in Israel for 14 seasons, leading the league in both scoring and rebounding in 1992. He was named the 1992

Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP The Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, or Israeli Basketball Super League MVP, is an annual basketball award that is presented to the most valuable player in a given season of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, which is the top-tier lev ...

. He was inducted in the Southern Miss Hall of Fame in 2011, and is the father of professional basketball player

Shawn Dawson Shawn Dawson ( he, שון דאוסון; born 12 December 1993) is an Israeli professional basketball player for Hapoel Holon of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He is the son of former basketball player Joe Dawson. He was named the Israel ...

High school career

Dawson was born in

, where he attended

. During his high school years he played both the

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

and

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

positions, and he was selected as a starter from his sophomore year. As a senior he averaged 21.4 points per game, shooting 53% from the field and 78% from the free throw line, and was selected in the 4A All-State first team.

College career

Dawson signed to play for the

in April 1978. As a freshman Dawson scored 341 points, which at the time ranked second in Southern Miss history for a freshman behind Tom Bishop's 404 points in 1949–50, and recorded 280 rebounds, which ranked him second among all Golden Eagles freshmen behind Bill Lundberg's 305 rebounds in the 1959–60 season. Dawson started 25 out of 27 games, ranked third on the team in scoring (12.6 points per game) and led the team in rebounding with 10 per game. On November 29, 1978, Dawson recorded 20 rebounds in a game against Missouri Western. The following season Dawson was the team leader in minutes played, minutes per game, field goal percentage, points per game (18.2) and rebounds per game (10.6). His performance during his sophomore season earned him a second-team All-South Independent selection by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

.''Southern Miss 2017–18 Basketball Almanac'', 2017, p. 78. Dawson's junior year saw him average 15.4 points (second behind Eddie Jiles) and 10.3 rebounds (first); he also led the team in field goal percentage and minutes per game (a career-high 37.5). During the season he reached 1,000 career points on January 10, 1981, against Biscayne, one of the fastest player to reach the mark in Southern Miss history. At the end of the season he was selected as an All-American by ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' and was a first-team Associated Press All-Conference selection. In his senior season Dawson averaged 17.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 35.6 minutes per game (all team-highs) and ended his career with 1,695 total points, which ranked him third all-time (he ranks 4th as of 2019). He was selected for the second year in a row in the All-South Independent first team by the Associated Press, and again was named an All-American by ''Sporting News''. His 1,069 career rebounds rank him 4th all-time.

College statistics

, - , align="left" , 1978–79 , align="left" ,

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

, 27 , , 25 , , 31.7 , , .549 , , – , , .716 , , 10.0 , , 1.2 , , – , , – , , 12.6 , - , align="left" , 1979–80 , align="left" ,

, 27 , , 27 , , 37.1 , , .615 , , – , , .658 , , 10.6 , , 0.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 18.2 , - , align="left" , 1980–81 , align="left" ,

, 27 , , 27 , , 37.5 , , .578 , , – , , .772 , , 10.3 , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , 0.4 , , 15.4 , - , align="left" , 1981–82 , align="left" ,

, 26 , , 26 , , 35.6 , , .583 , , – , , .764 , , 8.7 , , 1.5 , , 1.4 , , 0.3 , , 17.2 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 107 , , 105 , , 35.5 , , .584 , , – , , .731 , , 9.9 , , 1.1 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 15.8 , -

Professional career

After the end of his senior season at Southern Miss, Dawson was automatically eligible for the 1982 NBA draft. After going undrafted, he joined the Maine Lumberjacks of the

, where he averaged 14.4 points and 8.6 rebounds over 40 games in his first season as a professional player, and was selected as a CBA All-Star. In 1983 he joined the

Bay State Bombardiers A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

and he improved his averages to 22.5 points and 11.1 rebounds per game in 35.4 minutes of play, earning another All-Star selection: he also played 5 postseason games, averaging 19.2 points and 7.8 rebounds. He played another season with the Bombardiers in 1984–85, recording career-highs in scoring (25.9) and rebounding (11.9) and led the CBA in steals per game with 2.5. In 1985 he then joined the Connecticut Colonials, a team from

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, and played in the inaugural

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

season: he ranked 4th in the league in rebounding (9.7 per game) and second in field goal percentage with .571, and was selected in the All-USBL Second Team. Dawson left the United States for the first time in his career to join

Cocodrilos de Caracas Cocodrilos de Caracas () is a Venezuelan professional basketball club based in Caracas. Established in 1990, the club competes in the Venezuelan SuperLiga and has won six national championships. The Cocodrilos' home games are played at the Parque ...

, a

n team: during his time there he recorded 50 double-doubles and was named MVP of the 1986 season. In 1986 he moved to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and signed for French club Mulhouse BC: during his only season with the club he

LNB Pro A Best Scorer The LNB Pro A Best Scorer, or Top Scorer, is the best scorer of the season award, of the top-tier level men's professional club basketball league in France, the LNB Pro A. In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free thr ...

award averaging 35.3 points per game, the highest mark since 1973 (tied with

Keith Edmonson Keith Andre Edmonson (born September 28, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player. He was born in Gulfport, Mississippi. College career Edmonson was a part of the Purdue Boilermakers team that reached the 1980 NCAA Final Four. ...

's 1986 season). In 1987 he had his first experience in

: he joined

for the 1987–88 season and in 22 games he averaged 24.9 points. In 1988 he went back to France and signed for

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

: he averaged 31.2 points and 8.3 rebounds in 26 games, playing 37.6 minutes per game; he also shot 39.7% from the three-point line and 82.8% from the free throw line. In 1990 he moved to Israel again and played 10 games with Beitar Tel Aviv, averaging 28.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists. In 1991 he also played for the Memphis Rockers of the

World Basketball League World Basketball League (WBL) was a minor professional basketball league in the United States and Canada that ran from 1988 to 1992. It was founded as the International Basketball Association in November 1987, before changing its name prior to the ...

, and was named in the All-WBL first team. In 1991 Dawson signed for Hapoel Eilat, and in the 1991–92 season he led the league in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 27.5 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while shooting 71% from the field and 84% from the free throw line. He was named the 1992

. He stayed with Hapoel for the following two seasons, and in 1993–94 again averaged a double-double with 23.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. In 1994 he signed with Maccabi Jerusalem, and in his first season he averaged 21.7 points and 8.2 rebounds, and in the following year he recorded 18.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. In 1996 he went back to Eilat and joined Hapoel for the second time in his career, playing for the team until 1998. In 1998 he signed for Maccabi Rishon LeZion, for which he played 3 seasons from 1998 until 2001. He then changed 5 teams in his last 7 years of professional career, playing for Hapoel Holon,

Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's leadi ...

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. ( he, מכבי אשדוד) is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sport ...

Ironi Ramat Gan Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan ( he, מכבי עירוני רמת גן, formerly Ironi Ramat Gan) is a male basketball club based in Ramat Gan in central Israel. The team plays in Liga Leumit (basketball), Liga Leumit, the second division in Israeli baske ...

and finally

Ironi Nes Ziona Ironi Ness Ziona B.C. (or spelled as Ironi Nes Ziona B.C.) is a professional basketball club based in Ness Ziona, Israel. The team plays its home games at the Lev Hamoshava, which has capacity for 1,200 people. The club plays in the Israeli Bask ...

, where he ended his career at the age of 48.

Personal life

In 1992 he married an Israeli national and acquired

Israeli citizenship Israeli citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Israel. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law. Every Jew in the world has ...

. He is the father of

, a professional basketball player born when he lived in

Eilat Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan ...

, playing for local team Hapoel Eilat.

References

External links

Career stats at ProBallers.com

Israeli league statsCBA stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Joe 1960 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela American men's basketball players ALM Évreux Basket players Basketball players from Alabama Bay State Bombardiers players Cocodrilos de Caracas players Forwards (basketball) Hapoel Eilat basketball players Hapoel Holon players Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players Ironi Nes Ziona B.C. players Ironi Ramat Gan players Israeli American Israeli Basketball Premier League players Maccabi Ashdod B.C. players Maccabi Jerusalem B.C. players Maccabi Rishon LeZion basketball players Maine Lumberjacks players Southern Miss Golden Eagles basketball players Sportspeople from Tuscaloosa, Alabama United States Basketball League players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople