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Not a Kara in the world No one runs an offense, or recites sports trivia, with the cool of Tennessee's Lawson
By Kelli Anderson, SI For Women Tennessee coach Pat Summitt knew she wasn't dealing with a typical recruit the moment she finished her presentation at Kara Lawson's house two years ago and asked if there were any questions. Lawson, who had researched the six schools she was considering, had no questions, but her high school coach, Bill Gibson, did. How did the Volunteers come up with Smokey the Dog as a mascot? When Summitt appeared stumped, Lawson cleared her throat and said, "Smokey, a native blue tick coonhound, was selected as the result of 1953 Pep Club contest," a factoid she had found deep in the Lady Vols' 200-plus page media guide. "She knew more about the program than I did," says Summitt, who has been at Tennessee since '74. "You can ask her about any sport, any athlete, any program, and she'll have an answer." Lawson, who watches SportsCenter two to three times a day and reads at least two sports sections at breakfast, remembers virtually everything she reads, hears or sees. She memorized the U.S. presidents at age three, the NFL quarterbacks at age four and can spout statistics on running backs who played in the Big Ten 15 years ago. "If I'm ever on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," says Summitt, "Kara will be my lifeline." Lawson has played that role on the court. After the Lady Vols lost to Georgia by 27 points last Jan. 17 with junior Kristen Clement at point guard, Summitt replaced her with Lawson, a pure shooter who would shatter the school's single- season record for three-pointers (79). Under Lawson's direction, the Lady Vols won 20 straight games before losing to Connecticut 71-52 in the NCAA final. Though she played the second half of the season with a stress fracture in her back, Lawson averaged 13.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists a game while posing a constant three-point scoring threat, which opened up the middle for center Michelle Snow and All-America power forward Tamika Catchings. "Kara brought an air of confidence to the team that was contagious," says Summitt. "But the main reason I moved her to the point is that she has a great mind for the game and is a very solid decision-maker. That's unusual in a freshman." But then, Lawson has been unusual at every age. When she was four, she got lessons from her dad, Bill, a former Marine who is now a high-profile security consultant in Washington, D.C., on how to dribble with both hands and how to rebound, defend and shoot. "By the time I joined a team, at five or six, I was far ahead of everyone, even kids who had been on teams for years," says Lawson. At eight, she was the star linebacker and running back of her youth football team. She was also a shortstop who batted .775 and was so active on defense- she'd field the ball, then chase down the base runner herself-that the local Little League chapter instituted a Kara Lawson Rule, requiring fielders to throw the ball to teammates when the situation called for it. At 15, she heard that Jackie Joyner-Kersee could bench-press 155 pounds; within two years, Lawson was benching 225 pounds. "She is so strong," says a marveling Snow, "she could bench five of me." At 18, Lawson topped a spectacular basketball career at West Springfield High in Alexandria, Va., with 25.6 points, 9.5 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 4.4 steals a game and the Naismith High School Player of the Year award. Most observers expected the straight-A student to go to Stanford or Duke, her parents' top choices, or Virginia, the school she grew up rooting for. But Lawson says she chose Tennessee because she wanted to play for a team "that isn't happy unless it wins a national championship every year." This year the Lady Vols' happiness will depend, in large part, on Lawson's scoring, leadership and ability to get the ball to Snow and Catchings. Says Summitt: "She really wants to do whatever she needs to do to help us win." That is, after all, what lifelines are for.
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