PHILADELPHIA IN ONE WORD: GRIMY
Jason Lawson
@Law8708
Jason Lawson is an accomplished basketball player and coach. He established himself as one of the prominent athletes in the early 1990’s at Olney High School. Lawson was a highly touted recruit having earned a selection on the Philadelphia Inquirer all-Southeastern PA 1991-92, and 1992-93 basketball first teams.
He played collegiately for the Big 5 powerhouse Villanova University alongside Kerry Kittles, and Alvin Williams. His commitment to basketball paid off when the Denver Nuggets selected him in the 1997 draft, 41st overall. He was later acquired by the Orlando Magic, where he averaged 1.6 rebounds per game, and he maintained a field goal percentage of 60.0% from the field. He also shot 80.0% from the free-throw line.
After retiring as a professional player, Lawson began his career in coaching. His first position was as an assistant coach at Harcum College, with the men’s basketball team. He then served as an assistant for the Germantown Friends’ track and field program, before becoming an assistant basketball coach on the staff of Sean Colson at Martin Luther King High School. The King cougars won the 2014 Public League championship, and the following season, they were the runner-up in the state playoffs, next to the eventual champion Roman Catholic.
Kemble Park
5641 Ogontz Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19141
Kemble Park sits on 8-acres along Ogontz and Olney avenues in the lower West Oak Lane section of the city. It was named after a 19th-century actress and writer Fanny Kemble. She has been recognized for her work as an abolitionist while living across the street from the park.
It is locally known as Chew Park due to the proximity to Chew Avenue on the back end of the sprawling grounds, however it serves as an unofficial name.
Over its long history, neighbors coordinated together to make improvements to the park, from daily trash removal as well as they have cultivated an on-site community garden. A recent stewardship through A Concerned Community Association (ACCA) involved local residents working with the Philadelphia Water Department to help design a rain garden.
Jason Lawson knows the court inside the park very well as he and countless others have spent their time playing there and at the neighboring Belfield Recreation Center.
