Joe Dawson (Hebrew: ג'ו דאוסן; born May 16, 1960) is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball at Druid High School in his native Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and played four years of college basketball for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, 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, and was selected as an all-star in each of the three seasons he played there. After a brief experience in the USBL he moved abroad, playing in Venezuela and France (where he was the LNB Pro A top scorer). In 1987 he had his first experience in the Israeli league with Hapoel Holon: 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. He was inducted in the Southern Miss Hall of Fame in 2011, and is the father of professional basketball player Shawn Dawson.
High school career
Dawson was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he attended Druid High School. During his high school years he played both the guard and forward 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 Southern Miss Golden Eagles 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.
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 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.