That's the kind of treatment you get when you've just completed arguably the greatest heavyweight wrestling career the state of New Jersey has ever seen. With a 43-second pin of North Hunterdon's Jack Delia during the 2010 NJSIAA Individual Wrestling Championships at Boardwalk Hall, Lawson captured his third heavyweight state championship and became just the second wrestler to do so in tournament history. Lawson finished his season at 39-0 with a career record of 141-11.

"I feel great ending my career on a good note," Lawson said. "It's still hard to believe what I've accomplished in a short amount of time."

"He's accomplished things that many have tried but couldn't get done," said Manchester head coach Tom Scheffler.. "People will be talking about it for years and he deserves it."

Lawson was awarded as the tournament's outstanding wrestler and there was no surprise when that announcement was made. The real conversation is whether or not Lawson is the greatest heavyweight in state history. His only equal as far as state championships is Newton's Harry Lanzi, who captured three in a row from 1946-1948. Things are a lot different now. The wrestling landscape in this era is much larger and the quality and dedication of the wrestlers is unmatched. The state hasn't seen someone dominate like Lawson has in a while, and that goes for every weight class. Lawson likely is the greatest heavyweight in NJSIAA history and as time goes on he'll be mentioned in concert with Steve Mocco, the Blair Academy standout who won four prep national titles and was a legendary recruit before winning national titles at Iowa and then at Oklahoma State. Blair Academy is not an NJSIAA team and does not participate in the state tournaments, so there can be no direct comparison. In the Shore Conference he gets his head on the equivalent of Mount Rushmore, joining fellow three-time state champs Luke Skove, Glenn Pritzlaff, Mark Worthy, Damion Hahn, Frank Molinaro and Scott Winston.

"I'm happy my name can be said in the same breath as those guys," Lawson said. "I just started wrestling five years ago and now I've done all this. I can thank my coaches for that."

Some high school wrestlers might not be able to grasp the full scope of what Lawson accomplished, but he knew what was at stake the entire time. There surely was pressure, but Lawson never let it show. For most of the weekend he looked more relaxed than the fans who came to cheer him, and those fans did cheer. Every time Lawson took the mat the crowd seemed to chatter just a little bit more and clap a little harder. They wanted to see the big guy dominate and he didn't disappoint. His longest bout was 1:31.

"It brings chills," Scheffler said. "The fact that it's someone coming from Manchester that is being talked about like this and the fact that it's happening to such a great kid, it's amazing."

Lawson would like nothing more than for his brief autograph session to become the norm years down the road as a professional football player. No matter what happens going forward, however, that signature will always mean something to those lucky kids. Because during his last weekend at Boardwalk Hall, Jimmy Lawson became a legend.

Senior Staff Writer Bob Badders can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it