Luling resident and former coach Bruce McDonald remembers a specific game in 1992 on the prep gridiron, one that made clear to many what he already knew: that his H.L. Bourgeois Braves’ sophomore wide receiver, JaJuan Dawson, was a special player in the making.
“Nobody had scored a touchdown on Hahnville all season long,” McDonald recalled. “We were probably six or seven weeks in by that point. They had a really, really dominant team. There was a play where they rotated their defense up, and we called a play for JaJuan. He went for about 60 yards and took it to the fence. He was just a sophomore, and he was the first guy to score on them that year.”
The former Braves coach spoke with a heavy heart as he told this story.
Dawson, a former Tulane University standout and NFL wide receiver, passed away at the age of 37, the result of a July 12 boating accident. Dawson reportedly fell off a boat his family had rented in a Dallas-area lake.
McDonald bonded with Dawson not only over football but also their mutual love of hunting and outdoorsman activities.
“Deer, duck, we both really liked to hunt,” McDonald said. “It was easy for us to strike up a conversation. He grew up in that environment … one of the real tough things about the situation is I think he knew how to swim. Something had to have happened when he fell.”
He called Dawson “a great student and person” when he attended Bourgeois, adding, “he was a complete package.”
“He was really intelligent,” McDonald said. “He was one of the first guys to put together a CD of his highlights to get out (to pro teams). He was way ahead of the curve on that stuff. And, goodness, he had a lot of ability.”
Dawson played with the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans of the NFL. At Tulane, he owned the team record for receptions per game (5.7), total receptions (234), touchdown receptions (31) and 100-yard receiving games (14).
He helped Tulane put together the first undefeated season in team history in 1998.
“Nobody knows,” McDonald said, his voice cracking. “He always had a smile on his face. He was a great person and he’s going to be so, so missed.”
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