Lamar University alumni, administrators, faculty, staff and students are invited to join in honoring LU alum and Southeast Texas native Larry Lawson on his induction into the prestigious Horatio Alger Association at a news conference at the Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship on Monday, May 7 at 1:30 p.m.

Lawson’s inspiring story of going from adversity to a life of achievement that has touched countless thousands of lives led to his becoming one of only 12 national leaders selected for the honor this year.

Lawson is only the fourth person from Southeast Texas to achieve this honor in 71 years.

Interestingly, three of these have had strong connections to Lamar University: Lawson, Tom Harken and Jack Gill. Past honorees from Southeast Texas were restaurant founder and LU benefactor Tom Harken (honored in 1992), and LU Distinguished Alumnus, engineer and tech entrepreneur Jack Gill (honored in 1999). The fourth, long-time Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, grew up in Orange.

Alongside Lawson were his 2018 Horatio Alger colleagues musician and actress Reba McEntire, Jimmy John’s Sandwich founder James Liautaud, former Walmart CEO Lee Scott, actor Rob Lowe, and others.

The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that was founded in 1947 to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity and to emphasize the importance of higher education.

The association is named for Horatio Alger, a 19th-century author of hundreds of dime novels in the "rags-to-riches" genre, extolling the importance of perseverance and hard work.