Yoruba Sportspeople

Ruth Lawanson


Ruth Modupe Lawanson (born September 27, 1963) was the head coach of the University of Nevada volleyball team. Born in Nigeria, she played volleyball for Fresno State and the United States national team, winning a bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

College
Lawanson played for the Fresno State volleyball team and was named MVP of the team in 1982, 1983, and 1984. In 1984, her senior season, she led the Bulldogs to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA tournament, was named NorPac co-Player of the Year, and was an All-American. She was also named the 1984-85 Fresno State Female Athlete of the Year. Lawanson was the first female athlete in school history to have her jersey number retired, and she is a member of the Fresno State Athletic Hall of Fame.

International
Lawanson played on the U.S. national team for four years. She won bronze medals with the team at the 1990 World Championships, 1991 World Cup, and 1992 Summer Olympics.

Professional
Lawanson played for the Major Volleyball League's Dallas Belles and Minnesota Monarchs from 1987 to 1989. She was named the league MVP in 1988. She later played in Italy and France from 1992 to 1995.

Coaching career
Lawanson was an assistant coach at Purdue University for four years, at Fresno State for six years, at the United States Air Force Academy for two years, and at the University of Nevada for one year. She was the head coach at Angelo State for three seasons in which she led the team to a 19-65 record. She was named the head coach of Nevada's team in 2011. On November 26, 2014, she was relieved of her coaching duties at Nevada.

Personal
Lawanson was born on September 27, 1963, in Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria, and is 5 feet, 8 inches tall.[4] She graduated from Fresno State with a degree in business administration in 1987. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Lawanson married Shawn Kenan in 2002. Separated from Shawn Kenan in 2015. Her cousin, Foluke Akinradewo, also played for the U.S. national volleyball team

Muhammed Lawal



Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (born January 11, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist. He is signed with Bellator and Rizin FF (through partnership with Bellator) as an MMA fighter, Lawal is the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and the Rizin Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion, and has also competed for World Victory Road and M-1 Global. He is also known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a professional wrestler.

Lawal was raised along with his siblings by a single Muslim mother. Growing up Lawal was a fan of professional wrestling and began competing in wrestling at Plano East Senior High School in Plano, Texas. As a junior Lawal won a state title in the Greco-Roman category and also finished as a state runner-up. During his senior season Lawal went undefeated and became a state champion. Lawal also competed in football, earning All-District honors as a linebacker during his junior season and as a wide receiver in his senior season. Lawal also lettered in track and field.

Lawal went on to compete in NCAA Division II wrestling at the University of Central Oklahoma. He finished in 2nd place in the nation in 2001 and was a national champion in 2002. For his senior year Lawal moved on to Division I at Oklahoma State University. Lawal became a Big 12 Conference Champion and Division I All-American in 2003 for Oklahoma State, where he finished in third place for the 197 pound division. Lawal was also the university freestyle national champion at 185 pounds this year. After college Lawal continued his wrestling career at the senior level, and also competed in the newly formed Real Pro Wrestling league and became the champion of the 184 pound weight class in 2004.


He won the Senior U.S. national championship in freestyle wrestling three times - in 2005, 2006 and 2008. He also represented the U.S. at the 2005 World Wrestling Championships, where he finished in 7th place. He controversially lost his match to Sazhid Sazhidov of Russia when he was penalized a point for passivity with 1 second remaining in a match he was winning, giving Sazhidov the win. Revaz Mindorashvili would be the gold medalist at these games, a wrestler Lawal has defeated.


For over three years, Lawal was the number one ranked wrestler in the United States in the 84 kilogram division. After narrowly missing entrance to the 2008 Olympics, for which he was favored a spot, Lawal decided to enter the world of mixed martial arts.

Lawal's parents are immigrants from Nigeria. Lawal was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He has a younger brother named Abdullah and a younger sister named Aminat. The three were raised by a single mother, "My mom [Nike Rouseau] pretty much raised us all. My dad was never around." Muhammed's father committed suicide when Lawal was twenty years old.

After his fight with Larkin, Lawal was diagnosed with Staphylococcus obtained from knee surgery. Lawal had a fever of 103 degrees, and the infection ate away at parts of his hip and legs, "I had this moment where I was like, man, I can see my hip bone. I was ripped still. I had an eight-pack. But there's my hip bone. I looked at my leg, and it looked like those zombies from The Walking Dead. I feel like I looked death in the face, and I survived.

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