Jerry Dawson joined Puma Baseball in 2023, after serving 12 seasons as the pitching coach at Yavapai College and serving as head baseball coach at Chaparral High School (1973-2010).

In 37 seasons, Dawson guided Chaparral High School to eight Arizona high school state championships as well as four runner-up finishes. His teams also captured 24 regional titles. Dawson retired from Chaparral with the most career wins of any high school baseball coach in state history with a 774-301 (.720) career record and having earned National High School Coach of the Year honors on five occasions.

The Chaparral program produced more than 160 graduates who continued their baseball careers at the college or professional levels, including seven current or former major leaguers, most notably Paul Konerko, Brian Bannister and Ike Davis.

In addition to his coaching duties, Dawson taught Physical Education at Chaparral for over 30 years. He also served as the Physical Education Department Chair and the school’s Athletic Director for more than 20 years before retiring from teaching in 2004.

In 12 years at Yavapai, Dawson guided a staff that sent more than 30 pitchers to the NCAA Division I level and saw seven pitchers taken in the Major League Baseball draft. He also helped guide the Roughriders to their fourth NJCAA Div. I World Series title in 2016 with their 5-2 victory over Texas powerhouse San Jacinto College.

Dawson served as head coach of the U.S. Junior National team that competed in the 2005 Pan Am Games, winning a silver medal. Prior to that, he served as an assistant coach on the Junior National team staff in 2004, which competed in the World Games in Taipei.

Dawson has been elected to seven Hall of Fames, including: Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, National High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame and American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. 

Dawson is a graduate of Missouri State University and earned a master’s degree in education from Arizona State University. He also served as a Military Police Officer in the United States Army that included a tour of duty in Vietnam.