Hawk Hall of Famer Al Laveson, the dean of coaches at Saint Joseph's University, is the winningest coach in the history of the school. The 1953 Temple grad has compiled a 459-514 record in 42 seasons with the men's tennis team (294-331) and 26 seasons with the women (176-192). His coaching tenure at Saint Joseph's is the longest in school history.

In 2004-05, Laveson helped the Hawks to match their best Atlantic 10 finish in six years, placing ninth. He has guided the women's tennis program to two 10-win seasons, the last coming in 2000-01, and began his career with the women with eight straight winning seasons.

Laveson, who was inducted into the Saint Joseph's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001, was the first Hawk mentor to reach 400 career wins with a men's tennis victory over Towson in the fall of 2002. He became only the second Hawk coach to reach the 300-win plateau in 1994, joining the legendary Bill Ferguson, who guided the Hawk basketball team to 309 victories over 25 years. He became the winningest Hawk coach one year later.

Captain of the Temple tennis team as a collegiate player, Laveson has been a teaching professionally for the United States Professional Tennis Association for the past 42 years. He is also a past vice president of the organization.

Laveson retired from his full-time teaching position at Central High School in Philadelphia just before the 1994 season. Prior to his arrival at Central in 1987, he taught for 33 years at Penn Treaty Junior High School. Besides coaching at SJU, Laveson coached the boys' tennis team at Father Judge High for two years in the early 60s. He won City Championships in badminton and tennis at Central, along with a gymnastics title while at Penn Treaty. Laveson also coached girls' field hockey at Central.

Laveson, who resides in Philadelphia, is the father of three sons, Bob, Dave, and Peter. The two eldest were both SJU tennis team captains under their father.