[1][2] Mawson was born in Brandon, Durham and by the age of 24 he had already spent several years working at the coalface at Washington Colliery when he became one of a number of players discovered by Stoke City's north east scouts.
[2] Raw and eager Mawson was given his debut in February 1929 at Swansea Town, in which he scored but his lack of guile and wayward passing soon relegated him to the reserves but his never say die attitude kept him in manager Tom Mather's plans.
[2] Eventually Wilf Kirkham's horrific leg break on the opening day of the 1931–32 handed Mawson his chance in his natural position of centre forward.
[2] However towards the end of the season Mawson, renowned for being a 'greedy' player squandered a number of easy chances against Plymouth Argyle as Stoke lost 1–0.
He went on to play for Nottingham Forest, Stockport County, Linfield and Crewe Alexandra before World War II broke out.