[1] He led NCAA Division I in scoring while playing for the Idaho State Bengals during the 1978–79 season.

In Lawrence's junior year and his first at Idaho State, he averaged 23.8 points in 26 games played,[4] which led the conference in scoring.

He was the first ever recipient of the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year award and was selected to play in the Aloha Classic Basketball All-Star Game, in which the nation's top players were chosen to play.

[1] He returned to Missouri and worked at the Marshall Habilitation Center for 30 years until his retirement in 2011.

[1] Butler died at the Boone Hospital Center in Columbia, Missouri, on October 23, 2018, aged 61.