| L. W. Boynton | |
| Birth Date: | 12 August 1877 |
| Birth Place: | Whitney Point, New York, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Whitney Point, New York, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Cornell Law School |
| Player Sport1: | Football |
| Player Years2: | 1897–1899 |
| Player Team2: | Cornell |
| Player Positions: | Right tackle |
| Coach Sport1: | Football |
| Coach Years2: | 1900 |
| Coach Team2: | Kansas |
| Coach Years3: | 1902 |
| Coach Team3: | Sewanee |
| Coach Years4: | 1903–1904 |
| Coach Team4: | Washington University |
| Coach Sport5: | Basketball |
| Coach Years6: | 1905–1906 |
| Coach Team6: | Washington University |
| Overall Record: | 17–18–4 (football) 1–3 (basketball) |
Lawrence William Boynton[1] [2] (August 12, 1877 – June 19, 1937) was an American college football player, coach, track and field athlete, and lawyer. He served as the head football coach at the University of Kansas in 1900, at in 1902, and at Washington University in St. Louis from 1903 to 1904, compiling a career college football coaching record of 17–18–4.
Boynton was born in Whitney Point, New York on August 12, 1877 to George G. and Eliza Ann (née Boatman) Boynton where he also grew up. He attended Cornell University from 1897 to 1900, graduating with a degree in law. While at Cornell he played on the varsity football team as well as the varsity track & field team. Boynton lettered in track & field in 1899 and 1900 primarily competing in the hammer throw. He had the seventh best throw in the nation in 1900 with a distance of 44.9m in a meet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3]
Boynton became the head football coach at the University of Kansas the fall after he graduated from Cornell. He coached the 1900 Kansas Jayhawks football team to a record of 2–5–2 with wins over Ottawa University and the University of South Dakota and ties against Emporia State University and the Missouri Tigers.
After he finished coaching at Kansas in 1900 he returned to New York state where Boynton married Grace G. Stanton on September 6, 1902, just 2 months before he would head off to coach at Sewanee.[4] He later worked as a lawyer first in New York state starting in 1905 even though he had already passed the New York Bar exam in 1900, then in Florida for four years starting in 1926, and finally in North Carolina starting in 1929. Boynton died on June 19, 1937, at the home of his parents in Whitney Point, New York.[5] He was buried back in his hometown of Whitney Point, New York in Riverside Cemetery.