JR2004
10-21-2008, 04:41 AM
Losing Coach Lewis is a tough one and I imagine that the next few weeks and months are going to be hard on our players, coaches and everyone else at the school. I don't really think I could really find the right words to describe him, but I'll try. Coach Lewis was genuinely a great man and he's going to be sorely missed. He passed away in his sleep Sunday morning. I never did ask him his exact age, but I believe he was in his early 60's. He was way too young to go. :(
He didn't look a day over 40 though as he stayed in great shape. I believe Coach Lewis played for the Atlanta Falcons in the early years of their franchise. He never really would talk much about it though because he didn't care too much for attention. He was always in a good mood and I never saw him not smiling or laughing. Coach Lewis could've stepped in some dog mess and he would've found a way to turn it into a positive.
There's a lot of teachers and coaches who say it's all about the kids, but often that's just lip service. Coach Lewis practiced what he preached. It didn't matter if the kid was a boy or girl or whether they were an athlete or not. He treated them all the same and showed all of them the same amount of love that he would to a family member. As an assistant coach he didn't have a won-loss record like a head coach would to show how successful he was. His won-loss record came in the form of how many young men and women he kept from turning to the streets of South Dallas. In that regard no one was more successful than Coach Lewis.
This might help to explain what kind of man he was. This is an excerpt from an article written two years ago by Jean-Jacques Taylor the week we played Celina...
<<"The coaches break down their players with discipline and build them up with hard work and the kind of love that makes assistant Larry Lewis double-check whether some players have eaten at least three times before they go home because they're not guaranteed a meal once they leave school.">>
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/112206dnspotaylor.334576b.html
I guess our win against Roosevelt in the final seconds last week was a fitting way to send him home. That win was in a lot of ways like Coach Lewis. He may have been down, but he was never out and he fought like heck for the kids at Madison right to the very end of his life.
I just can't believe he's gone. He was one of the good guys and he'll be missed more than y'all can imagine. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I can't possibly do Coach Lewis justice with anything I've wrote above, but hopefully y'all understand how good of a person he was. :(
He didn't look a day over 40 though as he stayed in great shape. I believe Coach Lewis played for the Atlanta Falcons in the early years of their franchise. He never really would talk much about it though because he didn't care too much for attention. He was always in a good mood and I never saw him not smiling or laughing. Coach Lewis could've stepped in some dog mess and he would've found a way to turn it into a positive.
There's a lot of teachers and coaches who say it's all about the kids, but often that's just lip service. Coach Lewis practiced what he preached. It didn't matter if the kid was a boy or girl or whether they were an athlete or not. He treated them all the same and showed all of them the same amount of love that he would to a family member. As an assistant coach he didn't have a won-loss record like a head coach would to show how successful he was. His won-loss record came in the form of how many young men and women he kept from turning to the streets of South Dallas. In that regard no one was more successful than Coach Lewis.
This might help to explain what kind of man he was. This is an excerpt from an article written two years ago by Jean-Jacques Taylor the week we played Celina...
<<"The coaches break down their players with discipline and build them up with hard work and the kind of love that makes assistant Larry Lewis double-check whether some players have eaten at least three times before they go home because they're not guaranteed a meal once they leave school.">>
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/112206dnspotaylor.334576b.html
I guess our win against Roosevelt in the final seconds last week was a fitting way to send him home. That win was in a lot of ways like Coach Lewis. He may have been down, but he was never out and he fought like heck for the kids at Madison right to the very end of his life.
I just can't believe he's gone. He was one of the good guys and he'll be missed more than y'all can imagine. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I can't possibly do Coach Lewis justice with anything I've wrote above, but hopefully y'all understand how good of a person he was. :(