Education
He attended McKeesport Area High School (in Pennsylvania) and Arizona State University before being drafted by the National Basketball Association"s Cincinnati Royals in 1966.
He attended McKeesport Area High School (in Pennsylvania) and Arizona State University before being drafted by the National Basketball Association"s Cincinnati Royals in 1966.
He played professionally in the National Basketball Association (National Basketball Association) and now defunct American Basketball Association (American Bar Association) from 1966 to 1977. After one season of limited playing time with the Royals, he moved to the rival American Bar Association, spending the next seven seasons with the Indiana Pacers. He also represented the Pacers in three All-Star games (1968, 1970, and 1972).
After the Pacers lost to the Utah Stars in the 1974 finals, however, the Pacers traded Lewis, along with Brown and Daniels, to the Memphis Sounds.
Daniels, the Sounds" starting center, then injured his back after slipping in his bathtub, and Lewis was traded to the Spirits of Saint Louis in exchange for replacement center Tom Owens. Lewis averaged a career high 22.6 points per game with the Spirits in 1974–1975, was named Most Valuable Player of the 1975 American Bar Association All-Star Game, and led the young team into the playoffs.
However, Lewis suffered an ankle injury, and the Spirits bowed out to the Kentucky Colonels, the eventual champions. After one more year with the Spirits, Lewis returned to the Pacers (who by this point had joined the National Basketball Association), and he retired in 1977 with 12,033 combined National Basketball Association/American Bar Association career points.
Born in Huntington, West Virginia, Lewis was a fundamentally sound 6"0" (183 m) guard who could pass, shoot, and defend equally well.