Guy Lewis

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Guy Vernon Lewis (born in Arp, Texas, United States of America, March 19, 1922) was a highly successful NCAA basketball coach for 30 years at the University of Houston. He led the program to 27 straight winning seasons and 14 seasons with 20 or more wins, including 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament, 5 times making the Final Four, and twice playing in the NCAA Championship Game, in 1983 and 1984.

Houston lost in both NCAA Final games, despite his "Phi Slama Jama" teams featuring superstars Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon. In 1983, Houston lost in a dramatic, memorable title game to North Carolina State on a last-second dunk by Lorenzo Charles. In 1984, the Cougars fell to Georgetown, led by Patrick Ewing. Lewis retired in 1986 at number 20 on the all-time NCAA Division I victory list, his 592-279 record giving him a .680 lifetime winning percentage.

A World War II veteran, Lewis himself had played basketball for the University of Houston until his graduation in 1947. He became an assistant coach there in 1953, and head coach in 1956. As a coach, he was known for championing the dunk, which he characterized as a "high percentage shot", and for keeping brightly colored red and white polka dot towels on the bench during games. Lewis was a major force in the racial integration of college athletics in the South during the 1960s, being one of the first major college coaches in the region to actively recruit African-American athletes.

Accomplishments:

32 years as a head coach
592 career wins
Five NCAA Final Four appearances
Two NCAA Final appearances
Three 30-plus-win seasons
4 conference championships
Produced 10 first round NBA draft selections, and 29 NBA players in total
Only coach to have produced 3 of the NBA's top 50 players
Winning Coach of the "Game of the Century" vs. UCLA in the Astrodome
Named national coach of the year in 1968, and again in 1983
Coach of four Southwest Conference Tournament champions--1978, 1981, 1983 and 1984