Fred Lewis (handball)

Fred Lewis
Personal information
Nationality U.S.
Born 1947
The Bronx, New York
Sport
Sport Handball
Achievements and titles
National finals
  • 6x U.S. Four-Wall Handball Singles Champion (1972, 1974–76, 1978, and 1981)
  • 3x U.S. Three-Wall Handball Singles Champion (1974, 1977, and 1978)

Fred Lewis (born in 1947) is an American former handball player.[1][2]

Lewis is Jewish, and was born in The Bronx, New York.[1][3] Both of his parents played handball, and he learned to play handball by playing it off building walls in the Bronx.[4][5] He grew up primarily playing 1-wall handball, and played his first tournament at the age of eight.[6] As a high school student, he competed on the school's swimming team.[7]

He won two U.S. National Collegiate Singles Championships as a University of Miami student.[1][8] He received a master’s degree in education at the University of Miami in 1972.[9]

Lewis is a 6-time U.S. Handball Association National Four-Wall Handball Singles Champion (1972, 1974–76, 1978, and 1981).[1][2] He is also a 3-time National Three-Wall Singles Champion (1974, 1977, and 1978).[1][10]

All of those championships were won between 1972 and 1981.[1] Lewis was named "Handball Player of the Decade" for the 1970s by the National Handball Association.[1][11]

He made the finals of the National Open championship 14 consecutive years.[1] He won 16 titles as a professional.[1]

In 1998, he created Yes2Kids, a handball club for children who otherwise would not have access to handball.[9]

In 2003, he was head coach of the handball team at the University of Arizona.[2] In 2008, he was remarrying his ex-wife, as they had reconciled after 16 years.[12]

Halls of Fame

Lewis was inducted into the Handball Hall of Fame in 1993, as its 25th member.[1][2] He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.[1][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Fred Lewis". Jewishsports.net. http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/Fred-Lewis.htm. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d Christopher Wuensch (December 10, 2003). "Handball legend builds UA program". Arizona Daily Wildcat. http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/97/74/02_1.html. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
  3. ^ Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by day in Jewish sports history. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. http://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&pg=PA113&dq=handball+%22fred+lewis%22&hl=en&ei=8gGhTtzeK7Pr0QGi-72RBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=handball%20%22fred%20lewis%22&f=false. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
  4. ^ "World Handball Champ Wants More Publicity for his Sport". Lakeland Ledger. July 23, 1978. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kJJNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3foDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2993,6837024&dq=handball+university-of-miami+fred-lewis&hl=en. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ [2]
  7. ^ [3]
  8. ^ [4]
  9. ^ a b "Four walls of fun". Tucsoncitizen.com. January 23, 2007. http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2007/01/23/39177-four-walls-of-fun/. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
  10. ^ Ralph Hickok (May 17, 2010). "History – U.S. Handball Champions". HickokSports.com. http://www.hickoksports.com/history/ushandballchamps.shtml. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
  11. ^ a b "Jewish Sports Hall of Fame calls 7". JTA. December 8, 2010. http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/12/08/2742091/jewish-sports-figures-named-to-hall-of-fame. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 
  12. ^ [5]