Fred Lewis (handball)

Fred Lewis (born 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.^[5] As a high school student, he competed on the school's swimming team.^[5]

He won two U.S. National Collegiate Singles Championships as a University of Miami student.^[1][5] He received a master’s degree in education at the University of Miami in 1972.^[6]

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][7]

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][8]

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.^[6]

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.^[5]

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][8]

References