Guy Lewis
Lewis, c. 1972
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| Sport(s) | Basketball |
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| Biographical details | |
| Born |
March 19, 1922 Arp, Texas |
| Died | November 26, 2015 (aged 93) Kyle, Texas |
| Playing career | |
| 1945–1947 | Houston |
| Position(s) | Center / forward |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1953–1955 | Houston (assistant) |
| 1956–1986 | Houston |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 592–279 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 5× Regional championships - Final Four (1967, 1968, 1982–1984) 2× SWC regular season championships (1983, 1984) 4× SWC Tournament championships (1978, 1981, 1983, 1984) |
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| Awards | |
| 2× AP College Coach of the Year (1968, 1983) Henry Iba Award (1968) NABC Coach of the Year (1968) UPI Coach of the Year (1968) |
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Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2013 (profile) |
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College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2007 |
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Guy Vernon Lewis II (March 19, 1922 – November 26, 2015) was an American basketball player and coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at the University of Houston from 1956 to 1986. Lewis led his Houston Cougars to five appearances in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, in 1967, 1968, 1982, 1983, and 1984. His 1980s teams, nicknamed Phi Slama Jama for their slam dunks, were runners-up for the national championship in back-to-back seasons in 1983 and 1984. He was inducted into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
After serving in World War II, Lewis 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 once-outlawed dunk, which he characterized as a "high percentage shot", and for clutching a brightly colored red-and-white polka dot towel 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. In 1964, his recruitment of the program's first African-American players, Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney, ushered in an era of tremendous success in Cougar basketball. The dominant play of Hayes led the Cougars to two Final Fours and sent shock waves through Southern colleges that realized that they would have to begin recruiting black players if they wanted to compete with integrated teams.
Lewis led the Houston Cougars program to 27 straight winning seasons, 14 seasons with 20 or more wins, and 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament. His Houston teams advanced to the Final Four on five occasions (1967, 1968, 1982, 1983, 1984) and twice advanced to the NCAA Championship Game (1983, 1984). Among the outstanding players who Lewis coached are Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Otis Birdsong, Dwight Jones, Don Chaney, Louis Dunbar, and Ken Spain.
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