Junius Lewis
January 10, 2003 12:32 PM | General
Mickey Furfari At-Large
Mountaineer
Illustrated
He's the Rev. Junius Lewis now, that 6-11, 225-pound center on West Virginia University's basketball teams from 1975-79.
Besides serving as pastor of a non-denominational church, the Richmond, Va., native is a veteran sales representative for Bristol Myers Pharmaceuticals. He tours North Central West Virginia and Western Maryland on behalf of that firm.
"A lot of the success I've had was attributed to my competitive nature and a desire to learn and get better," says Lewis, who still resides in Morgantown. "I think I made great improvement each year as a WVU athlete, and I was proud of that."
Indeed, he is believed to be the last true center to average double figures in scoring. Lewis did that as a senior in 1978-79, finishing with 294 points and a 10.5 gait for 28 games. He also logged a career-high 180 rebounds, 20 blocked shots and 10 steals that year.
Lewis had a huge hand as WVU posted records of 15-13, 18-11, 12-16 and 16-12.
"I was very fortunate for the senior year that I had," he says. "Many people have said to me, 'Boy, if they had redshirted you as a freshman maybe you could have played pro ball."
Lewis did go overseas and play professionally in France for about a year-and-a-half. He lived just outside of Paris and really enjoyed that experience.
For his four years at WVU, he played in 110 games, shot 46.7 percent from the field and 71.8 percent from the foul line, and tallied 694 points and 464 rebounds. He was a team captain in '78-79.
Lewis, who's 45, was coached three years by Joedy Gardner and one by Gale Catlett. He had played just two seasons of high school basketball, seeing most of his action as a senior. He also attended a Five-Star Summer Camp and won the most improved player award.
"It gave me an opportunity to kind of mingle with the big boys," he recalls. "That obviously helped."
Lewis played in three all-time great victories as a Mountaineer. Those were 83-78 over Syracuse and 81-68 over Notre Dame in 1976-77 and 81-74 over top-seeded Rutgers in the 1978 Eastern Eight tournament.
He had 31 points and 18 rebounds in that event as WVU reached the finals before bowing to Villanova, 63-59. He tallied 11 points against Rutgers and 14 points, nine rebounds in a 59-57 upset of Duquesne. Other memorable performances during his junior year included 20 points/10 rebounds against Pitt and 23 points/10 rebounds against St. Francis (N.Y.).
Lewis had seven double-doubles in '78-79 and 10-or-more points in nine other games.
Those included 13 points/10 rebounds against Rider, 15/11 and 10/15 in wins over Marshall, 14/10 against Pitt, 14/11 against Westminster, 20/11 against Duquesne and 13/10 in a loss to Eastern Kentucky.
"One of the things I'm proudest of is that, as a late-bloomer, I always got satisfaction out of playing against some of the best centers around and outplaying them in most cases," Lewis says.
Those foes included Sam Clancy of Pitt, Roosevelt Boie of Syracuse and Herb Williams of Ohio State. "I really got pumped up for those matchups," Lewis says. "It was a chance for me to prove I was as good or better than guys that played more basketball than I had."
He received bachelor's and master's degrees from WVU. Then he worked eight years for his alma mater in finance and academic advisor roles. He decided to skip coaching for a career in business and the ministry.
Lewis remains active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He holds weekly Bible studies for WVU athletes and also spends time with prisoners at the Kennedy Youth Center.
Lewis and wife Rebecca, a Morgantown native, have three children. They are Junele, 16; Junius III, 14; and Jonathan, 7.
