He earned letters in football, basketball, track, and baseball in high school and competed in intramural athletics at the University of Iowa.
In 1933, he joined The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, eventually becoming the assistant sports editor.
In 1946, he became the sports public relations director at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he also called Wisconsin Badgers football and basketball games.
[2] Lentz left Wisconsin in 1956 to become the public relations director for the United States Olympic Committee.
[1] Following the 1972 Summer Olympics, which included two of the country's runners not showing up to a race on time, a political protest by two other runners that led to their ban, swimmer Rick DeMont being stripped of his gold medal because he tested positive for a prohibited substance, and a controversial loss to the Soviet Union in the 1972 Olympic men's basketball final, there was a demand for change at the USOC.