Ed Lewis (basketball)

A lanky center with good ballhandling, passing, and shooting skills, Lewis captained the team during his senior campaign and led the Pacific Coast Conference in scoring.

[1] He was raised by a single mother, Faye Beagle Lewis, spending his earliest years in San Francisco before moving with her to Portland, Oregon.

[1] Lewis' Senior campaign was interrupted, however, as he was sidelined by an injury early in the year which kept him out of action until the opening of the Oregon state high school basketball tournament in March 1929.

[2] Lewis immediately made his impact felt, chalking up 19 points in the opener for the Colonials in a 32 to 25 win over Wallowa High School.

[5] In the fall of 1929 Lewis entered Oregon State College (OSC) in Corvallis where he would play for young head coach Amory "Slats" Gill.

"[7] The OSC team returned talented Senior shooters Rod Ballard and Buck Grayson, but it was the addition of the 6'6" Sophomore center Ed Lewis that took the unit to the next level.

A preseason trip through California incurred only two losses and the Beavers started the Northern Division season hot, winning three out of four against Washington State and Idaho, but Lewis suffered a knee injury in a game against the University of Washington in Corvallis, forcing him to miss six of the last nine games and limiting his time to short minutes in the other three.

With the Beavers again making a long road trip to California in advance of the Northern Division season, Lewis broke his hand in a game against the University of San Francisco.

"[13] During World War II Lewis served in the US Army for two years, assigned to the Pacific front and spending most of his time stationed on the island of Luzon in The Philippines.

[13] It remains one of only five such retired by the OSU men's basketball program, the others belonging to Mel Counts, Steve Johnson, A.C. Green, and Gary Payton.