To the Editor:

I enthusiastically urge all at Potsdam Central School to support the proposal to name the track and field complex at Potsdam High School in honor of coach Bill Lewis. This would be outstanding and most fitting, and would appropriately recognize the incredible accomplishments and legacy that coach Lewis made in Potsdam.

I am a native of Potsdam, PCHS class of 1973. I turned 60 this month, and I can sincerely say that coach Bill Lewis’ influence on me has been important, constant, and positive for over 45 years. Coach Lewis taught hundreds of young athletes to believe in themselves and to believe in each other. He taught us to be authentic to ourselves, that we could always improve, and that we could accomplish significant things with the lives that we were given. He had a saying, that every day we could become” something better. This has stayed with me, and I’m certain that it stayed with every one of his student/athletes. What an outstanding, wonderful belief to impart on a whole generation of young men.

Track and Field in the 60s and 70s in Potsdam was legendary. Coach Bill Lewis built that legend. There were some really good athletes on coach Lewis’ teams. I was not one of them, but coach Lewis instilled every single member of his teams with the same respect for life and inspiration for success. That was what he brought to the young men of Potsdam.

Let me share an illustrative story: When coach Lewis’ legendary 10-year string of undefeated dual meets came to an end in Tupper Lake in 1972, it was due to a disqualification of one of our top runners when a team-mate who was encouraging him ran near him for a short distance in the in-field. It was deemed pacing by a hometown judge, and was very controversial. Our guy was disqualified, and we lost by 1 or 2 points. The guy who ran in the infield was devastated. The team was on the bus, feeling terrible. Coach Lewis entered the bus and proceeded to change the lives of dozens of young men. He told them all they should stand tall and be proud of what happened that day. He said we had taken a penalty because a team member was helping another to “become” that day; to accomplish the most that he could. He said that life is about that kind of act, and is more important than simply winning or losing a meet.

That was a phenomenal coach giving young men a lesson they have carried for a lifetime.

Bill Lewis is directly improved the lives of hundreds of boys, now in their 50s and 60s. He is also absolutely the winningest coach the school will probably ever see, but as my story relates, winning to Coach Lewis meant more than simply the scores of track and field meets. In Potsdam, he is a legend who deserves to be honored with the naming of the track complex.

What an honor it would be for him, and a privilege for those that could make it happen, to name the track complex for him.

Bill Straub

Potsdam Central High School graduate