To the Editor:

News of the proposal to name the Potsdam Central School Track and Field complex in honor of Coach Bill Lewis has recently reached me. The naming of a facility to honor an individual should be approached with all deliberateness by the PCS Board of Education. While an individual comes from a specific time, what they represent should be timeless. In this light, the proposal to recognize and honor coach Lewis, by naming the site of his Teams’ and his incredible work and his legacy as a coach is truly fitting.

I am a member of the PCS class of 1969 and had the great fortune of coming under coach Lewis’ tutelage and being part of his Teams during my Sophomore year as Manager, Junior year as a member of the JV squad and Senior year, as a member of the Varsity Team.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the first Stoner Van Dusen victory. With this as a stimulus, a number of us are arranging to gather in Potsdam in Junr to celebrate with coach. The response has been very heartening. What is bringing men, now in their 60’s, back to Potsdam for the celebration is not the nine consecutive Van Dusen wins (a record that still stands), nor the string of 100 consecutive dual meet wins (that must be a record), nor the numerous records set. What is bringing us back is the soul of what coach instilled in “his boys”. I offer a sampling of some of the comments I have received that capture that spirit.

• “I have the utmost respect for coach Lewis, whom I consider to be one of the most influential mentors in my life.”

• “(There is) No question that we had some talented members, but it was coach Lewis who had that unique gift of being able to bring out the best in us all on a continual basis.”

• “I owe Coach a great debt of gratitude. I was not a dedicated performer - I was an alternate, and deservedly so. I did not meet the qualifications for a Varsity letter and I appealed to coach. He honestly explained that hadn’t met the necessary criteria to earn it, and if I got it, it would devalue the letters given to others. He was right. It is a lesson about personal responsibility and being ethical I have not forgotten. I went on to be a basketball coach for 14 years; and I am presently a teacher and Dean of Students in a large coed high school. I still impart Coach’s message to my students.”

• “Coach Lewis is a major influence on my life. I modeled my hockey and track coaching methods after his example.”

• “He was truly a pioneer in his coaching and a wonderful human being.”

My own decades in coaching have been graced by association with some truly inspirational and exemplary coaches. Sincerely, none are more inspirational and exemplary than coach Lewis. Any success my athletes and I enjoyed can be directly linked to the gift coach passed on to me.

Coach Lewis is a truly humble and self-effacing man who “simply” tried to live out truths, as he had come to know them. Those truths held his “boys” to the highest personal and athletic, and at the same time, forgave us for “being 16”. The athletic record coach’s teams amassed (he would be reluctant to claim them as “his”) is one that may never be broken. Far more importantly, in his mind, the lives of scores of young men became a journey of becoming. So many are the better for it.

There is no greater legacy, and for this reason, I profoundly support the proposal to name the PCS Track and Field complex in honor of coach Bill Lewis and encourage others to support it, as well.

Peter Straub

Potsdam Central School Class of 1969