Robert Franklin Lewis (born March 20, 1945) is a retired American
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
player.
Lewis grew up in Northwest Washington, D.C., and developed a lot of his skills at the Jelleff's Boys Club in Georgetown, under the tutelage of Joe Branzell.
He played in high school at DC's
St. John's College High School, playing for coach Joe Gallagher.
In his junior year, Lewis averaged 25.4 ppg, scoring a season high 40 vs the Georgetown frosh, and was named first team All Met.
In his Sr year, Lewis was the Daily News SSA Player of the Year, named first team All Met for the second year in a row, and capped it off with an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show as a
Parade Magazine All-American for 1963.
He then played for Dean Smith at the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
, where he played an integral role on the 1967 ACC Champion and Final Four team. He averaged 27.4 points per game in 1966, the second-highest single-season average in UNC history. On December 16, 1965, he scored 49 points against
Florida State
Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
, the most ever for a UNC player. He currently ranks tenth all time in scoring at UNC with 1,836 career points.
He was an All-ACC and All-America selection in 1966 and 1967. Because of his national accolades, Lewis' number 22 was honored by the University of North Carolina and currently hangs in the rafters of the
Dean Smith Center
The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center (commonly known as the Dean Smith Center, Smith Center, or the Dean Dome) is a multi-purpose arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, used primarily as the home for the University of North Carolina at Ch ...
.
He was selected by the
San Francisco Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 1 ...
in the 4th round (39th pick overall) of the
1967 NBA draft. He was also selected by the
Anaheim Amigos
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...
in the
1967 ABA Draft.
He played for the Warriors in the
NBA for three seasons and with the
Cleveland Cavaliers for one. During his professional career, he averaged 5.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game.
See also
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Bobby
1945 births
Living people
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Anaheim Amigos draft picks
Basketball players from Washington, D.C.
Cleveland Cavaliers expansion draft picks
Cleveland Cavaliers players
North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
San Francisco Warriors draft picks
San Francisco Warriors players
Shooting guards
St. John's College High School alumni