Gaston Frederick "Country" Lewis (August 4, 1903 – November 28, 1989) was a

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

player and an American football, basketball,

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

, and cross country coach.

Biography

A native of

Clinton County, Ohio Clinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,018. The county seat is Wilmington. The county is named for former U.S. Vice President George Clinton. Clinton County comprises the ...

, Lewis grew up on a farm in Caesarscreek Township, Greene County, Ohio, graduated from Wilberforce University, and earned a master's degree at Ohio State University. He played for the Bacharach Giants in 1922 and for the Dayton Marcos in 1926. Lewis served as the head football coach at Alabama State University (1929–1933), Wilberforce University (1934–1946), and

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for te ...

(1947–1956). He also served as the manager of the track and field competition at the

1967 Pan American Games The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967. Winnipeg was chosen as host of the Pan American Games on its second try. It first bid for the 1963 Games at the 1959 PASO meeting in Chicago ...

, and was an assistant track and field coach for the 1968 United States Olympic team. Lewis died in Xenia, Ohio in 1989 at age 86.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball Stats
an
Seamheads
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Gaston F. 1903 births 1989 deaths Alabama State Hornets football coaches Central State Marauders athletic directors Central State Marauders football coaches Wilberforce Bulldogs baseball players Wilberforce Bulldogs football coaches Wilberforce Bulldogs football players Wilberforce Bulldogs men's basketball players College men's track and field athletes in the United States College track and field coaches in Ohio Ohio State University alumni Bacharach Giants players Dayton Marcos players People from Clinton County, Ohio People from Greene County, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Baseball players from Ohio Basketball players from Ohio African-American coaches of American football African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players African-American track and field athletes American male track and field athletes 20th-century African-American sportspeople Deaths from cancer in Ohio