Lewis Geter (born December 11, 1969) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

and

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...

. Geter was the MAC Player of the Year while playing for the Bobcats in 1992. He played professionally for seven seasons with stints in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA), Puerto Rico, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Israel, Portugal, France and Chile.

Early life

Geter was raised in the projects of

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, by his mother, Betty, alongside two siblings. He began playing basketball as a child. Geter attended Linden-McKinley High School in Columbus, where he led the basketball team to two state finals. He also played as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

on the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team and an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

on the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team.

College career

Geter received a full scholarship to attend the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

. He was ineligible to play during his freshman season with the

Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

in 1988–89. Geter decided to transfer during his sophomore year to be closer to home. Geter joined the

before the start of the 1990–91 season. He led the Bobcats in scoring (18.1) and rebounding (6.8) during his junior season and was selected to the All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) first-team as the runner-up in MAC Player of the Year voting. Geter led the MAC in scoring during his senior season with 20.9 points per game and was second in rebounding with 8.4 rebounds per game. He led the Bobcats to an 18–10 record and was selected as the MAC Player of the Year. Geter was inducted into the Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.

Professional career

Geter was automatically eligible for the

1992 NBA draft The 1992 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1992, at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The draft is considered to be one of the deepest in NBA history. The top three picks (Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner) were considere ...

but was not selected. He was invited to two tryouts with the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). Geter played during the 1992 preseason with the Knicks and was called "the most impressive" amongst the team's options for a final roster spot. Despite playing well in limited preseason action, he was released on November 4, 1992, as the Knicks decided to keep Bo Kimble. Geter claims he was told by Knicks assistant coach,

Jeff Van Gundy Jeffrey William Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is an American commentator for ESPN and former basketball coach. He served as head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his ten ...

, that the position would have gone to him but the team did not want to pay out Kimble's guaranteed contract. On November 26, 1992, Geter signed with the

Columbus Horizon The Columbus Horizon is a defunct basketball team from Columbus, Ohio that played for five seasons in the Continental Basketball Association from 1989 to 1994. History Plans to bring professional basketball to Columbus were unveiled in September ...

of the

(CBA). He averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds in 9 games played. On October 1, 1993, Geter signed with the Knicks. He pulled his groin and was unable to play during most of the preseason camp. He was released on October 18, 1993. On December 14, 1993, Geter signed with the

Wichita Falls Texans The Wichita Falls Texans were a minor league basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association from 1988 to 1994. The team was located in Wichita Falls, Texas, and played their games at D.L. Ligon Coliseum, located on the campus of Midwest ...

of the CBA. He appeared in one game with the team during the 1993–94 season. Geter played for Atléticos de San Germán of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional in Puerto Rico during the 1997 and 1999 seasons. He played for

Seixal Seixal () is a Portugal, Portuguese city and municipality, located in the district of Setúbal District, Setúbal, in the metropolitan area of Lisbon region, Lisbon. Its population includes 184,269 inhabitants (2011), in an area of that includes ...

in Spain during the 1998–99 season. Geter played professionally for seven seasons with other stints in Venezuela, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Israel, Portugal, France and Chile.

Post-playing career

Geter taught as a substitute teacher in Springfield, Virginia. He then worked at John J. Wright Middle School in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and was the head basketball coach for a year. Geter worked as an assistant at the Culpeper Juvenile Detention Center and a resident supervisor at the Rappahannock Juvenile Detention Center. In 2001, he became the youth sports director at the Rappahannock Area

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

. Geter is a physical education teacher at Tree of Life Christian Prep School in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

Personal life

Geter has three sons with his wife. Geter is an ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

at the Community Praise Center in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

References

External links