Generations inspired by Hutch Lewis

Red Bank High School athletic director Susan Thurman played on the first girls' basketball team Hutch Lewis coached. After he brought her back to assist him as soon as she graduated from Middle Tennessee State University, she was in line to succeed him in 1981.

That she was expected to take over for Lewis was reported in a local newspaper, in fact.

"I called the paper and said that was wrong. I told them my name's out of that hat," Thurman said Saturday. "I felt those shoes were too big."

She did, of course, establish and build a strong volleyball program at her alma mater, much of her coaching based on what she learned from Lewis.

Today she'll be speaking at his funeral service at Hixson United Methodist Church. It starts at 1 p.m. At 86, he had enjoyed relatively good health until dying Friday morning of a heart attack.

"It's not going to be easy," Thurman acknowledged, "but I'm honored to do it. I've had to speak at a lot of places for a lot of people. If I can't do it for the people I care the most about, it's all been in vain."

And clearly Lewis is at the top of her list.

"He is a legend. Every single person who played for him, their life has been impacted by him," Thurman said. "There was not one girl who ever played for him who would not run through a brick wall for him. There was such a bond between him and his players.

"To every girl, he was whatever that girl needed. If she needed a father figure, he was that. If she needed a disciplinarian, he was that. If she needed an encourager, he was that. He knew what every girl needed to make her click. And everyone who played for him and became a coach was very successful."

Lewis played basketball at the University of Chattanooga and professional baseball in Kentucky, according to his obituary, and he was a good enough golfer that he once eagled holes 7 and 8 back-to-back at Creeks Bend, Thurman said.

A bachelor until after he retired in 1981, Lewis also coached golf, and before taking over the Red Bank girls' basketball program he had "phenomenal" success with the boys' junior varsity, Thurman noted. He also helped coach football.

He had no interest in coaching girls, however, when principal Bill Eldridge called on him after Rita Thompson stepped aside for health reasons. Thompson remained on the faculty, so Eldridge did not have a teaching vacancy and needed a replacement from the existing staff.

"Hutch said, 'Heavens, no, I'm not coaching girls. I don't know anything about girls,'" Thurman recalled. "But Mr. Eldridge said, 'If you'll do it just for this one year, that will give me time to hire somebody.'

"My junior year we were 6-19, and Hutch came in and started showing us plays and showing us defenses. We won the Hamilton Interscholastic League my senior year."

On the way to that championship, the Lionettes almost beat Hixson, which long had dominated them.

"I think the score was 68-67," Thurman said. "We were just devastated. But Hutch came in the dressing room and told us, 'I have never seen an effort out of any group of athletes like I saw out of you tonight. You know I agreed to coach just this one year, but I'm going back to Mr. Eldridge and telling him I'm going to keep coaching this team as long as they'll let me.

"The rest is history. In 1968 they were fourth in the state, and they were second in the state in 1970 and we went back in '71. We went back four or five times in the '70s, I know, maybe more than that."

Late in Lewis' career the girls' game in Tennessee went from six-on-six play to five-on-five. Whatever he coached, the principles of organization and motivation worked the same.

"All the guys who played for him loved him. All the golfers who played for him loved him," Thurman said. "He was just an amazing man. He was loved by everybody."