1953–54 Volume 78 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Art Lewis Scores with West Virginians
By JAMES R. NUZUM, West Virginia
ART LEWIS, Ohio '36
He keeps his Mountaineers at home,
IN THE span of only four years, big,
affable Art Lewis, Ohio '36, has given
two million proud West Virginians the
greatest football team in their history, and
he has done the job the way they wanted
it done: by keeping West Virginia boys at
home.
Although his rugged Mountaineers fell
42-19 before the passing of Georgia Tech
in the New Orleans Sugar Bowl on January
1, sports writers were predicting that
West Virginia would remain among the
gridiron leaders with Brother Art at the
helm.
Before Art took the coaching job in 1950,
West Virginians had seen dozens of their
own high school football players leave the
state to star for other schools. Lewis announced
that he was out to corral the good
West Virginia boys. This season's squad,-
first to be made up entirely of his own
choosing, had 28 natives out of 42 players.
• With thanks to Edgar O. Barrett, Director of Publicity
at the University of West Virginia for much of
information contained in the article.
'40*
Eight players on the starting eleven were
West Virginians.
Lewis' spectacular success is pointed up
by his yearly record. Inheriting an odd assortment
of material, his first team won
two and lost eight for the worst record in
West Virginia football history. In 1951,
with freshmen eligible and his own sophomore
crop also in the fold, the record was
five-five.
Next season the Mountaineers arrived.
After a shaky start which saw heartbreaking
defeats at the hands of little Furman and
Penn State, they proceeded to win their
next six games. Included was a 16-0 victory
over a powerful Pitt team. Lewis' team
finally reached maturity during the past
1953 campaign. Pitt was defeated in the
opener, 17-7, and Penn State was vanquished,
20-19, for its first defeat in three
years at State College. South Carolina, however,
caught them napping and scored a
20-14 upset. The regular season's record
was 8-1 and Lewis was named "Southern
Conference Coach of the Year."
Lewis has led such a varied and interesting
life that it's easy for him to be downto-earth
with the big rawboned kids who
make good football players. In 1932 (as a
21-year-old freshman when he acquired the
handle of "Pappy"), he entered Ohio University.
He turned his brawn to playing
football and became Little All-America
tackle, the star of the East-West Shrine
game, and the greatest gridder Ohio University
ever had.
Beginning in 1936, Lewis played one season
with the pro New York Giants, was line
coach at Ohio Wesleyan for a year, joined
the Cleveland Rams in 1938 and in midseason
was appointed head coach—at 27 the
youngest ever in pro football. His team
knocked off the previously unbeaten Chicago
Bears, an unprecedented twice in a
row.
The years 1939-40-41 were spent with the
Rams as liiie coach, but soon after being
(Continued on page 306)
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