Steven A. Lewis finished his final race on earth January 23 rd 2016.

His remarkable journey began humbly as a teacher, mentor, and coach of multiple sports, and evolved into a highly successful career in track & field that spanned over 5 decades.

The last leg of his incredible journey was a 15 year marathon of endurance; during this time he encountered his fiercest opponent, heart disease, and each new battle against this debilitating foe became increasingly difficult to overcome.

Multiple hard fought victories over this opponent and half a century of noteworthy coaching achievements began to take their toll in December of 2015. At that time, he approached the final turn of this marathon and relied on the strength and support of loved ones to complete the final stretch. Soon thereafter, he effortlessly crossed the finish line while being surrounded by close family members in the peaceful comfort of his home.

Steven Anthony Lewis was born in New York, NY on March 12th, 1943. Much to his mother's surprise, he was delivered unassisted at his first home in Harlem. The mid-wives who were to deliver him, didn't expect him to arrive for several more hours, but instead he showed up 30 minutes after they left. He was the eldest of three children born to the late Lillian Elaine Lewis affectionately known as "Lorraine", and the only child of the late George Adolphus Lewis.

Steven grew up primarily in Brooklyn, NY. His parents split up when he was 21 months old, and he lived six different places before the age of 5. This was when his family moved to the Marcy Housing Projects where he spent the majority of his formative years.

Very early on he showed a strong aptitude for art and music, traits he shared with his mother. They were the only family in the projects that owned an upright piano, and his mother could play anything by ear. He even won first place in a city-wide poster contest for "Keeping the Subways Clean" as a preteen, but the "Marcy" was tough place to live. He was forced to learn how to defend himself and develop street smarts to overcome the adversities many of the kids fell victim to like gang violence, street hustling, and being bullied for no particular reason. He was often left in charge of his watching younger brother and sister while his mother went to work. This sometimes resulted in in good old fashioned butt whippin' from Lorraine if things went wrong on his watch.

On the brighter side, the "Marcy" is also where he developed a close relationship with the Rhones who lived in the same building. There were many children in their family, and Grandma Rhone loved and embraced him the same as all the others. This sense of family and belonging is something he cherished. It became very important to him and he knew it was something wanted his own children to have in the future.

During his teenage years, he became much closer to his father and paternal grandmother, Ivy Ursula Lewis. He lived with them part time in New Jersey and Steven credits his grandmother for exposing him to what he regarded as the most important things in life. She also instilled in him the core values he would carry with him forever; love, family, self-discipline, education, his Catholic faith, the discipline of loving God and knowing Christ, the importance and value of a dollar, and the respect for hard work, honesty, and perseverance. She immigrated to New York from British Guyana when his father was five years old, and worked tirelessly as a midwife to send money back home while saving money at the same time to sponsor other family members to come to America.

Both she and his mother Lorraine encouraged him to stay focused on his education and to participate in sports teams to keep himself out of trouble. Even though his first love was baseball, the competition was too great and he refused to be a "benchwarmer". This led him to focus on track where he excelled, and secured a scholarship to attend the Norfolk division of VA State College (now Norfolk State University) after graduating from Wingate High School.

This was where he met and married his first wife, Johnella Hunter, and developed close friendships with fellow athletes that would last a lifetime. Soon thereafter his first child, Steven junior or "Stevie" was born. After earning his B.S. degree, he landed his first job coaching basketball and track at Thomas Hunter, the all black high school in Mathews County, VA. A few years later he was handpicked by the superintendent of schools to integrate all-white Mathews High School, and was promptly transferred from Thomas Hunter. This decision led to him becoming first black head coach in the state of Virginia for high school basketball.

In this position, he courageously chose to ignore the prevalent racial politics of rural Virginia in the mid 1960's by starting the "best" 5 players on his team; four of which happened to be black. This resulted in him being ridiculed, threatened, attacked, and his home being shot at and vandalized. This experience significantly impacted his perspective on coaching, and ultimately lead to him focus primarily on track and field.

He ultimately left Mathews County and went on to build a track and field powerhouse in Newport News as Menchville High School's head coach. Under his leadership, the track program at Menchville which included his son, Steve jr., produced numerous all Americans & national record holders, and dominated individual and team state championships for over a decade.

Around the same time he left Mathews, his daughter Tiffany was born, who shared his affinity for art and music. They would spend many Sunday afternoons of "daddy daughter" time when he wasn't traveling or away doing their own form of "karaoke", listening to his records and singing while he played along, mostly by ear on their electric piano. In similar fashion, she also won a first place blue ribbon in a Newport News public school poster contest to "Keep Litter out of your Life".

The next two decades would bring about many changes. His baby girl Melony was born, and shortly thereafter he relocated, remarried, and accepted an NCAA division I coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh. As the head track coach initially for women and eventually both men and women, his programs and athletes produced numerous Big East titles, all Americans, NCAA champions and U.S. Olympians. Throughout this time he maintained close ties with former colleagues in Virginia and heavily recruited athletes from Hampton Roads for scholarship opportunities.

Throughout the years, he developed strong bonds and connections with all his athletes and students. They in turn greatly admired, respected and revered him not only as a coach but as mentor and loved one who cared just as much about them being successful in life as on the field. He now had a fourth child, Anthony, with his second wife and a step-daughter Bettina whom he loved as his own. However, once again found himself in transition.

He suffered a major heart attack in the year 2000, and by the grace of God survived. This changed his outlook on life from that point forward, because he realized he wasn't invincible and developed a much deeper appreciation for the gift of life. Within the next few years, he left the University of Pittsburgh, met and married his wife Shrecee, and moved on to successful coaching positions at Eastern Michigan University and Delaware State University. His life and career ultimately came full circle when he moved back to Virginia in 2008 to accept a coaching position at Hampton University. This move gave him the opportunity to spend quality time with his children, grandchildren, and great children, all of whom lived in the area. He retired from Hampton in 2012. However, mentoring and inspiring youth was still his passion, so he began volunteering as a coach part time shortly thereafter. Most recently he had returned to his high school roots as an assistant coach at I.C. Norcum in Portsmouth, VA. True to form, he helped pave the way for the boys outdoor track team to win a state championship in 2015.

Coach Lewis is survived by his wife, Shrecee Lewis; his sister, Ayesha Lateef (Jamal); and his brother Roger Curry.

Sons: Steven A. Lewis jr. (Shanti) and Anthony S. Lewis;

Daughters and Step-daughters : Tiffany L. Lewis, Melony E. Lewis, Bettina Lee, Kyra Richard (Thomas), and Tiffany Johnson (Hansford)

Grandchildren: Braiona, Atiya, Pashence, Nahbraia Neiko, Brooklyn, Anisa, Charles, Caleb, Elijah, Autumn, Jayda, Jordyn, Josyah, and Jaymin

Greatgrandchildren: Knowel, Amari, Iman, Makenzie, and Makaila

and a host of nephews, nieces, cousins, aunts, extended family and friends.

A memorial service celebrating his life and legacy will be held on Saturday February 6 th , at 12pm. at the Cooke Bros. Funeral Chapel located at 1601 27th Street Newport News, VA 23607. Phone #: (757) 380 – 0251. A repast will be held immediately following service for family and friends at the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center, 2410 Wickam Ave Newport News, VA 23607. Phone # (757) 247-8950. Messages letters, cards videos etc. can also be sent by email to Coach.Lewis51yrs@gmail.com or to Address: Coach Steve Lewis & Family, 12836 Jefferson Ave. Ste. B #51, Newport News VA 23608.