Pat Lewis,
Charlotte Crossovers
Hemingway High School, located just outside Georgetown County, seemingly every year has its boys basketball team in the Class A state championship game. There have been plenty of standout players who've come out of that school over the years, including one - Pat Lewis, who played on the team's last state championship-winning team in 2003 and now is a member of the American Basketball Association's Charlotte Crossovers. He took the time to do a Q&A with me recently.
A little background on Lewis first:
After graduating in 2004, Lewis said he chose to play collegiately at Cape Fear Community College over schools such as Spartanburg Methodist, Claflin, Armstrong Atlantic and Newberry. The 6-foot-5 guard/forward averaged 9.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6 assists per game in two years at Cape Fear, he said. After receiving interest from Division II Southern Indiana and turning down an offer to play at Morris, Lewis decided to go pro after leaving Cape Fear. The wingman, who described himself as being known as a left-handed sharpshooter, later landed with the ABA's upstart Charlotte Crossovers, whom he currently plays for alongside high school buddy Travis Taylor. He dedicates his hard work to his mother, who passed away when he was 18 years old. "I'm giving my all cause I know she would want me to."
Q | So what was the reasoning for deciding against more college and going pro instead? And did did you try any other routes before ending up with the Crossovers?
Pat | I just felt that playing for an ABA team instead of going to a Division II school at the time was better for me. If I had an offer from a Division I school, or a bigger Division II school, after my junior college career I would of turned down the ABA option and continued my college career.
Q | Speaking of the Crossovers, how did that all go down? Did they approach you? I know they are new, so did you know much about them? Did you even know much about the ABA at the time?
Pat | I was invited to a tryout. There was like 90 players there and only 12 was selected to the final roster. I was lucky enough to be one of the final 12. It was a lot of talent out there. I didn't know much about the Crossovers since they were just getting started, but I knew a lot about the ABA. A lot of great players came from this league and end up playing in the NBA, NBDL and overseas. It's a very fast-paced league that's up and down. There's 55 teams through out the United States.
Q | I've not heard a lot about the current ABA, but some people have said things are questionable in that league? Do you have a solid contract situation and what is the status of the league from what you can tell?
Pat | Well, it has some good and bads. The bads will be the late paydays, which isn't in your contract. After signing your contract you expect to get paid on the dates that you saw when you signed the deal. Your money isn't guaranteed, and a lot of teams fold or cancel games throughout the season because of funds and they can't find investors and sponsors to back them up. The goods are the exposure you get while playing in this league. We had a player that left and went to play in the United Kingdom, and another went to Australia for the rest of the season. This league is really just a stepping stone to get you exposure to get to a higher level. Not many people want to play in the ABA forever. We use it for the exposure to get somewhere else.
Q | Aside from the ABA, I know you mentioned you want to play overseas. Have you tried that route at all or talked to any agents or anything about giving it a try?
Pat | I met a agent last week that's going help get my name out there and get me in some workouts for this upcoming summer. He explained to me that the summer time is when Euroleague scouts come to the States and host combines and tryouts for players trying to make it overseas.
Q | Tell me about those great teams of Hemingway when you were there. What made those teams so good and what are some of your best memories?
Pat | Aw man, it's so much great Hemingway teams. We had a lot of talent come through there, but since we're a small school and town, it's hard to get the exposure that we need. My squad won state my junior year, and that team was so good because of the discipline that coach Jerry Harwell taught us, and how the teams before us set the tone on how it's a privilege to wear that blue and white with Hemingway across your chest. As a kid you just couldn't wait to wear that varsity jersey and put on for the city because of the winning teams before us. And all of us was so competitive with each other, and that made us better all together. The respect we had for Harwell was another reason that made us so good. He was a winner and we wanted to be winners, and the championship teams that he coached that won back-to-back state titles had an impact on every player that came through there after that. Some of my best memories will be beating Great Falls my junior year to win the state championship, and almost beating Latta for the Lower State championship my sophomore year when they had Raymond Felton. Personal memories would be scoring a career-high 40 in a playoff game my senior year. I hit eight 3s in that game, and the Lower State game when I had three points at halftime and came back in the second half to finish with 26 and a win.
Q | How big of a factor is it for you that Travis Taylor, whom you played in high school with, is playing with you on the Crossovers nowadays? You guys have been playing together for a long time.
Pat | Yeah me and Bird (Travis Taylor) have been playing together since our sophomore year of high school. He makes the game easier on any player when he's out there on the court with you. He's a player that can go off for a 20 and 12 night by just letting the game come to him. We're definitely a great one-two punch on the court.
It goes without saying that Steve was and still is infinitely and incomparably more important than anything that ever happens to the Oregon Ducks. But we graft emotions about the important stuff in life, stuff we couldn’t ordinarily find voice to express, into the rise and fall of the sports teams we support.
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