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1.
Named CIF Player of the year in 1970
and 1971. Lewis averaged 24 points per game despite being ordered by head coach
George McQuarn not to shoot the first five minutes of each game
because he was so dominate.
In Lewis' finest game, according to McQuarn,
he had 14 assists, 6 steals and scored 41 points shooting 18 of
21 (85.7 %) from the
floor and 5 of
5 from the free throw line. Lewis finished his 3-year stay
at Verbum Dei with an 84-4 winning record and three consecutive
CIF Championships. |
2. In
1971 Lewis, along with some of his high school
buddies entered a basketball tournament held at El Camino Junior
College. All of the best college, junior college, and playground
players around the city were in it. One team had four USC
players on it including Dana Padgett and Paul Westphal. Raymond
and his high school buddies
just killed everyone.
(Read
eye witness report)
Raymond started
playing in the Los Angeles Pro League games which featured
Lakers rookies, USC alumni, UCLA alumni and AAU groups. In his
first game Lewis scored 52
Points against the Lakers rookie and won the
game. He was still in high school. |
| 3.
250 colleges from across the country offer Lewis
scholarships. UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, Long beach State, Cal State
L.A. were among them, who wanted the darting guard. |
4. Scores
41
points to upset the UCLA Bruins freshman team featuring David Meyers and
Pete Trgovich, destroying the UCLA team's two year winning streak of 26 consecutive games.
Lewis made
19 of 23 shots. (82.6% Field Gold Percentage) |
5.
Lewis scores
123 points in two-game preliminary's over the weekend. Lewis
uncorked a
sparkling offensive exhibition against San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara.
On Friday March 3, 1972 Cal State L.A. posts a 83-67 win over San Diego State. Lewis fired
in 22 field goals and six free throws to score 50 points. The
schools old record of 43 was held by 6-7 Ron Knight who later briefly
played with the NBA's Portland Trailblazers.
The
next day in Saturday's season finale Lewis scored an all time high of
73
points hitting 30 of 40 shots and adding 13 free throws for
a 103-88 win over the Gauchos. For the two day event Lewis made
an eye popping 52 of 84 field goals and 19 free throws for a
total of 123 points. (WOW!)
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| 6.
As a
freshman Lewis led the nation in scoring for first year players with an average
of 38.9 points and 7 assists per game. He also shot 59
percent from the field an incredible feat for a guard who rarely shoots
inside of 20 feet. North
Carolina State University and future
NBA Hall of Famer David Thompson
was second. |
7.
In February 1973, sophomore Lewis scored 53 points
in a
double-overtime thriller to upset the number three-ranked Long
Beach State, 49ers 107-104. Four of the five starters for the 49er team
went on to become NBA basketball players.
Jerry
Jackson's expert radio play-by-play description say's as many as 10 of Lewis' field goals were beyond
3-point range. If the same game were played today Lewis would
have been credited with scoring 63 points. |
| 8.
Lewis averaged 32.9
points a game during his sophomore year and was the second leading scorer in the
nation behind William "Bird" Averitt's 33.9 average. |
| 9.
Prolific Scorer: During his college freshman and sophomore years at Cal State
Los Angeles, Lewis had single scoring games of 73,53,51,50,46,43,40
in only 40 regular season games, and before the insertion
of the 3-point shot. |
| 10.
The
Philadelphia 76ers made Lewis their 18th overall draft pick in
1973 and by all accounts
he had a sensational rookie camp.
Lewis
reportedly scored 60
points in the first half of a scrimmage game against
Doug Collins. Coach Gene Shue then takes the 76ers number one
draft choice Collins out of the game so he would not suffer any
further embarrassment from Lewis.
A contract dispute followed
and the 76ers claimed Lewis walked out. Lewis say's that he was
told by head coach Gene Shue to sit out a year to mature. In any
event, Lewis would end up never playing in the NBA.
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| 11.
In a single day,
Lewis played 30 of the top Street Ballers in Los Angeles and won
all 30 games. |
| 12.
Sports Illustrated ran a 10-page feature on
Lewis in its edition of Oct. 16, 1978. |
| 13.
In 1981, Lewis averaged 54 points
per game in a highly-regarded summer
league basketball games. |
14.
Michael
Cooper VS Raymond Lewis:
In a 1983 summer league game in Compton it was Cooper, the NBA's
defensive star against Lewis, the legend of the playgrounds. Raymond ends
up scoring 56 points
that night leaving the game in the
third quarter. Cooper would go on to be named the NBA's defensive
player of the year in 1986. |
| 15.
As a
reminder that he was still top dog, Raymond would constantly burn opponents
for 60 and 70 points in summer pro league basketball games.
Lewis once scored 81 points in a pro-am league game which
featured NBA players. |
| 16.
Nike displays the talents of the Great Raymond Lewis
on billboards all over
Southern California. |
| 17. In his last
pickup game, Raymond Lewis challenged his opponent for $10 and
a six-pack of beer. Lewis
easily won the game making 15 consecutive shots. He was
41 years old. |
| 18.
Slam
Magazine ran a seven page article on Lewis in it's January
1995 issue. The magazine then did a follow-up articles in their
August 2000 and 2003 magazine. |
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19.
Verbum Dei High School basketball tournament
is named in Lewis' honor
in 2004. |
| 20.
In 2004, Verbum Dei honors Lewis by retiring his jersey
number 23 and calling him "The greatest
basketball player in Verbum Dei History". |
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21.
2005, In the book Runnin' Rebel authors Jerry
Tarkanian dedicated nine pages of text to
Raymond Lewis. Tark proclaimed Lewis as
"The
Greatest Player I Ever Saw" |
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| 22.
March 2007, Two new article are written about Lewis
in New York's Bounce
Magazine
("Ray Lew") and French basketball magazine Reverse.
("LA's Best Kept Secret") |
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