. . . take them to the NCAA tournament, All-American status, college graduation and foreign countries. !!!
Greg Lewis dunks on a Fast Break AND draws the
foul at the State Championship
for Medina First Baptist Christian School
In 1996, Greg had finished four years of high school, had been eligible for only two years of actual athletic competition and was still a full year away from graduating. He had no interest in attending a junior college away from home, attending a prep school in another state, or just merely attend Akron East HS for another year and graduate. He was looking for the benefits of a prep school with the opportunity to stay near home. He was asking for a miracle.
The only option John Saucier and TEAM JAM had left, seemed like an even more unrealistic proposal. After obtaining permission from Medina First Baptist Christian School to invite Greg and his mother Brenda to consider attending the small Christian school, Greg and Brenda traveled out for a meeting. What Greg found was a high school of less than 100 9th-12th graders, with a dress code, strict rules and a heavy emphasis on learning about God. It had a basketball team that played it's practices and home games on an indoor, but concrete floor, and a number of hidden issues that also would have to be dealt with.
They decided to give it a try.
The first
obstacle Greg had to overcome was the travel. Boarding a city bus near
his home at 6 am, it would take two buses and a carpool ride for him to
navigate the normal car travel time, in over TWO hours. His round
trip required over 4 hours in travel. This was just the beginning,
however.
Their success required overnights at the homes of
strangers and new friends, tutoring, meals, transportation, job searches,
and clothing for the school dress code. They adjusted to a suburb
community, Christian school expectations, and stricter discipline.
There were a great many people involved during that year to make it possible for these two young men to succeed. The people of the church rallied together to meet Greg's needs, which included developing a scholarship fund for tuition, raising money for the transportation costs of their four hour round trip on city transportation, providing lunches and dinners throughout the year because they didn't have a free lunch program like the public schools and special spiritual tutoring for the Bible Classes.
As basketball season was starting, the school found themselves without a coach. Rich Dauer, the girls basketball coach at the school and John Saucier were asked to fill in during this emergency. Rich was the third base coach of the Kansas City Royals, is presently the bench coach with the Milwaukee Brewers, and a former major league baseball great with the Baltimore Orioles in the 1970's and 80's. Though the season started out on a bit of a rocky note and continued in that direction as Greg struggled to handle his energy and emotions on the court, they ultimately concluded with a long winning streak, a state championship and dramatic personal maturity.
But the real success story was in the classroom. Greg's example motivated two AAU basketball teammates to go back to school and graduate. His final year in high school was dramatically more successful than any other time in high school. His cumulative grade point for that senior year was 2.9.
Greg was even
named the Medina County MVP at the County All-Star game.
At the close of the school
year, John called a number of contacts to find a college that Greg could
attend. Ultimately Greg received a scholarship to attend Seward County Community
College in Kansas, who eventually finished third in the country.
What initially seemed like a simple opportunity to play AAU basketball, was in turn rerouted by Christ to forever alter a young man's life eternally, educationally, and vocationally.