Delvy Lewis was one of the most underrated point guards and leaders in KU history. Lewis, a Topeka native who played at KU from 1963-66, teamed with Jo Jo White in the backcourt in 1966 and made it a dream season to remember. KU went 23-4, won the Big Eight championship and advanced to the Midwest Regional final, where it lost to eventual NCAA champs Texas Western.
Lewis was named first-team All-Big Eight his senior year in 1965-66, when he averaged 10.9 points per game and led the team in assists and free throw percentage. He posted career averages of 8.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 76 games, while shooting 40.2 percent from the field and 75.1 percent at the free throw line.
A fierce competitor and blue-collar worker, Lewis endeared himself to head coach Ted Owens. Lewis and Riney Lochmann were co-captains their senior year in 1965-66.
“I think Riney and I were his (Owens') favorites on that team, because he just appreciated the ‘roll up your sleeves and work,’ and that’s pretty much what Riney and I did,” Lewis told me in 2003 for Jayhawk Insider. “I hustled and gave it all I had every game. Everybody did. We had a group that pretty much got after it. We were pretty no nonsense."
Lewis, who died in 2012, relished playing for Owens and KU.
"I just have nothing but great words to say about Ted Owens as a coach,” Lewis said. "He was a gentleman. I just feel badly, because I think he’s kind of gotten a bad rap, as far as perception. He still has a tremendous winning record. I just hope he gets some credit for what he did, because I think he did a lot more than people realize. To this day, I have the greatest respect for him. He’s just a neat, neat man.”
A die-hard Jayhawk fan growing up with his dad, Lewis has fond memories of listening on the radio with his father to his heroes like B.H. Born and Wilt Chamberlain.
This was father and son time alone to bond, their little word.
KU was where he wanted to go all along.
“It was just a great honor to play at KU,” Lewis said. “It’s a great tradition. To say that you played there and to have some success, is just a thrill.”
Here is a look at Delvy’s recollections on his recruitment to KU and his high school career at Washburn Rural. We talked for over an hour that memorable night in 2003.
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“I was pretty much headed to K-State, they had offered me a scholarship. Of course, my teammate Ron Paradis, who was a great player, in fact, he was certainly more acclaimed than I was in high school-- Tex Winter had come to the school. That’s where Ron had decided he was going to go and Tex wanted me to go also, and I really wanted to go to KU, but they had not offered me a scholarship. I had several other places that talked to me. Colorado had visited with me a little bit, and a couple of some smaller schools out west. I really honestly just thought I’d probably end up at K-State, and I’d be close to home. I liked Tex Winter. He was a good guy, I was very impressed with him. Then we played in the state tournament my senior year, and we ended up playing Wyandotte in the semi-final. I had a great game. I had 28 points. I just had one of those really good games. After that, I heard from KU. I was voted on the all-state team, both Ron and I both were. They (KU) called and asked to come and visit with us. Of course, my dad was just an avid KU person. He’s passed away, he’s passed away now for a number of years. I can remember sitting at the radio and listening to B.H. Born. He was just an avid fan. Of course, Wilt. That’s where he (dad) would have wanted me to go, but we didn’t think it was going to happen since they hadn’t contacted me. But when they came and visited with me and said they would like me to consider going there, there wasn’t much consideration. That’s where I wanted to go. I chose to go there.
“We had a high school coach who was extremely disciplined. Tom O’Dell was his name. He was just a super high school coach. We won the state tournament as a sophomore with another coach, and then he came in our junior and senior years. The other coach was really laid back and easy going, pretty much do as you please. O’Dell was really structured and really a disciplinarian, really got on you, which was great for me because when I went to college, I really didn’t have any major adjustments fundamentally. I played defense. Fundamentals wasn’t a big stretch. Just the emotion and the stuff we were going through was the hard part to deal with. As far as the fundamental part was, I felt really well prepared. The only thing I needed to work on was going to my left more. I was pretty much a right-handed player. Tom O’ Dell, I give him a tremendous amount of credit for demanding that kind of discipline.
“Gosh we had a lot of memories. We were the little rural school. Back in the 60’s, there were just two divisions. There were two divisions, 2A and 1A, and I guess they did have some lower divisions. Class 2A was the biggest. When we won the state my sophomore year, we were 1A. The next year, I want to say we had 400 and some kids in our school. We were like seven or eight kids too many, so we went to the double A. That’s when we ended up playing Topeka High and all the big double A schools, which had 1500, 1700 kids and we had 400 and we beat them. I remember that was always a big deal. We were always playing the big schools, and we beat them. That’s how we got to the state tournament. We ended up beating Topeka High in regionals and going to state. Then, we played Wyandotte in the semis. We were a real small school. Now Washburn Rural is a big school.
“I can remember playing in grade school. I can remember that far back. And Ron Paradis, we lived in the same area, so we went to the same school. Pauline was the school system. We always had good teams. I’m sure I probably did (emulate someone), but I don’t remember that. I was just a big fan of KU because of my dad. He was just an avid KU guy. We’d just listen to the radio, pretty much listened to the games. Like I said, I can remember listening to them when I was a kid, probably like what a lot these kids do today, watching them on the tube. I can remember listening to the Wilt Chamberlain era. In fact, I went up to B. H. Born at the reunion and told him I can remember listening to him play back in the 50’s. My dad was always a fan and always had the games on. I remember Wilt’s group, Maurice King, Bob Billings, all those players.
“I think it was just a handful of schools, I had a lot of small schools. Colorado voiced a little bit of interest. But it was pretty much Tex Winter, and that’s pretty much where I was going until the Wyandotte game. That was the game that I think caught their eye. Owens, I think he said he was at the game. I don’t know if (Dick) Harp was there or not. I wasn’t really holding out. Back then, they pretty much waited until the season was over before they got commitments. They had recruiting trips. Tex came in and visited with me a couple of times. He took me out to lunch, and visited about the program and what his expectations were. That’s pretty much where I figured I would go. Then, after the season, I started to get the attention from KU. That would have been my choice. Oh sure. I really thought the world of Tex. I could have played for him. We just are a KU family. My dad was such a fan, and it just kind of rubbed off on me. So that was where my heart was. Of course, when I got the opportunity, there was no question. They offered me a full scholarship, and I said, ‘Lets go.’ He (dad) went to all the games, all the ones that were within reasonable driving area. My mother both went to all the games and just thoroughly loved it. They went to all the games, they were big supporters.”
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