By ISU Sports Information
ST. LOUIS – Former Illinois State basketball star and Olympian Charlotte Lewis was selected as one of six inductees in the 20th Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame class, revealed by MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin Wednesday.
Lewis, a native of Peoria, Illinois, joins the MVC Hall of Fame in the Institutional Great category, which recognizes coaches, student-athletes and administrators who represented a current league school, when their institution was not a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
“The Missouri Valley Conference has always been recognized for the great success of its athletics programs, with a rich history that dates back more than a century,” said Elgin. “Our MVC Hall of Fame has provided us with an opportunity to honor the student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors who have played important roles in the conference and in intercollegiate athletics.
“The individuals we will be honoring in the Class of 2017 are representative of the men and women who have preceded them in our Hall of Fame. They’ve brought significant honor to themselves, their institutions and to the conference. We are truly humbled to have this opportunity to salute them for their achievements.”
The 20th MVC Hall of Fame class features Lewis, along with three long-time administrators in Dr. Don Beggs (Southern Illinois/Wichita
State), Dr. Donald Boydston (Southern Illinois) and Dr. Mary Jo Wynn (Missouri State); major league baseball manager and Wichita State baseball star Eric Wedge; and Bradley’s Marcus Pollard, who helped the resurgence of Braves basketball in the early 1990s and later attained NFL star status as a tight end after not playing football in college.
Lewis is the 11th Illinois State representative in the MVC Hall of Fame, joining Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw (1998), Doug Collins (1998), Cathy Boswell (2003), Will Robinson (2003), Jill Hutchison (2008), John Coughlan (2009), Linda Herman (2014), D.A. Weibring (2015), Dave Bergman (2016) and Sue Daggett Miller (2016).
“Charlotte Lewis is very deserving of this honor,” Illinois State Director of Athletics Larry Lyons said. “She was a gifted athlete who helped elevate the game of women’s basketball. She did that, not only here at Illinois State, but on the international stage as a member of the 1976 Olympic team.”
Lewis was a four-year letterwinner in women’s basketball from 1974-78 at Illinois State. During her career, ISU recorded 63 wins and won four-straight AIAW State Championships. During the 1976-77 season, Lewis led the team to a 20-6 record, which included a 3-0 state championship run, and an 11th place AIAW national finish. She is one of only three players in Illinois State women’s basketball history to have her jersey retired.
She holds Illinois State basketball records for most rebounds in a single game (27), most rebounds in a season (345) and highest rebounding average (13.3) and also has the second-most rebounds in a single game, with 22. Lewis set the single-season rebounding record as a junior, helped along by four games that rank in the top-10 on the Redbird single-game rebounding list. She had 12 double-doubles during the 1977-78 season, which ties for the fourth-most double-doubles in a single season and scored the fourth-most points in a game with 37 against Wisconsin LaCrosse (Feb. 5, 1977).
A Kodak All-American and Wade Trophy finalist in 1977, an award that goes to the nation’s top female athlete, Lewis was also a two-time Street & Smith’s First-Team All-American. She represented Illinois State and her country on the international level as well, as she was a member of the 1975 Pan-American Games team, the 1976 Olympic team and the 1977 World University Games team.
Notably, the 1976 Olympics marked the first year women’s basketball was a part of the Olympics and the team won the silver medal. She also won medals at the Pan-Am games and the World Championships.
Named the 1976 YWCA Athlete of the Year and ISU Outstanding Athlete in 1977 and 1978, Lewis was also a track and field standout at ISU and finished fourth in the nation in the javelin in 1975. After her collegiate career, Lewis played professional basketball for 15 years in Italy, Brazil and the United States, earning top player in Brazil honors in 1989. She also captained the 1986 All-Star American Team in Spain.
Lewis returned to ISU at age 40 to earn her degree in recreation and parks administration, working three jobs while taking nine to 12 hours per semester. She worked as the program director at the Carver Center, where she focused on community outreach, mentoring, education, preventative care and building stronger family units. She passed away at the age of 52 in 2007.
For the 14th time in 15 years, the league will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm Missouri
Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship next March 2-5. The March 3 festivities will begin with an 8 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:30 a.m.
Tickets to the 2017 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held in the Peabody Opera House which is adjacent to Scottrade
Center – can be obtained by calling the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
