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about the fact he did not have a job and he was about to graduate. He made a few phone calls to see if anyone knew of any coaching opportunities, and a few days later he heard back from Coach Bobby Weathers. Weathers told him that what he considered one of the best jobs in Mississippi high schools was open and Lewis needed to apply. The job was at Harrison Central High School in Lyman, Mississippi, just north of Gulfport. The school had a rich tradition in basketball, but they had fallen on hard times. The boys team had only won four games the previous year, while the girls had won only two games. Lewis, with help from Coach Weathers, applied for the job, and went down for an interview. A short time later he was offered the job to become the head coach of both the girls’ and boys’ varsity teams. “I was tickled to death at twenty-one years old to be offered the head coaching job at the third largest high school in the state. I was told I would also have to teach three biology classes, two P.E. classes, help scout for the football team, and coach the girls track team. I also had to coach the junior high girls’ and boys’ basketball teams, but I eventually found a volunteer to take the junior high boys’ team. It was a lot to do, but it didn’t matter to me. I was just excited to be able to work and coach, plus the facilities at the school were all new,” Lewis said. “It was really a fantastic opportunity for a young teacher/coach.” Also during this time, HCHS was one of the first schools in the state to desegregate. They had closed the school at Turkey Creek in North Gulfport the year before Lewis arrived, with those students transferring to HCHS. The next year, North Gulfport High School was closed and that brought more students to the school. Lewis said these decisions to close the schools brought about some strong emotions with the team mascot at HCHS being the Red Rebels, Dixie was the fight song, a Colonel Reb on midcourt at the gym, and some folks carried the Confederate flag to games. Following a tumultuous fall and a lackluster football season, basketball was the one thing that helped keep everyone together. His first year at HCHS went well with the girls’ team winning some games including the Gulf Coast Conference Championship. The girls’ team, despite being loaded with mostly underclassmen, and the boys’ team were coming along quite well. It also brought about his introduction to his future wife, Janet Gale Ladner. Janet Gale was from the nearby Lizana community and was a teacher at D’Iberville. Her father, a long-term member of the Harrison County Board of Supervisors, also owned a country grocery store in the community and Janet Gale worked there occasionally as well. “I first saw him one day when he came in the store on his way to Hancock North Central for a game. Then some of the girls from Lizana played on his team at Harrison Central and they wanted me to meet him,” she said with a smile. “I got a good friend of mine to go to the games with me and some of the players introduced us.” After Lewis’ first year at HCHS, they married on August 10, 1969, just one week before Hurricane Camille came calling on the Mississippi coastal area. William and Janet Gale were able to spend one night in their new home in Orange Grove after returning from their honeymoon. We were fortunate with minor damage, but others around the area were not so lucky. The gym at HCHS sustained heavy damage and water damage forced the gym floor to be removed. When they www.southernsenior.info 13 PREMIER GROUP Each Office is Independently Owned & Operated 1605 Hwy 11 North Ste A • Picayune, MS | Toll Free 877-736-2945 DOWNSIZING? Call 601-798-3399 www.homefinderofpicayune.com www.remax.com