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www.southernsenior.info 17 by play for the television broadcast and he wanted Lewis to do the color commentary. Cox and Lewis prepared and arrived at Memphis to do the game in what Lewis said “at the time, Memphis was the mecca of college basketball in the South.” Getting ready to go live just before the game, Cox and Lewis were standing at the end of the court, both unaware that the Memphis cheerleaders had a live tiger in a glass cage positioned just behind them. One of the cheer- leaders hit the cage with a megaphone, the tiger roared, and the two nervous broadcasters were quite startled. Following that initial broadcast, Lewis and Cox worked together for seven years covering USM men’s basketball for local cable, and eventually on the radio as well, when Cox took over after Goodrich’s retirement. The radio broadcasts were picked for statewide broadcasts by the Mississippi Radio Network, now SuperTalk Mississippi. Lewis would give up the broadcasting work when he was named Superintendent of the Petal School District. He stayed there for 8 years and helped the district to achieve the highest level of achievement on statewide ratings, a Level 5. Under his leadership, the school district implemented the first Polymer training program in Mississippi High Schools. Petal was also a leader in the early childhood movement, and implemented the first Parent’s Training Center in the state. The district was also an early leader in the state in the implementation of technology as a teaching/learning tool in its classrooms. Dr. Lewis left Petal and accepted a job as the Executive Director of the Public Education Forum of Mississippi. This group was a collection of major companies all over Mississippi that wanted to help public education and formed a board of nineteen company chief executives, and the Superintendent of the Mississippi Department of Education, Executive Director of the Mississippi Associate of Community Colleges, and the Commissioner for the State Institutions of Higher Learning. The focus of this board and group was to help facilitate the actions of the companies with the state legislature on behalf of public education when needed. At first, Lewis said he was happy with his job at Petal and turned down the Forum job when offered by Bud Robinson, the President/CEO of Deposit Guaranty Bank, who was a major player with the Forum. Robinson asked Lewis to think about it for a few more weeks, and then he asked Lewis to come to Jackson to discuss the job again one more time face to face before he said no for the final time. Robinson told him this job would allow Lewis to do a lot of good for public education in the state of Mississippi. Lewis went home, prayed about it, discussed it with Janet Gale and the children, and finally accepted the job. “We all know that God’s plan is in place for us all. Accepting this job ended up not being so much about the job and the statewide exposure as it turned out. My mother who still lived in Clinton, was in the final years of her life, and I was able to spend a lot of time with her. She passed away right before the Pearl River job came about again. I stayed in the role with the Forum for about three years. I know that was God’s plan,” Lewis explained. “The job was a good opportunity to work with those people and build relationships with people that would eventually pay dividends at Pearl River Community College.” About two years later, Lewis saw PRCC President Ted Alexander at the Capitol in Jackson, and Alexander told Lewis that he planned to retire at the end of the school year, and he felt like Lewis would be a good candidate. Lewis said he was extremely happy with this job at the Forum, but the Pearl River job had been in the back of his mind since the last opening. When Lewis thought about the PRCC job, he had his doubts initially because he was well compensated with his job at the Forum, plus Janet Gale would have to give up her job at PRCC due to a state statute regarding spouses employment that was in place at the time. Looking at the financial cut the job would bring about, he had second thoughts about it. William Lewis & John Cox Continued on page 19