Greatest high school player ever
Lewis: Legendary sports career, but even greater legend as a person
Two summers ago, while I was employed by Dorf Feature Service, supplying articles and information for the Newark Star-Ledger, I was given the unenviable task of doing the research to compile a list of the greatest high school football players in New Jersey for the entire century.
I was told that I would get the help of several members of the sports staff, with writers giving me information and statistics that would make my job easier. I got the help of one diligent fellow, named Clayton Whittaker, who showed up at the Newark Public Library with me one sweltering summer day after another to comb through 100 years of microfilmed articles, clips, statistics and teams.
It was without question the most demanding assignment I had ever had to endure during my two decades of sports writing. This was beyond research. This was beyond a labor of love. This was a daily obsession, pouring myself through a full century of high school football in the Garden State.
And it was done to narrow down the hundreds of thousands of people who have played high school football in New Jersey in the 20th century to a precious 22 best – an offensive team and a defensive team.
The task was made harder due to the fact that my name would be attached to this team, meaning that once the team was picked and printed, it was my head that would be on the chopping block to face the countless critics who would say that I forgot this legend from Rutherford or that superstar from Elizabeth.
No matter what, I felt I couldn’t win. The assignment had become painful and unrewarding.
Until I decided upon the person who, in my opinion, was the greatest offensive player in the history of the state, namely Aubrey Lewis, who was a standout performer at Montclair High School from 1951 through 1953.
The defensive selection was easy, namely the legendary Paul Robeson, who played high school football at Somerville High before going on to become an All-American at Rutgers and carve a historic career as an actor, singer and political activist for many years. Robeson played at Somerville from 1915 through 1918, so he was long deceased by the time the Team of the Century was picked. I interviewed his son, Paul Robeson, Jr., for the story.
But Aubrey Lewis, who went on from Montclair to Notre Dame to the Chicago Bears of the NFL, to a prestigious career as one of the first African-American FBI agents to a personal bodyguard for Jackie Kennedy Onassis, to the president of the Woolworth Corporation and finally, a commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, was still a vibrant member of the New Jersey gridiron community.
I knew of Lewis, but I never had the chance to meet him, before I made the call to tell him that he was being chosen as the Offensive Player of the Century.
Little did I know that I was about to begin a relationship with someone who became a very good friend.
Aubrey Lewis invited me to his home in Montclair to conduct the interview for the story. We sat in his backyard on an August morning that quickly became an afternoon. He shared hour upon hour of stories of his glorious career, showing me old and faded newspaper clippings and photographs, relaying his memories of what it was like to be the greatest player from the greatest football program in New Jersey history.
I fully expected to spend perhaps an hour with Lewis to do the interview.
I left his home after spending eight hours.
I arrived at his home never having met him. I left his home with an embrace that became a constant every time I would see him for the remaining two years of our friendship.
"You have no idea what you’ve done for me, Jimmy," Aubrey Lewis told me later. "You made me famous. You made me a celebrity. Little kids know who I am again. I can never repay you for that."
Lewis made plans to spend a weekend with me in South Bend for the Notre Dame-Oklahoma game in September of 1999. Unfortunately, I suffered a broken ankle and couldn’t take the trip.
"I feel bad about that, Jimmy," Lewis said. "Can I do anything for you? Can I bring you lunch?"
Yeah, the greatest high school player in New Jersey history wanted to bring me a chicken cutlet Parmesan sandwich. I was amazed. But that was Aubrey Lewis.
Lewis also made a habit of stopping by the offices of Dorf Feature Service in Springfield just to peek in and say hello. He would go out of his way to come and give me a hug at certain sporting events. It was an instant bonding. It was like we had known each other for ages.
And yes, my relationship with Aubrey Lewis, as limited as it was for a little more than two years, was the reward I got for doing three months of painstaking research. The readers got to complain about the Team of the Century. I got Aubrey Lewis.
Aubrey Lewis died Tuesday afternoon.
The former gridder was 66 years old. He was slated to receive a heart transplant at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York as soon as a suitable donor was found, but his gigantic heart – the one who found enough care to give me lunch, to escort me around Notre Dame and to express its devotion with hugs – finally gave out.
Aubrey had a great life and leaves a great legacy. I saw him in September and he told me how his grandson, Aubrey Lewis III, was developing into a fine football player, much like grandpa. He beamed with pride talking about his grandson.
"His friends think I’m something big," he said.
Aubrey, you were something big. Really big. As great as a player you were, you were an even greater man.
I’ll head to another funeral this weekend in a year where the funeral services mounted more than touchdown totals. As sad as I am that my friend has passed, there will be hundreds of others who will feel the same way. And then they will think of the smiles, the hugs, the love that was Aubrey Lewis.
I’ll never bemoan that assignment again.