View source for Ray Lewis (sprinter)

{{Short description|Canadian sprinter}}
{{for|others of the same name|Ray Lewis (disambiguation)}}
{{MedalTableTop|name=Ray Lewis|medals=
{{Medal|Sport | Men's [[Athletics (sport)|athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry|{{flag|Canada|1921}} }}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze | [[1932 Summer Olympics|1932 Los Angeles]] | [[Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay|4x400 m relay]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Commonwealth Games|British Empire Games]]}}
{{Medal|Silver| [[1934 British Empire Games|1934 London]] | [[Athletics at the 1934 British Empire Games|4×440 yards]]}}
}}

'''Raymond Gray Lewis''', [[Order of Canada|CM]] (October 8, 1910 &ndash; November 15, 2003) was a Canadian [[track and field]] athlete, and the first Canadian-born [[Black Canadians|black]] [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] medalist.

The descendant of [[African-American]] slaves, he was born and died in [[Hamilton, Ontario]].<ref name=memproj2>{{cite press release| title = Tigertown Triumphs| publisher =The Hamilton Spectator-Memory Project (Souvenir Edition) page MP56| date =2006-06-10}}</ref><ref name="Cooper2009">{{cite book|author=John Cooper|title=Rapid Ray: The Story Ray Lewis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDeOncKLcj4C&pg=PT9|date=5 June 2009|publisher=Tundra|isbn=978-1-77049-066-6|pages=9–}}</ref> Lewis was [[nickname]]d ''Rapid Ray'' for his speed on the track. He excelled in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metre distances in high school and captured seventeen national high school championships (including a record four in one day) while a student at Hamilton's Central Collegiate.

Lewis briefly attended Milwaukee's [[Marquette University]] on a scholarship, but returned to Canada after only a semester. He found a position on the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] (CPR) as a porter during the [[Great Depression]], a job he would hold for 22 years. Lewis continued training &ndash; often running alongside the CPR train tracks during stopovers on the [[Canadian Prairies]] &ndash; and won a bronze medal as part of the 4x400 metre relay team at the [[Canada at the 1932 Summer Olympics|1932 Summer Olympics]] in [[Los Angeles, California]]. In the [[Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics - Men's 400 metres|400 metre event]] he was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Two years later he won a silver medal in the mile relay (4×440 yards) at the [[1934 British Empire Games|British Empire Games]] (later the Commonwealth Games). In the 440 yards competition he was eliminated in the semi-finals. Narrowly missing the cut for [[Canada at the 1936 Summer Olympics|Canada's 1936 Olympic team]], he ran for two more years before retiring after a bout of pain from shin splints (shin splints had caused Lewis problems in the latter portion of his running career). He received greater recognition later in his life, including the [[Order of Canada]] in 2001. In 2002, Canadian author [[John Cooper (author)|John Cooper]] wrote his biography, ''Rapid Ray: The Story of Ray Lewis''. The children's book chronicled his youth in Hamilton, as well as his training for the Olympics. A [[Hamilton Mountain]] school named in his honour, Ray Lewis Elementary, opened in 2005 and was occasionally visited by his widow Vivienne.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.hwdsb.on.ca/raylewis/about/| title=About| publisher=Ray Lewis Elementary School| access-date=February 17, 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Other sources===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200418091641/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/le/ray-lewis-1.html sports-reference.com]
* {{cite book|title=Rapid Ray: The Story of Ray Lewis|author=John Cooper|author-link=John Cooper (author)|year=2002|publisher=Tundra Books|isbn=0-88776-612-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/rapidraystoryofr0000coop}}
* ''Rapid Ray's Triumph,'' by John Cooper, Maclean's Magazine, December 27, 2004 edition, page 88.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050525213642/https://www.cbc.ca/pcgi-bin/templates/sportsView.cgi?/news/2003/11/17/Sports/lewis-ray031117 Obituary from CBC]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Ray}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian male sprinters]]
[[Category:Black Canadian sportsmen]]
[[Category:Black Canadian track and field athletes]]
[[Category:Canadian people of African-American descent]]
[[Category:Olympic track and field athletes for Canada]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Canada]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from Hamilton, Ontario]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:Medallists at the 1934 British Empire Games]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics]]