St. Augustine, Fla. – It’s rare to find an athlete who is as humble as they are accomplished, but No. 21 ranked Flagler College was able to do so this off-season when they added Curtis Lewis to their program.
Lewis has gathered multiple different accolades during his ongoing five-year college career. He’s a member of Rockhurst University’s All-Century team and was named to the first or second team in the Great Lakes Valley Conference every year during his tenure at Rockhurst.
Lewis was an elite scoring threat for the program, reaching 1,000 career points midway through his junior season.
Setting the Foundation
None of Lewis’s success has come by accident; it was all earned through the relentless work a work ethic he’s had throughout his career.
“Coming into college, I didn’t think I would have early success. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to play or start, so I made sure to put the work in,” Lewis said.
During his freshman year, he developed a routine to try and help separate himself from other newcomers across the conference by improving on his craft every day.
“From my first day on campus at Rockhurst, I worked with my assistant coach Josh Roberts every day before practice. It was a forty-five-minute session where we worked on finishing, shooting and passing, literally everything right before our team’s two-hour practice,” said Lewis, recalling the grind of his freshman season. “I was putting in extra work every single day, that’s where my mindset was.”
The extra workouts certainly paid off; by the end of his first season, Lewis was named the GLVC’s freshman of the year. A large part of his early success came from not only his physical ability, but also his mental toughness.
“Coming in as a freshman I had to learn you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to have turnovers and I used to get down on myself over those mistakes,” Lewis said. “Bad things are going to happen, but if you keep building things up and making yourself mad that is going to have a domino effect. What I’ve learned is that you got to move onto the next play.”
Taking His Talents to North Beach
After an illustrious four-year career at Rockhurst, Lewis had to spread his wings and leave the Hawks’ program.
“It was hard. I’ve gone to school in Missouri for 22 years. I was born and raised here,” said Lewis. “I talked to my parents about it, and they said ‘you’ve been here for your whole life, it might be time to step out of your comfort zone.’”
While Lewis was certain it was time to move on, his new destination was still uncertain. Lewis had received multiple college offers shortly after putting his name in the transfer portal, but nothing had stuck out enough to make that decision. Shortly after, however, his future destiny came to him in the form of a facetime call.
“I got a facetime and it was Coach Warner and Coach Cam and Coach Kip telling me about Flagler and all they had to offer,” Lewis stated.
The connection to Flagler did not happen immediately. Lewis thanked the coaches for their time, but respectfully told them he would not be attending the University. Lewis was interested in the school; however, education was his priority, and Flagler did not have a graduate student program.
The decision to put education as his priority was not a surprise to those close to Lewis. This wasn’t even the first time he allowed education to outweigh athletics in his college decision.
“I went to Rockhurst because my mom got her executive MBA from there and Rockhurst is a well-educated school. I wanted to take care of my academics first as opposed to basketball. The main reason I went to Rockhurst was to get the degree,” said Lewis.
However, Flagler’s coaching staff was persistent in bringing Lewis into the program. Later the same week, they called again, asking him to tune into a game.
After watching that game, Curtis’s interest in the school increased. Still, with no graduate school, he was not completely sold on joining Flagler just yet.
That is when Coach Warner made one final call to try and convince Curtis to join their program.
“They’re playing in the final four and right before the game, Coach Warner gave me a call and he said ‘look, I know you have a lot of schools calling you, but what schools are calling you from the Final Four,’” recalled Lewis.
That phone call was the final nail in the coffin for bringing Lewis to Flagler. He saw the opportunity to join an established and winning program and took his talents down to St. Augustine, Florida.
A Sudden Transition
Lewis had taken a visit to the University before signing, but the Kansas City native officially moved to Florida on July 1, 2021.
From day one, the message of the program was made clear to Curtis.
“The mindset is ‘we are going back to the Final Four’, there’s no question about it, but it does not stop there. We’re not trying to just play in the Final Four; we want to win the National Championship,” said Lewis.
To reach that goal, Coach Warner made it clear how their new guard could fit into their program. The expectation was for Curtis to come in primarily as a ball-handler and someone who brings energy to the team. This transition was new to Curtis as it was essentially the opposite of his role at Rockhurst.
“Accepting a new role at the time was a huge transition. Coming from Rockhurst, I had the ball 85% of the time and here, you have to accept your role,” Lewis said.
However, as opposed to questioning the decision, Lewis accepted the role with ease because, at the end of the day, he just wants to win.
“You’re surrounded by a lot of good players, All-Americans and All-Conference, guys so I had to accept my role. It’s not necessarily hard to transition into because coach was honest with me from day one . We all just wanted to win,” said Lewis.
Words of Wisdom
Lewis and the Saints program have been doing a lot winning. With a win this Saturday versus Lander University, Flagler will be crowned Peach Belt Conference regular-season Champions.
Despite their success so far, the team’s true goals are still engrained in Lewis from his summer with the team.
“Before you can be a leader you have to be a follower. I followed what our All-American captain Jaizec Lottie and our sixth-year senior Chris Metzger did and I read off of them and gave it my all towards the team and our goal,” said Lewis.
The Peach Belt Conference tournament begins March 1, and the Division 2 National Tournament follows shortly after. With Flagler boasting a 21-5 record on the year, their dream of a national championship is certainly in reach for Lewis and the Saints.
