The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Softball: Remembering our radio voice Terry Lewis [Feb. 16, 2017]
02.16.2017 | Softball
Texas softball will honor its dear friend and former radio voice Terry Lewis during a pregame ceremony on Thursday before the Indiana game
Encouraging, compassionate, optimistic, giving, humble, positive, supportive…
Words that, I believe, any person would appreciate having others associate with them on a daily basis.
For Terry Lewis, "The Voice of Texas Softball," those words served as the foundation of his life and were consistently referenced by others throughout the time that I was fortunate enough to know him.
A native of Houston, "Big T," as he was also known, studied at both Houston Baptist and Murray State before beginning a coaching career with the latter as part of the Racers football staff. Eventually, he returned to his beloved "Lone Star State" and Houston Baptist to serve as the "Voice of the Huskies," earning the job as the public address announcer for men's basketball and other sports before later adding radio play-by-play duties along the way.
In 2012, he and his loving wife Missy, herself a former Texas softball team manager, moved to Austin where, by his admission, he lived a dream by becoming the radio voice for Texas softball. In his very first season behind the mic, he got the chance to call the Longhorns' games during their run to a third-place finish at the Women's College World Series.
Unfortunately, Terry left us all much too soon on August 7, 2016, at the age of 58.
Despite a myriad of health challenges, he never ceased to have a smile on his face or love in his heart for those around him.
I originally set out to write a typical feature-style story on Terry, but over time, I felt he'd be better served if I could somehow simply find a way to put what he meant to all of us with Texas softball into words.
From a personal standpoint, I was fortunate enough as the Sports Information Director for the Longhorns softball program to have had the opportunity to get to know Terry closely over the past two seasons. During the 2016 season in particular, I got the chance to spend a lot more time with both he and his wife as he called all of our games, both home and road, as part of the expanded coverage of softball on the Austin Sports Network.
I'd say that it's rare that you're around someone who makes you strive to be a better person each day, but in Terry's case, that's exactly how I always felt.
It never mattered how tired he was from a late night spent at the hospital getting dialysis treatment, the personal frustrations he felt over waiting on a much-needed kidney transplant that never came or what other challenges he was facing, that many of us may never have known about, he always greeted me warmly as a friend with a smile, a huge handshake and hug and his booming baritone voice.
For those who haven't lived through it, the softball season is a true marathon over the better part of five months, so an occasional bad day for the SID is a given. If I ever found myself having a bad one, it only took a few minutes with Terry and his overwhelming passion and positivity to boost my mood and get me fired back up to face the day and whatever challenges that came along.
Trust me when I say that I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"I think what stood out for me about Terry was just his passion," Texas head coach Connie Clark said. "He just was consistent every day. Regardless of the health issues he dealt with, he just always was so positive, had great energy, great vibe and always came with a passion to be the voice of the Longhorns. To hear him talk about calling our games being his absolute dream job. Just to see that come to reality and have him be part of our Longhorn family was really special."
"He wasn't only the voice of Texas softball – he was a dear friend," former Texas softball player Stephanie Ceo said. "To lose someone who's a part of the Longhorn family is hard, and I know that he's in a better place now, but Terry was not only a good friend of mine, he was someone that I could look up to and someone I could follow and always a positive person in my life. His voice no longer being a part of this world is very hard. He was a great friend to me and to my family. I will never be able to thank him enough for that, but I know he's looking down upon us. He was just an amazing, amazing person."
An amazing person. I'm not sure there's a better way to describe Terry. That's why literally hundreds of friends from all branches of his family, whether personal, from Houston Baptist or Texas, attended his memorial service at Houston's Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church back in August.
From our standpoint, he made athletes, coaches and staff feel like the most important people in the world. His heart was truly as big as he was, and he cared about the University of Texas and what it stands for. In my opinion, he was an example of the best of what we all hope to be.
Fortunately for those of us left behind, life continues on. A new Texas softball season has begun, games are being played and the radio has again crackled to life for our fans with a new voice finding his way behind the mic.
Know this my friend, we think of you and miss you all the time. Tonight, we will honor you before our Texas Invitational game against Indiana as Missy throws out the first pitch. I know you'll proudly be there to watch her throw a strike.
Last weekend, when I entered the press box at McCombs Field each day for the season-opening tournament, the sadness hit me really hard because you weren't there to ask me about how the players or myself were doing, when I thought you could talk to Coach Clark in the pregame or simply to share a joke. In many ways, my experience here at Texas will never be the same again.
There's an old saying that states we're never given more than we can handle at any one time. If that's the truth my friend, you may have been the strongest person I've ever known. Rest in peace.
