05/15/2014
Lonzo Giles was the first coach of the newly created Lewisville High School. Giles led the 1953 baseball team and the 1958 boys basketball team to state runner-up finishes and led the 1959 girls basketball team to a state championship. Giles also was the track coach and started a golf team. It is as football coach that he is most remembered and revered within the Richburg community. It was 1953 when Lewisville High School asked the now famous question, "Are you ready for some football?" and the Lion football program was launched. In the early 1950s, it was the norm for there to be only one coach for all the sports in which students participated and Giles was the coach for Lewisville High School.
The Lions played 9 games instead of the usual 11 and all but 2 were away games for that first season in 1953. The initial schedule included Sharon, Flat Rock, Lockheart and Greenbriar. Jimmy Wooten was on the first team and he described that first game to the crowd at The Gateway. According to Wooten, "A ref threw a flag and Chubby Long picked up the flag and and said to the ref 'Hey, I think you dropped your handkerchief!'" By the second year, Lewisville had a winning season.
As much as Coach Giles was a teacher on the fields and courts, he was an excellent teacher in the classroom. After earning his degree from Presbyterian College, Giles brought his love of science into the classroom. All the students knew that he would be their Grade 10 Biology teacher and looked forward to it. He cared as much for his students as he did science and as Dr. Knox often tells his teachers during the year, "If you love them, they will learn." Wooten told of a field trip to New York which allowed many of those on the trip to travel beyond not only Chester County but also South Carolina for the first time in their lives. In his closing remarks, Wooten gave the highest compliment about Lonzo Giles when he said, "He was a good coach but more than that, he was a good man."
Lonzo Giles' widow, Ruth, along with their daughter, Joni Giles Truax, accepted the induction palque. "We're very touched that you've remembered him this way." Turax said.
Jenkins, Travis. Chester News & Reporter. 14 May 2014. Print.
