Living the Legacy

Chances are, if you saw Charles Lewallen in the 1980s or 1990s, his son Kevin was his sidekick.

Hunting. Fishing. Scouting. Basketball.

It didn’t matter...Kevin was there.

“Never one time when I asked him did he tell me I couldn’t go with him,” Kevin Lewallen said. “It didn’t make a difference if five other grown men were going.

“Somehow he found a way for me to go, too.”

Charles took one final trip on Jan. 20, 2021.

This time, he left Kevin behind.

The elder Lewallen unexpectedly passed away at the age of 73.

• • •

Kevin Lewallen has lived a charmed basketball coaching life.

Despite a few heart-breaking defeats in state championship games, he’s coached seven Lomega girls teams to Class B state titles.

That’s as many as Karen Edgar and Bruce Hobgood combined.

Before Lewallen took over the program, Lomega had already cemented itself in Oklahoma basketball lore because of the aforementioned coaches.

He’s taken it to unthinkable heights.

Lewallen now has as many coaching state championships as Rick Wilson. He’s one behind Bertha Teague for the most ever by a girls coach in this state.

To make it more remarkable, Lewallen has hit this milestone in 17 seasons.

“It’s been amazing to be a part of this,” Lewallen said. “It’s been unreal.”

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree for Lewallen.

Charles coached 32 years, 18 of them at the helm of the Lomega boys program.

A year before becoming a Raider, Charles guided Buffalo to the 1980 state championship.

That happened just after Kevin was born.

From that point on, the two were nearly inseparable.

Hunting. Fishing. Scouting. Basketball.

If Charles did it, Kevin wanted to do it, too.

So it’s no surprise the younger Lewallen became a coach, although Charles had one chance to send his son’s path in a different direction.

“I told my dad if he’d buy me the boat, I’d become a fishing guide,” Lewallen said. “He didn’t buy that boat, so here I am.”

Then it became Charles who was by Kevin’s side... or at least sitting in the stands.

He was there for all the tough losses, but also the monumental wins in 2007, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2020.

Those were his son’s first six state championships.

“He’d always sit in those wooden chairs in a certain section,” Kevin remembers.

Charles wasn’t there on March 6 when Lomega downed Kiowa 67-60 for the Class B crown, Kevin’s seventh.

“It was a little different,” Kevin admitted. “I looked up in the wooden chairs a few times where he would normally be sitting.”

Lewallen’s players knew this year wasn’t the same for their coach.

“Coach Lew is always really strong around us, so I don’t think he’d ever really let it show, but we all knew it was going to be hard for him,” senior Emma Duffy said.

Said Adysen Wilson: “We could tell this one was special for him and every one of us wanted to do everything in our power to win it for him because of that.”

They did just that as Lomega capped a 27-0 season, just the fourth undefeated campaign in the storied program’s history.

Kevin still looked up at his dad’s section at State Fair Arena when it was all Over.

“He was still there, just in a different way.”

• • •

The day after Charles passed away, Kevin coached a fifth and sixth grade game.

The day of Charles’ funeral, Kevin coached a junior high game.

“I think people thought I was crazy,” Lewallen said. “But it was easier for me to do that than it would have been to sit at home.

“My dad would rather me be doing that.” Basketball was Lewallen’s outlet, his method of coping.

“It’s what I’ve always known and what he always knew,” Lewallen said. “The best way to deal with it was to go and play basketball.”

• • •

It wasn’t all basketball all the time.

The Lewallens have other hobbies as Charles passed down his love of hunting and fishing - and his skills - to his son.

When the Lady Raiders played state championship games in the evening session, Kevin didn’t spend those restless daytime hours watching more film or pouring over a scouting report.

No, he went fishing (usually at his wife Sara’s urging).

It was a way to pass time and calm his own nerves before it became time to step foot on the State Fair Arena floor.

Charles was often right beside Kevin in the boat.

Just as with Lomega’s outcome on the court, the fishing trips were usually successful ones.

“Oh yeah, we caught Kevin would say.

But this year was different.

Instead of Charles, it was Lewallen’s youngest son, Ledger, joining him.

The 10-year-old even caught more fish than his dad, but Kevin didn’t mind.

His son was with him.

Whether it’s Ledger or Lewallen’s oldest son, 12-year-old Laken, or both, all that matters to Kevin is that they want to go.

Just like Kevin wanted to go with Charles.

“The biggest thing I take away from my dad is that he always had time for me,” Lewallen said.

“I hope I can do that with my boys, too.”