Leo Lewis, Alumnus (Ph.D. ’97)
Leo Lewis never played sports at the University of Minnesota. While he was attending classes in the School of Kinesiology, he was in the middle of an 11-year career as a wide receiver and punt returner in the National Football League.
Though Lewis had a long career in the NFL, he never took his future for granted. He didn’t get drafted out of college and, at 5-foot-7, was undersized by pro standards. So he spent his off-seasons supplementing his education.
He pursued his Ph.D. over the course of a decade and wrote his dissertation on the post-playing careers of NFL players.
He’s been putting that research to work since rejoining the University in 2006 as associate athletics director for student athlete development. He prepares students for the ups and downs of a career as a professional athlete, as well as the reality that at some point they will need to find something else to do.
“I think the NFL and other sports leagues are now having more hands-off approaches to managing their players in that way…and are relieving their duties to look at how they can best serve their athletes,” he says. “Consequently, at the college level, I think it's increased.”
Lewis is helping the University create programming that addresses the overall development of student athletes. He’s been given the flexibility to develop and tailor the program to fit the needs of his students. “That was one of the attractions for getting the job here, in that the movement toward a more holistic resource for student athletes has improved.”
He’s also enjoying working with sports besides football and, as the father of two daughters, he’s motivated by helping young women prepare for their lives inside and outside of athletics.
“I think I’m a good role model for that,” he says. “[I’m] someone who wasn’t gifted athletically nor academically, but because I had good mentors, had people who steered me in the right direction, had parents who provided the means for me to get a good education, and at the same time had coaches who believed in me and put me in the right positions to excel.…Because of that I’m able to understand what these student athletes are going through.”
Now in his second stint at the University, many of Lewis’s past mentors from the School of Kinesiology are now colleagues, including Director Mary Jo Kane, who also directs the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, and associate professor Diane Wiese-Bjornstal. He hopes to have the same impact on current and future athletes that they had on his life.
“It all points back to the student athlete and…how we can serve the student athlete and provide that student athlete as many resources for them…while they are here to be successful,” Lewis says.
Story by Andrew Tellijohn | Photo by Justin Evidon | May 2010
