Zac Williams got his 2 bricks

Memories are what matters at Lew Wallace - the L Dubb

Contributed By:The 411 News

Zac Williams, Lew Wallace class of '93, got his 2 bricks and waited around to get a photo with Earl Smith, former Wallace coach and athletic director for the Gary school district at the ceremony honoring the school and its history.

Williams and about 200 others -- former students, faculty, staff, and friends -- gathered on a spot of land away from the rubble of the demolished school building now awaiting a final clearing.

Williams said sports was “my thing.” He played football, wrestled and was a hurdler on the track team. "I wasn't a starter and rode the bench at times, but it was the experience that mattered. I still have my letter jackets hanging in my man cave although I can't fit in them."

Williams said Lew Wallace was pivotal in his life. He became a secondary school teacher and in 2011 changed to the health field where he is a mental health therapist.

"Coach Smith is a legend," Williams said. "He coached my pop in the sixties at Tolleston. That's why I want to get a picture with him so I can show it to my dad when I visit him this summer."

And it was Coach Smith, the ceremony's official who recounted the Lew Wallace Hornets sports greats. Smith started with Hank Stram, the 1941 Wallace grad who became the Kansas City Chiefs football coach and Superbowl winner. He went through a list of Wallace athletes who played in professional sports leagues and the many athletes named to the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame.

The Gary school district closed Lew Wallace in 2014 along with 5 other schools and the first of the group to be demolished.

Story Posted:04/29/2022