Like many high school seniors, Ben Lewis Jr. had a decision to make about which college to attend.
In his case, it wasn’t so much about the school as it was which sport he wanted to compete in.
A Fenton High School standout in both football and wrestling, Lewis first accepted a scholarship offer from coach Johnny Majors to play football at Iowa State. He signed a Big Eight letter of intent in the fall.
But as his senior year progressed into an undefeated wrestling season, he had second thoughts, and second choices.
“Wrestling was my first love,” he said. “As the season went on, I had more offers. I told Iowa State I wasn’t coming and signed a letter to wrestle at Michigan State.”
What was it about wrestling that made Lewis give up the glamour of major college football?
“I like that you get to depend on yourself,” he said. “It’s just you and one other person. Whatever you do is up to you. And when you win, it’s a real high.”
Lewis did a lot of winning at Fenton. The Tigers were a football powerhouse that went 26-1 in his three years on the varsity (1965-67). Lewis played center as a sophomore, then moved to guard and added defensive tackle to his duties as a two-way lineman his junior and senior years.
Those last two years were undefeated seasons for Fenton, which never finished lower than third in the state Class B polls. As a 232-pound senior, Lewis was a first-team All-State pick by the AP, a second-team selection by UPI and an all-class, first-team choice by the Detroit News, which also picked Ken Wegner as Coach of the Year.
Wegner had football connections at Iowa State, and Lewis might have played there were it not for a new sport popping up at Fenton.
“They started wrestling my freshman year,” Lewis said. “Leroy Decker (Fenton basketball coach) came up to me in gym class and said, ‘You should be pretty good at that,’ because I wasn’t much of a basketball player. I was a little round.”
Lewis had already started lifting weights at age 12 with the Fenton Barbells Club, and his size, strength and athletic ability made him an ideal candidate for wrestling.
Under coach Duane Wohlfert, Lewis finished second in the County B League meet and the Class B regional as a sophomore. As a junior he went 37-1, capturing league and regional championships and placing third at state. In his senior year he was 25-0, a champion at every stage and a second-team All-American.
Lewis might have had back-to-back state titles and undefeated seasons if it weren’t for a large obstacle in his path at the state tournament his junior year. Seeded first at heavyweight, the 232-pound Lewis ran into 6-foot-7, 391-pound Chris Taylor of Dowagiac in the first round.
“I don’t know if he had a bad record or what, but he was seeded last,” said Lewis. “So we wrestled in the first round and I lost 6-5.
“I do know that for the next year, every day at practice, I geared for facing him again. Wohlfert had me wrestling two guys at once.”
The following year they met again in the final, with Lewis winning 1-0 on an escape in overtime.
Lewis left Fenton with 10 varsity letters — four in wrestling, three in football, one in baseball and two in track and field. But he never stopped wrestling, continuing to compete in non-scholastic spring and summer events.
He was an alternate member of the United States Junior World Wrestling Team in 1967, and placed fourth and then third the next two years in the AAU National Greco-Roman Championships.
“Wohlfert used to take me to tournaments,” Lewis said. “I’d wrestle older guys and college guys. I even wrestled Wohlfert once in a tournament but didn’t do too well.”
Like the Fenton football team he played on, Lewis joined a juggernaut in MSU wrestling. The Spartans were on a streak of seven consecutive Big Ten titles, and Lewis helped keep it alive.
He took first place at the Big Ten Championships in 1971 and ’72, fourth at the Midlands Championships in 1970, third at the NCAA District Four in 1971 and finished fifth in the NCAA National Championships in 1971, which earned him All-American status.
Like the Fenton wrestling team he joined, Lewis found another new sport at MSU. At the end of wrestling season in his junior year, Lewis wandered over to the judo room, which was right next to wrestling.
“I went in and starting working out with the judo teacher,” he said. “It was something to do after wrestling.”
In two years with the judo team, Lewis twice finished second in the Big Ten Championships and was third in the 1972 National Collegiate Championships, where he was awarded a 1st-degree black belt.
Just something to do.
