Raymond Gray Lewis, CM (October 8, 1910 – November 15, 2003) was a Canadian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, and the first Canadian-born

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

medalist. The descendant of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

slaves, he was born and died in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

. Lewis was

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

d ''Rapid Ray'' for his speed on the track. He excelled in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metre distances in high school and captured seventeen national high school championships (including a record four in one day) while a student at Hamilton's Central Collegiate. Lewis briefly attended Milwaukee's

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

on a scholarship, but returned to Canada after only a semester. He found a position on the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

(CPR) as a porter during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, a job he would hold for 22 years. Lewis continued training – often running alongside the CPR train tracks during stopovers on the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

– and won a bronze medal as part of the 4x400 metre relay team at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In the 400 metre event he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Two years later he won a silver medal in the mile relay (4×440 yards) at the

British Empire Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 193 ...

(later the Commonwealth Games). In the 440 yards competition he was eliminated in the semi-finals. Narrowly missing the cut for Canada's 1936 Olympic team, he ran for two more years before retiring after a bout of pain from shin splints (shin splints had caused Lewis problems in the latter portion of his running career). He received greater recognition later in his life, including the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2001. In 2002, Canadian author John Cooper wrote his biography, ''Rapid Ray: The Story of Ray Lewis''. The children's book chronicled his youth in Hamilton, as well as his training for the Olympics. A Hamilton Mountain school named in his honour, Ray Lewis Elementary, opened in 2005 and was occasionally visited by his widow Vivienne.

References

Other sources

sports-reference.com
* * ''Rapid Ray's Triumph,'' by John Cooper, Maclean's Magazine, December 27, 2004 edition, page 88.
Obituary from CBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Ray 1910 births 2003 deaths Canadian male sprinters Black Canadian sportsmen Black Canadian track and field athletes Canadian people of African-American descent Olympic track and field athletes for Canada Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Members of the Order of Canada Track and field athletes from Hamilton, Ontario Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Medallists at the 1934 British Empire Games 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics