This weekend in New York, fans are going to hear a lot about the “heroic performances” of some of the NBA’s brightest stars. But none of those players – or their performances – can come close to that of an All-Star from Cleveland who played to very little fanfare on Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn.
Darron Lewis isn’t the leading scorer of his squad. He wasn’t a blue-chip recruit out of high school. And he wasn’t swarmed by autograph-seekers over the weekend. But on Sunday afternoon, when he takes the floor for the Wheelchair Cavaliers as they play a big double-header in Edinboro, his performance will be every bit as heroic as any All-Star suiting up later that night in Madison Square Garden.
Lewis’ story doesn’t begin on July 11, 2012 – in the early morning hours in Kandahar, Afghanistan. But that’s where it changed forever.
Donnell “Darron” Lewis grew up on the southeast side of Cleveland. A natural athlete, he played free safety and slot receiver for South High. But Lewis also comes from a long line of family who served in the military – including his late father, Darryl Lewis, Sr., who served in the Navy, his older brother, Darryl Jr., who’s currently serving in the Army and his younger brother, David, who’s been in the Navy since 2008.
It was just a matter of time until Darron decided to serve his country.
”I didn’t know what I wanted to be,” Lewis acknowledged. “I thought I would go to college and study this and get this degree. But I was always doing physical stuff, playing sports and being athletic. My older brother went in. And then my younger brother went in. So I thought: OK, it’s my time to go in now. Time to stop messing around.”
So at the age of 26, Lewis enlisted in the Army. After 14 weeks of basic training, Lewis eventually went to airborne school and graduated in three weeks. He initially thought he’d be stationed in Italy, but his orders were changed and instead, he was off to Fort Lewis, Washington in August 2011 where he became part of the 2nd Infantry Division Charlie Company 5-20 1st Platoon, whose pit name was “The Misfits.”
After four months at Fort Lewis, the Misfits were called to southern Afghanistan, the birthplace of the Taliban. And during their eight months in Kandahar, his unit conducted over 150 missions.
”Things didn’t really start happening until February. It’s winter time over there, so (the Taliban) don’t really do too much – because they can’t hide behind trees and things like that. It’s open field,” said Lewis. “So, once it starts to warm up, that’s when the action picks up. And then, it’s every day, three or four times a day we’d get into it with them. Or you’d never know – you’d be chillin’ one day, drinking tea, and you hear RPG’s coming through or you’ll hear gunshots ringing. And then, you know, you gotta do your job.”
At first, it was a single mission per day for Lewis’ platoon. But as the action heated up, the Misfits duties doubled – often conducting a pair of operations each day.
“The area we were in was Kandahar, and that’s the main hot spot,” said the father of three, including an infant daughter who – at the time – was still four weeks from being born. “We were out there, so our mission was basically was to go around and push these Taliban away. And we’d conduct and see: if they’re in this area, they need to leave. If they’re not going to leave, we’re gonna make them leave. And that’s basically what our mission was.”
But on July 11, 2012, Lewis’ story changed forever. He had just finished tower duty, but around 3 a.m., his team leader asked if Lewis could serve as a gunner for a mission not far from the base. Lewis readily jumped into the Stryker, where he’d man the .50 caliber from the gunner’s seat on the inside of the vehicle.
“We’re going down the road, we’re on Highway 1,” recalled Lewis. “On the road we were going, every time we turned, there was, like, a ditch right there. We’d get stuck and have to get pulled out. So when we got up to the road, my team leader was like, ‘OK, you’re going to make a hard right and punch it because we’d been getting stuck right there. So all I remember is, he made the hard right and he punched it and all I heard was BOOM! And I’m thinking at first we hit the ditch again. But then we started seeing smoke and I knew we’d hit an IED (improvised explosive device).”
In the ensuing chaos, Lewis remembered looking down and seeing his legs – one looking like it was turned inward and the other, like it was turned outward. But his Army brother Wyatt was in much worse shape, not moving, covered in dust. One of their squad leaders tried to pull both Lewis out of the Stryker, but he couldn’t move.
“I was thinking about my baby, she was about to be born,” said Lewis. “I was just about to go home in like, not even ten days. So I closed my eyes and I could feel them pull me up out of there. And I was talking to the doc, and asking if I was gonna see my daughter. He said it was going to be alright and they kept talking to me. Then the (helicopter) came and they hit me with some morphine.
”I opened my eyes right before the bird took off and I saw them giving my brother Wyatt CPR – and that’s when I passed out. And when I woke up in the hospital after a few surgeries, that’s when they had told us that he didn’t make it.”
After multiple surgeries in Germany, Washington D.C. and back at Fort Lewis, Lewis was sent to Seattle where he had his left lower leg amputated. In addition to the amputation, Lewis had multiple breaks and tears in his left knee and his right side had injuries from his pelvis to his ankle which required metal rods and screws in his femur, tibia, fibula, ankle and foot.
From there, Lewis was sent to San Antonio’s CFI (Center for the Intrepid) where he’d begin both his rehab and the next chapter of his life.
Darron was buoyed by his family, especially his mother Delores, and his girlfriend, Kristal – his high school sweetheart who he’d been with for over 15 years. She helped him in every possible way. He also has two sisters, Dee and Dana, and a bunch of nieces and nephews. But maybe his biggest motivation was his children: an eight-year-old son, Christopher, two-year-old daughter, Londynn and two-month-old Logann, who was born on Veteran’s Day.
“I would have my bad days in the hospital where I’d look at myself and think: Man, I’m really messed up. And I’d just cry some nights. And then I’d look over at pictures of my little girl and all the pictures (of my family) and think: I need to be strong for them. And that’s what motivated me – especially when doctors would tell me: ‘You want to see you baby girl? You have to fight through this, you have to push.”
”And I just used that as my goal. That’s what kept me going: my kids, my mom, my family.”
At the San Antonio CFI, Lewis met a physical trainer named Fred who helped him turn the corner.
”When I got (to CFI), I didn’t say anything to anybody – I just kept to myself and I didn’t want to do anything because of my situation. I was down, I was depressed and all that stuff. One day, Fred said, ‘Well what do you like to do? Do you like playing sports?’ I said I played football, a little basketball. And he said, ‘Well they have a wheelchair basketball league and we even have a team. And he gave me the contact for the coach. And the coach was another physical therapist, so he said to come on out and just see if you like it.”
Lewis had never even heard of wheelchair basketball before his recovery in San Antonio. But it didn’t take him long to fall (back) in love with the game of hoops.
“My first day, my first shot coming out – airball!” laughed Darron. “But there was just something about it – I could shoot a hoop again! I could shoot! So I just stuck with it. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. But I was in there and I was like, ‘Man these dudes are playing! And I was out there sucking – like couldn’t even push or anything. But my coach would tell me, ‘Hey, you want to get on that court, you have to work hard.’”
“And I’d be by myself some days in the gym, learning how to do a layup, re-leaning the game. You’re so used to shooting standing up and you have to change your shot where everything depends on your upper body. So I had to re-do all that all over again. And now I love it! Now I don’t even want to stop playing. I’d play every day if I could.”
After an arduous rehab, Lewis returned to Cleveland and searched youtube for Cavs Wheelchair Basketball, just to see what would come up. He immediately got excited watching the clip and contacted the team. He came to practice and quickly became part of the squad. Once again, he found a bond among brothers – and he was able to represent his hometown.
The Wheelchair Cavs are even more successful than the NBA squad they’re affiliated with – currently ranked second in the nation with an 18-4 mark. And recently, Darron – the team’s second-leading scorer – was chosen by the NWBA Selection Committee to represent the East All-Stars in the NBA/NWBA Annual All Star Game, which was held this past Thursday at the NBA All-Star Game Jam Session in New York.
“You don’t get down on yourself even though you’re like: ‘Man, I can’t hit it. I can’t get this shot to work. Or I didn’t make the turn right.’ But you have to push through because, man, I want to be great. I want to be great. I don’t want to just play it for fun. I want to hopefully represent Team USA.
”I want to represent the USA again.”
Lewis’ Eastern Conference squad was coached by none other than NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo. Darron’s team even did the famous Mutombo finger-wag and “No! No! No!” when they blocked an opponent’s shot – with Dikembe laughing on the sidelines.
The East led through the entire first half, but the Western Conference squad pulled ahead in the second half and won by eight.
”It wasn’t about individual stats or anything,” smiled Lewis. “It was just about being out there balling with everybody, the best players from around the United States and just having fun.”
Ever the competitor, Lewis added: “I don’t like to lose, but it was still fun. It’s more fun to win, though.”
On Sunday afternoon, on the Edinboro campus in Western PA, the Purple Heart medalist from South High and his Cavalier compatriots will try to represent “The Land” and maintain their winning ways. Later that night, LeBron and Kyrie will do the same for the Wine and Gold in New York.
Darron Lewis, a dedicated family man and real American hero, has high goals -- hoping to return to the midseason classic when the All-Star Game goes north of the border next year in Toronto – and eventually represent his hometown for Team USA.
It’d be foolish to bet against him.