Kyle Lewis, a University of Oklahoma signee, died Monday in a single-car accident, just hours after playing in his final high-school golf tournament. He was 18.
According to news reports and a statement from the Oklahoma athletic department, Lewis was alone in his car, which left the Turner Turnpike near Stroud and struck a bridge embankment. It was unknown why the car ran off the road.
Earlier in the day, Lewis had been awarded the Jim Thorpe Boys Golfer of the Year trophy after the All-State tournament at Emerald Falls Golf Club in Broken Arrow.
“There are just no words to describe something like that,” Tommy Block, the Bethel High School athletic director and a longtime friend of Lewis’ father, Marty, told The Oklahoman in Norman. “All we can do is pray for the Lewis family.”
Lewis, the valedictorian at Bethel, was the Class 3A state champion in 2008 and had finished runner-up in his other three years. He also played basketball at Bethel. He had planned to move from his home in Shawnee to campus in Norman next month. He would have turned 19 on Aug. 7.
He was ranked No. 252 in the Golfweek Junior Rankings. Among his achievements, he had won the AJGA’s Valero Texas Open Junior Shootout in 2009.
“Our condolences go out to his family,” Oklahoma men’s coach Ryan Hybl said in statement. “The OU golf family will be hurting, too. Kyle was a valedictorian, a good basketball player — he was going to be a great ambassador for our university.
“But more than that, he was just a great young man.”
