Dick Lewis, a 30-year athletics employee who eased the physical and mental aches of thousands of UC Davis athletes, died Friday, Sept. 26, after being just recently diagnosed with leukemia. Born May 18, 1918, in East Hampton, Mass., he was 85.

Lewis began his long tenure at UC Davis in 1949 and held a number of jobs in the athletics department, including equipment manager and team bus driver. But it was his work as athletic trainer, begun in the 1950s, that made him an Aggie institution.

Lewis ministered care to athletes in all the major sports: football, basketball, track and field and baseball during the academic year. Then in the summer, he worked with the Optimist All Stars, a team composed of just-graduated high school football players, in preparation for the annual playoff between Sacramento and All Star players from other teams in Northern California.

George Stromgren, a teacher and coach in the department, asked Lewis in the 1950s to become the athletic trainer. To prepare himself, Lewis worked with trainers from UC Berkeley and UCLA during spring practice and took classes and seminars.

"Dick had the ability as athletic trainer to put his hands on a player for a few minutes and all of a sudden they felt a lot better," said former Aggie football coach Jim Sochor, who worked with Lewis from 1967 to 1979 and was also a close friend. "Dick was a psychologist as much as he was an athletic trainer."

Perhaps the most dramatic incident in which Lewis' easy-going temperament and skill with injuries shone occurred in 1967 when he and UC Davis team physician Dr. Thomas Y. Cooper averted two tragedies within minutes of each other. An Aggie defensive back suffered a heart stoppage after swallowing his mouthpiece. Minutes later a referee fell onto the field after experiencing a heart attack. Both men completely recovered. The player went on to a coaching career, including 20 years with the National Football League. The referee later established a scholarship in Lewis' name at Cosumnes River College.

Lewis formed bonds with many Aggie athletes who became longtime friends. He was so valued by the 1969 men's basketball team, the Far Western Conference champions that year, that the players voted him their most valuable player.

In 1974, he was named grand marshal of the annual Picnic Day parade at UC Davis -- the first staff member to serve in that role.

At the time of his retirement in 1979, Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning wrote a column about his experiences as a UC Davis athlete under Lewis' care:

"Dick was mellow long before the word was invented. Although he was an important person around the gym and in the locker room, Dick seemed somehow to reverse all that. You were the one who was important in his mind, and he made you feel that way, too.

"He was just there to help you get where you were going. And along the way, he helped an awful lot of us," Dunning wrote.

After retirement, Lewis volunteered for a 20-year stint as athletic trainer at Davis Senior High School and was honored as grand marshal of the school's 1994 homecoming parade.

Lewis received other accolades during his life. He was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985. In 1997, the athletic training room in Hickey Gym was renamed "The Dick Lewis Athletic Training Room" in his honor. In 2001, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, Inc. -- Sacramento Valley Chapter honored Lewis for his contributions to amateur football.

Lewis continued to be a fixture at many Aggie athletic events in his retirement. Just a few weeks ago, he traveled at the urging of his friends to Stanford University for an Aggie-Cardinal football scrimmage.

"They convinced him how important it was because of all the former players that were going to be there," Sochor said.

The third of four children, Lewis moved to California with his family when he was 5 years old. He grew up in Southern California, attending Huntington Park High School, where he played football.

In 1942, Lewis enlisted in the U.S. Navy for six years, traveling to the South Pacific as an aviation machinist's mate. He returned to the States in 1944 and was stationed at Oakland Airbase and Moffitt Field, where he played on several championship football and softball teams until his discharge in 1948.

In 1945, he visited his sister and brother-in-law in Davis, where they ran a restaurant, College Corner, at First and B streets. While visiting, he attended a 4th of July dance where he met his future wife, Betty Finlay. The two married in 1946 and raised two daughters.

He is survived by his wife, Betty, and children, Kristy June Lewis Whitehouse of Dixon and Laurie Ann Lewis of Davis; son-in-law Ken Whitehouse; and five grandchildren, Michael Lewis Kinshella of Los Angeles, Ryan Dean Clift of Phoenix, Korie Ann Whitehouse of Davis, Julie Lynn Whitehouse of Chico, and Justin David Whitehouse of Geneva, Ill. He is also survived by sisters Regina Maclin, Jeanette Bradley and brother-in-law Jack Bradley, all of Davis; and eight nieces and three nephews.

A memorial service is planned for 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at Toomey Field on the UC Davis campus. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Dick Lewis Memorial Fund for UC Davis athletics, care of Mike Angius, Athletic Development, 116 A St., Davis, Calif., 95616; the Dick Lewis Memorial Fund for Davis Senior High School football program, care of Richard Harkless, Bank of America, 325 E St., Davis, Calif., 95616; or the Yolo Hospice, P.O. Box 1014, Davis, Calif., 95617.