- November 23, 2024
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“Don’t let the moment overwhelm you where you can’t go back to doing what you were taught to do,” Seabreeze receiver coach Mark Lewis said. Photo by Michele Meyers
Mark Lewis balances his life out with two of his passions - coaching and art. Photo by Michele Meyers
“One of the great things about my life is every day I get to be called coach,” Seabreeze receiver coach Mark Lewis said. Photo by Michele Meyers
“I coach so many kids like me who do not have a dad in their lives. I may not be a father to my own kids but I can help raise somebody else's,” Seabreeze receiver coach Mark Lewis said. Photo by Michele Meyers
“3 Plus” by Mark Lewis
“2000” by Mark Lewis
“AL” by Mark Lewis
“Fast Fashion” by Mark Lewis
“First Horse” by Mark Lewis
“Splash” Art by Mark Lewis
Out-of-the-box thinking has been a way of life for Seabreeze High School’s artistic football coach, Mark Lewis.
“As a kid, I tended to gravitate toward things other people didn’t do,” he said. “My mother always allowed me to be me. She never told me what she wanted me to do with my life. She wanted me to follow my heart.”
Lewis was a wide receiver for Seabreeze before continuing his education at Bethune-Cookman University. Feeling the financial strain of paying for college, he quit after two semesters and joined the Air Force. He served with the 5th Combat Communications Group and the 507th Tactical Air Control Center, which provided tactical communications support to the ground troops fighting in Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
“There’s a patriot in me,” he said. “I’m proud of my affiliation with the United States Air Force. I would have not dedicated 12 years of my life if I had not felt strongly about being an airman.”
“One of the great things about my life is every day I get to be called coach.”
MARK LEWIS, Seabreeze receiver coach
In 1992, Lewis was freshly out of the Air Force with money from an incentive payout, so he headed across the United States to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. He had some success as a commercial actor, but work was not consistent. At the insistence of his friend Joseph Cannon, he wrote a few screenplays and began to promote concerts in Los Angeles.
After five years, he decided he had had enough of Los Angeles and returned to his hometown — Daytona Beach.
“Pursuing an acting career was easily the toughest thing I’ve ever done,” Lewis said. “I was sitting on the edge of sanity when I left L.A.”
Lewis became a fan of auto racing when he was a kid growing up so close to the Daytona International Speedway. It seemed natural that he would apply for a job at the Speedway when he returned. In the summer of 1997, a position opened up in the marketing department during the time Nascar was promoting its Drive for Diversity program. With a little help from his mother’s best friend, the former mayor of Daytona Beach, Yvonne Scarlett-Golden, Lewis got an interview with the president of the speedway, John Graham. He got the job.
After 15 years of employment, DIS downsized its marketing department and Lewis lost his job. He had already been dabbling in digital art and decided to take a risk. He took two years off to invest in his art. During that time, contacts he had made while working with the Speedway began to request commissioned work. His first client was Danny Stewart, a Historic Sportscar Racing team owner and driver. He paid $500 for Lewis to create a promotional piece of his car to hang over his garage. It took him two days to make.
“Pursuing an acting career was easily the toughest thing I’ve ever done. I was sitting on the edge of sanity when I left LA.”
MARK LEWIS, owner of MLewis Motorsports Art and Seabreeze receiver coach
“Then, I knew,” Lewis said. “The light came on. This is what I had been waiting for.”
Requests for commemorative art for events has taken off since then. Lewis has done work for IMSA’s 12 Hours of Sebring and events held at the Laguna Seca Raceway.
Throughout his life and artistic endeavors, Lewis has stayed active in the world of sports as an athlete and as a coach. He played intramural sports in the Air Force while coaching an over-30 team. He coached youth league football in Baldwin Hills, California, and became a receiver coach for Carson High School. During his two years investing in his digital art, he coached with the Port Orange Youth Football Association where his team took the conference championship two years in a row.
He thought he was finished coaching after his tenure with the Halifax Academy as a football and basketball coach, but a position opened up at his alma mater — Seabreeze High School. Head coach Pat Brown interviewed him over two years ago and knew he was a good fit for the team.
“One of the prerequisites for guys on my coaching staff is you’ve got to truly enjoy being a mentor figure for the kids,” Brown said. “I knew he was that type of person.”
