![\"Francis](\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Landmarks-Sarge-Lewis-e1453299914757.jpg\")
<\/a>Francis \u201cSarge\u201d Lewis<\/p><\/div>It is often said in the Army that master sergeants are the ones really in charge of their units, and there\u2019s probably more than a kernel of truth in that in a university ROTC unit. The master sergeant trains cadets in tactical tasks such as land navigation, first aid, working as a team, weapons firing and small unit movements as well as instilling in them values of discipline, integrity and responsibility. It is often said in the Army that master sergeants are the ones really in charge of their units, and there\u2019s probably more than a kernel of truth in that in a university ROTC unit. The master sergeant trains cadets in tactical tasks such as land navigation, first aid, working as a team, weapons firing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1310,1881,2081,2413,2460,2581,3299],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-14615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landmarks-legends","tag-francis-lewis","tag-master-sergeant","tag-nick-lomax","tag-rifle-team","tag-rotc","tag-sergeant-at-heart","tag-winter-2016"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/Landmarks-Sarge-Lewis-e1453299914757.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14615"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/a>In the late 1950s and 1960s, Francis \u201cSarge\u201d Lewis filled that role at Clemson. He not only instructed cadets in the basics of military training, he also advised and coached the newly established rifle team as well as serving as chaperone for the band and cheerleaders. The rifle team is pictured with Lewis in the 1967 Taps, and the section on the team refers to it as \u201cone of the newer sports at Clemson.\u201d That year the team was ACC champions, 3rd Army champions, S.C. State Champions and the Western Carolina Conference champions. It noted that the team had placed as high as fifth in the nation in the National Rifle Association competition.
\nLewis was such an established part of the Clemson community that, according to a story told by his brother, Joe Lewis, when the army tried to transfer him away from Clemson, President Edwards stepped in and managed to retain Lewis.
\n<\/a>Longtime Clemson administrator Nick Lomax \u201963 remembers Lewis both from his time as a student and from when he returned to campus as a staff member after two years in the military. According to Lomax, Lewis \u201chad the perfect military posture, and his normal walk appeared to be a military march.\u201d Lomax also commented on how helpful Lewis and his fellow sergeants \u2014 Burton, Gilbert and Purcell \u2014 were to \u201cyoung cadets as we prepared for military service.\u201d
\nWhen Lewis retired in 1967, he purchased the nearby Esso Station and soon replaced the small grocery section with a pool table, beginning the transformation of a gas station into the \u201cEsso Club,\u201d a gathering place for students and locals.
\nLewis died on September 6, 2015. As his family wrote in his obituary, \u201cThe first part of his military career was spent growing and maturing into a professional solider; the last half was spent growing and maturing young men and women into productive American citizens.\u201d
\nThanks to Allen Wood for providing background on Lewis and his time at Clemson.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"