University of Missouri Athletics

After leading Columbia Hickman High School to the Missouri state championship in 1974, Leo Lewis came to MU and became an instant crowd favorite with his daring punt returns. Chants of "LEE-OH, LEE-OH" reverberated across Faurot Field while he was lettering from 1975-78. He is the only player in Mizzou history to lead the Tigers in punt returns for four straight years, and holds the school record for punt returns in a game (7) and most combined kick returns in a game (9). He spent the last 13 years playing professional football, 11 of those with the Minnesota Vikings, from whom he recently announced his retirement. In 1984, he began an annual youth football clinic in Columbia, and in 1988, expanded it to Minneapolis, too. Active in community projects, Lewis holds a master's degree from Tennessee, and is a doctoral candidate and teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota. Makes his home in Eden Prairie, Minn.