A Comox Valley basketball product has won a prestigious fellowship that will provide an inside view of the Toronto Raptors organization.
Noah Lewis, 26, earned the 2021/22 Wayne Embry Fellowship, named after the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member. Starting next July, he will spend a year working with the Raptors in different facets of the organization.
“My focus for the year will be on the coaching and player development side of the organization,” said Lewis, a graduate of Highland Secondary who coached children and youth in basketball and volleyball. “My long-term goal is to work with a professional basketball team. I would say right now coaching is my main interest, but I think the fellowship will give me a great opportunity to see other sides of the industry like management, and I am curious to see what rotations resonate with me most.”
Lewis captained the basketball team for four of his five seasons at Mount Royal University in Calgary. He later earned a masters in sports business from Loughborough University in England, then returned to Calgary to work as assistant coach of the men’s team at Mount Royal. He is starting his second season at MRU. He also coaches at the Calgary Basketball Academy for youth players.
Last year, Lewis was a finalist for the fellowship, which includes a $30,000 stipend. Along with gaining firsthand experience with the Raptors, he will gain event operations experience at the NBA Summer League and the Basketball Without Borders world camp during the NBA all-star weekend.
Each year, just one candidate in Canada is selected for the Wayne Embry Fellowship. The ideal candidate exemplifies passion and commitment to basketball in the spirit of Embry, who was part of the 1968 NBA champion Boston Celtics. A former Raptors senior adviser and interim general manager, Embry was the first African American to be a GM/president of an NBA club.