When the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced its eligible candidates for the Class of 2017 last month, it included former John Bartram High School star guard Bobby Lewis under the Direct-Elect Category for contributors.

Lewis is a first-time nominee. He's on the list with a number of other prominent names such as Marv Albert, Mannie Jackson, Marty Blake, and Al Attles.

"You sort of think back from the beginning and all the people that helped me along the way," Lewis said. "I'm just so appreciative."

Lewis could be the second Bartram grad in the hall. Earl "The Pearl" Monroe was enshrined 1990. This is a well deserved honor for Lewis, a 5-foot-10 guard. He had a great basketball career that not only displayed his talents as a player but as a clinician who had an impact on the development of so many players.

In 1964, Lewis was named first-team All Public League and All-City his senior year. He averaged 17.0 points a game. He was a regional (Eastern) selection for the High School All-American team which featured Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. At that time, Abdul-Jabbar was Lew Alcindor, who later played for UCLA and became a college All-America as well as an NBA great. Although Lewis could score, he could really handle the ball. He was one of the top players in the city.

After a terrific high school career, he headed to South Carolina State to play his college basketball. He brought national attention to the Bulldogs' program. Lewis played for legendary head coach Ed Martin. In 1967, he guided South Carolina State to the NCAA Division II Region Finals. As a senior, he averaged 30.9 points and 11.8 assists a game. He was one of the top scorers in the country. He was a three-time All Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection from 1966-68. He received UPI Small Colleges first-team All America honors. That year, South Carolina State won the SIAC championship.

"I was a senior when Bobby was a freshman at South Carolina State," said Tee Shields, a West Philadelphia High product who played at South Carolina State and in the Charles Baker League. "Bobby was a great player down there. We had quite a pipeline of Philadelphia guys who played at South Carolina State like Bill Morgan, Deforia Coleman, Sonny Jackson, Matt Jackson, Frank Card and Paul Jackson. Bobby had a good career. We played in the SIAC. He was a good ballhandler. He was really strong with the ball."

Lewis played for the United States team in the FIBA Small Player's World Cup Games in 1967. He was the team captain and the flag bearer for the U.S. team. On that U.S. team, Lewis played for Hall of Fame coach John McLendon.

"It was great playing for John McLendon on the USA team and winning the gold medal at world championship in 1967," Lewis said. "I think his involvement with me as a player and his coaching ability was so tremendous. I was a guy who had all the moves. He told me he was going to make me better. He got me in great condition. That was one of his great attributes in basketball. He was a physical education major."

In addition to McLendon, Lewis credits Hall of Famer Guy Rodgers for his development as a player. Rodgers is one of the greatest ballhandlers to ever play the game. Actually, Rodgers helped Lewis become famous for dribbling two basketballs.

"Guy Rodgers was my mentor," Lewis said. "Like Coach McLendon, he was big on conditioning. Guy never got tired. He was always in great shape. Guy used to do the two ball thing just messing around. Guy was the best ballhandler ever. He was the first to dribble two balls at one time.

"I decided to use that when I started doing my clinics. It's a good way to develop your ballhandling skills. When I was the assistant director at the YMCA [Christian Street], I used to work with Andre McCarter and Ollie Johnson. They would come down to the Y before they went to NBA camp. Whenever I would do clinics, I would do the two ball dribbling drills. It really caught on."

After working several years with the YMCA and later with the Parkside YMCA, Lewis went around the country and overseas doing basketball clinics.

"I did Five Star Camp for 10 years," Lewis said. "Howie Garfinkle ran the Five Star Camp. I did camps in South America. I did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Camp. I did a camp with Dennis Scott in Orlando. I did a lot clinics. It makes you feel good when you see Steph Curry [Golden State Warriors star guard] doing the two-ball. Now, they're doing it all over the world."

A year ago, former NBA standout Kenny Smith, who is now a color analyst for TNT, talked about Lewis' ballhandling prowess during the NCAA tournament. Smith remembered Lewis coming to New York City to work a basketball camp at Smith's high school Archbishop Malloy. That's where he introduced Smith to the two ball workout.

"He used to always come to my high school basketball camps," Smith said in an interview with The Tribune last spring. "Jack Curran, late coach, great coach, Hall of Famer. And he used to come to our camp. That was back before the days that the only camps that were big was Five Star and that was it."

"This was like the camp. My high school camp was the camp to go to that my high school coach would put on if you were one of the best players in New York City. So, Bobby used to come and what happened over the years, I took his lecture. I started doing his lecture when I got to college and I would do it around the country. I would steal everything that he showed me at the lecture."

"He was unbelievable. He was the first guy. You see Steph [Curry] doing all that stuff, but [it] comes from [Lewis] and Pete Maravich, but he was the one who went camp to camp and showed it and did it every day. He was the guy."

His basketball knowledge and experience has made a huge difference for youngsters, professionals and others throughout the country and abroad. Teamwork Media Group International (TMGI) is producing a one hour TV documentary "Upping the Game: Making Winning Athletes The Bobby Lewis Story."

A press conference announcing the finalists from the North American and Women's committee for the Class of 2017 will take place at the NBA All-Star Weekend, which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 18 in New Orleans, La. The entire Class of 2017 will be announced on Monday, April 3 at the Men's NCAA Final Four in Phoenix, Arizona.

"I've always been a little under the radar," Lewis said. "I've been able to do a lot of things in my life. It's great to be on the ballot. I really appreciate everything."

dhunt@phillytrib.com (215) 893-5719