New speakers series starts at Texas Wesleyan

For Marjorie Herrera Lewis, sports is more than games of physical skill — it is also a force that unites communities.

Lewis said it isn’t hard to find people wearing their sports colors — from a Dallas Cowboys cap to the University of North Texas’ Mean Green — in any group setting.

“It is community building,” Lewis said. “It is a story of accomplishment.”

The subject of sports takes center stage at Texas Wesleyan University with the new Marjorie Herrera Lewis Endowed Speakers Series Honoring the Star-Telegram. Two speakers will tackle the subject each year — one each in the fall and spring semesters.

Speakers will include journalists, sportswriters, moviemakers and athletes, who will cover all aspects of sports, Lewis said.

The inaugural Marjorie Herrera Lewis Endowed Speakers Series Honoring the Star-Telegram will be at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at Texas Wesleyan’s Martin Hall. Bestselling local author David Thomas, the featured speaker, will talk about the art of writing. The event is sponsored by the Star-Telegram.

“I’m very excited to be part of this event,” said Thomas, who took a sportswriting class taught by Lewis at the University of Texas at Arlington in the early 1990s.

Thomas said Lewis instilled confidence in him as a sports journalist and urged him: “You are ready to do this. You are ready to write in the business.”

Thomas, a former Star-Telegram columnist, has written eight books including one on Olympic gold medalist Mark Schultz, which was the inspiration for the Oscar-nominated film Foxcatcher. Thomas said his message to students will include his advice to future storytellers: “Hard work and talent will take you a long way.”

Lewis, who made a $25,000 gift to Wesleyan to start the endowment, said it is her way of giving back to the university and the Star-Telegram. The newspaper hired her as a sportswriter covering Wesleyan basketball in the 1980s.

“They treated me very well there,” she said. “The Star-Telegram took a chance on me.”

Lewis, who is teaching a media ethics course at UNT this spring, covered Wesleyan men’s basketball and tennis and was a beat writer covering the Dallas Cowboys. During her career with the Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News, Lewis covered the Cowboys, the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Wimbledon and Davis Cup tennis competitions.

The series will help start a discussion on sports and mass communications in a digital age.

“The format, the platform — everything is changing,” Lewis said. “The basic element of journalism and storytelling never changes.”

Kay Colley, chairwoman of the mass communications department at Texas Wesleyan, said the series should help boost the program. She said it also builds on the Wesleyan students’ interest in sports.

“I think we have some good synergy,” Colley said. “I’m really excited.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2015 at 3:19 PM with the headline "New speakers series starts at Texas Wesleyan."