Lew Beck (basketball)

{{short description|American basketball player (1922–1970)}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Lew Beck

| image = Lew Beck.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| caption = Beck with the Phillips 66ers.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 0

| weight_lb = 165

| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|4|19|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Portland, Oregon, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1970|4|3|1922|4|19|mf=y}}

| death_place = Great Falls, Montana, U.S.

| high_school = Pendleton (Pendleton, Oregon)

| college = {{nowrap|Oregon State (1941–1943, 1946–1947)}}

| career_start =

| career_end =

| career_number =

| career_position = Guard

| years1 =

| team1 =

| highlights =

• Third team All-American – Helms (1947)
• First-team All-PCC (1947)

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport|Men's Basketball}}

{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}

{{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}}

{{MedalGold|1948 London | Team competition}}

}}

Lewis William Beck Jr. (April 19, 1922 – April 3, 1970) was an All-American college basketball player who was captain of the United States Olympic basketball team that won the Gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/be/lew-beck-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418120347/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/be/lew-beck-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Lew Beck |accessdate=14 June 2018}} Before he began playing for Oregon State University, he suffered a leg injury in World War II.

Lew died of cancer in April 1970, his funeral was on April 7, 1970, in Portland, Oregon.[http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/bitstream/1957/3746/3/Subject_Index_pg_1-191_ocr.pdf Oregon State University Library Index] The Oregon State University basketball team honored him by including among its annual awards the Lew Beck Memorial Award, the award given to the player who is deemed to be the team's most outstanding newcomer. In 1981, Lew was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.