On Sunday, Vanderbilt Football senior analyst, Osia Lewis, passed away after a 3-year battle with liver cancer.
The Arizona native played Linebacker at Oregon State, where he was named All Pac-10 and an honorable mention All-American, before moving on to a brief professional career. Lewis played 4 years in the Arena Football League and the Canadian Football League. He set numerous single-season records at Oregon State, was a 4-year letterman, and was named All-Arena in 1988, during his pro career.
After his pro career, he spent a season as an assistant at Western Oregon. Lewis then became a Linebackers/Special Teams coach at his alma mater, Oregon State. From 1991-1996, he stayed at Oregon State, before becoming a defensive assistant at Illinois. Prior to becoming a member of Coach Derek Mason’s staff at Vanderbilt, Lewis had coaching experience at 6 schools, for a total of 27 years. In 2016, Lewis doubled as a senior defensive analyst and the outside linebackers coach, for a Vanderbilt squad that went 6-7. That year, he coached a talented set of defenders, including Zach Cunningham, Oren Burks, Ryan White, and Joejuan Williams among others.
Lewis stepped away from full-time coaching in 2017, the same year he was diagnosed with stage 2 cholangiocarcinoma (liver cancer). He fought a good fight for almost 3 full years, before sadly passing away on May 31st. Amazingly, through this painful process, Lewis remained a staff member for Vanderbilt for the past two seasons.
To say Osia Lewis was well respected in the college football community is an understatement. He left an impact on every community he was apart of, and he will be missed dearly. Derek Mason called Lewis a “special man,” a sentiment surely shared by many.
Osia Lewis was 57 years old.
The Dore Report 
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