Bear River High School boys basketball coach Ralph Lewis has died. That announcement was made by e-mail from the school Sunday Lewis had been with the school for three years, starting as the girls junior varsity coach in 2017. He took over as varsity basketball coach this past season. A nearly three-decade career in athletics saw him coach many sports, including football and baseball, including at the college level. An incident at an away game in February where someone vandalized his car and spray-painted a racial slur led to a ‘hate won’t win in Nevada County’ video made by local officials and posted on YouTube.

Lewis also ran his own basketball academy, and just hours before the Bear River announcement Saturday night, there was a post on his Facebook page that he had been suffering Covid-19 symptoms over Easter weekend, and had been diagnosed with the virus. The post said he had just received a second test, and it was negative, and he felt much better. The Bear River message did not include a cause of death.

–gf