Boxing coach takes hard blow from fire

SUMMERVILLE — During a Friday-night prayer session at coach John Lewellen's boxing gym last month, young athletes listened as he used the sport to illustrate lessons from the Bible.

The boxing ring, like life in general, should be approached with humility.

"Humble yourself," he told them, "tuck that chin."

Pride will get you knocked out. Pray for the obstacles in life. They make you stronger, just like a painful workout.

Lewellen knew the message was for somebody in the room — he didn't realize it was for himself. Within hours, his Knightsville home would burn down. It was a lesson the coach from the School of Hard Knox didn't expect.

"I tell the guys in the gym life is about adversity," Lewellen said recently. "God is doing the same thing with us. Don't give the devil credit for nothing."

A Summerville High School graduate who brawled his way through his early years — inside and outside the ring — Lewellen has been trying to establish boxing in the community for about eight years.

He started training in his early teens under pro coach Sam Boger. Lewellen was getting ready for his first pro fight in 1990, when an on-the-job accident at a steel company tore up his legs and back, leaving him disabled.

He first opened the gym in 2000, but was interrupted by an 18-month trip to prison. He doesn't hide that part of his past; the charge was possessing a stolen motor vehicle. He said he took the fall for others.

Like other obstacles, he said, hard time made him better.

"I got out on a Saturday, on Sunday I was back in my church," he said

In early 2007, he reopened the nonprofit gym known as the School of Hard Knox in a brick building across from Summerville High. Sunlight shines through a gap between the roof and the exterior wall. Inside, it's a dense jungle of dumbbells and weight machines, plus an assortment of punching bags from the hefty wrecking ball to the thin headhunter bag.

Lewellen said dedication to the sport keeps kids off the streets. He gives them the approving pat on the back he never got while growing up.

Some 176 students have passed through the gym since it opened. Now, a dozen or so youths train there regularly, plus some adult fighters. Lewellen's students have traveled to 15 competitions this year.

The 8 p.m. prayer session is a fixture. And so it was on Friday, Oct. 24, with about 20 students and some parents on hand. Then some left, while others stayed to train until about 10 p.m.

The first sign of the fire was a ceiling fan that didn't work. A smoke detector beeped, but a quick inspection of the house revealed nothing amiss. A strange burning smell prompted a second look, and Lewellen saw a trickle of smoke from a gap in the bathroom floor.

He was able to call 911 from inside before escaping to safely.

Firefighters found heavy smoke when they arrived at 108 Muskie Drive around 12:20 a.m. The fire burning under the house seeped into the walls and attic. It eventually consumed almost everything.

Last week, Dorchester County sheriff's investigators determined there was nothing suspicious about the fire, but they couldn't tell what started it because the extensive damage, sheriff's Capt. Tom Marshall said.

Lewellen received temporary help from the local American Red Cross branch, becoming part of a growing trend.

The nonprofit reported a 64 percent increase in the number of fire victims assisted in July through October of this year, compared to the same period in 2007 — 375 compared with 229.

Executive Director Louise Welch said that doesn't necessarily mean there were more fires, though more of the affected are asking for help.

Also, volunteers are seeing more people living under the same roof.

The agency is worried things will get worse over the winter, when heating-related fires increase.

For now, Lewellen, at 44, is living with his mother. Amid the remnants of his home, he saw burnt pieces of a grandfather clock and baseball cards he kept for his children. His boxing DVDs had melted.

"I try not to dwell on that stuff," he said. "I'm but one family. That gym helps many families."

Reach Noah Haglund at 937-5550 or nhaglund@postandcourier.com.