Lew Beck (April 19, 1922 – April 3, 1970) carved out a remarkable career as an amateur athlete at Oregon State and beyond, including a spot on the 1948 U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal.A native of Pendleton, Beck grew up as a standout player at the AAU level and arrived at Oregon State in 1942, where he played under legendary coach Slats Gill. He was a second team pick All-Pacific Coast Conference in 1943, before entering World War II as an engineer.
Following the war, Beck returned to Corvallis in 1946 and along with teammates “Red” Rocha and Morrie Silver, helped lead the Beavers to a 28-5 record and trip to the 1947 NCAA Tournament. Both Beck and Rocha were named All-Americans. Lew’s career numbers totaled 1,304 points 396 rebounds 351 assists and 199 steals over three seasons.
After the ’47 season, Beck bypassed professional basketball in favor of a business position with the Phillips ’66 Oil company, and a key role with its powerful AAU basketball team, the Phillips ‘66ers.
The ‘66ers, often referred to as the Oilers, won their sixth-straight AAU national title in 1948, then played the University of Kentucky in the final game of the Olympic Qualifying tournament before 18,475 fans on March 31 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The ‘66ers won 53-49, which made Oilers coach Omar Browning the Olympic head coach. Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp served as assistant.
Browning named his starting five players, which included Beck, to the U.S. team. Rupp took his starting five players as well during the era when only amateur athletes competed in the Olympics.
The US team went unbeaten in seven games and won the Gold Medal Game 65-21 over France. Beck, who was named team captain, averaged 4.7 points per game in the tournament, including six in the final.
Each year, the OSU basketball program selects its top newcomer for the Lew Beck Memorial Award.
Beck was inducted into the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988.