On March 11, 2009 at approximately 1:00 A.M. Mixed Martial Arts lost a hero in an automobile accident. Some recognize Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr. as the loud guy with face paint from the TapouT reality series, but for those who knew him, he was the American Dream. Mask didn’t always have money and fame but despite hard times, hope is one thing that he always had.
In the early 90’s mixed martial arts was an illegal underground fighting world that society ridiculed and banned. While many thought Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) would always be this way Mask and his partner “Punkass” saw bright lights at the end of such a dark tunnel.
The Brand TapouT started when a competition arose at the gym that Mask had been training at. The competition was to see who could come up with the coolest license plate. Being a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioner Charles came up with the tag TapouT then quickly came up with the idea to put it on a T-shirt.
From then on he started going to every MMA event trying to sell his apparel and pay fighters to wear and promote it. Punkass maxed out every credit card he had to get the business going; a business ran on sheer faith. No matter what people told him, Charles Lewis Jr. always believed that one day he would have a successful corporation, but he didn’t do it for the money or any of the other virtues that come along with success. He did it because he had such a pure passion for the sport and wanted to see MMA succeed, probably more than his own business.
As the sport keeps growing, his legacy will remain. So to a man of hope, faith, and many other great qualities, I would just like to say R.I.P Mask for you truly were the American Dream. You will be greatly missed.
Didn’t see that coming
Nice post