Robert Lewis, coach of youth football club

Robert I. Lewis Jr., a longtime coach for the Gloucester City Mustangs youth football club, was celebrated in a special way in a 2011 ceremony.

At the Billy Flynn Football Field in Gloucester City, the 2011 football season was dedicated to Mr. Lewis, who was brought onto the field before a game and presented with a plaque.

"It was my final year as president" of the Mustangs club, said Mike Johnson, who decided on the dedication "because he helped me out so much."

On Sunday, July 26, Mr. Lewis, 68, a former head steward for the labor union at the Gloucester City post office, died of complications from prostate cancer at his home there.

Mr. Lewis' son Jason said the Mustangs club consists of four teams, the 70-pound Ponies, the 90-pound Pintos, the 110-pound Colts, and the 130-pound Mustangs.

Mr. Lewis coached for much of the 1980s and 1990s, his son said, becoming the club's winningest coach.

"Half of his career was with the 70-pound team and half was with the 110-pound Colts," his son said.

During Mr. Lewis' career, the Mustangs teams played in the Garden State Youth Football League, in which Johnson played, first when he was 6 and again when he was 12.

Johnson went on to be a three-year starter as lineman and then defensive back at Gloucester City High School, from which he graduated in 1998.

"He was hard-nosed, old school," Johnson, a public works driver for Gloucester City, said of Mr. Lewis, "but very approachable."

"He was always trying to do better for every one of his players," Johnson said, "not just in football but in life in general."

Born in Gloucester City, Mr. Lewis graduated from Gloucester City High School in 1965 and was the perennial head of the committee that organized its annual reunion.

On his high school football team, his son said, Mr. Lewis "was a tailback all four years," and "when he was a junior, they won the state championship" in their division.

He began at the post office in Gloucester City in the late 1960s, retired in 2002, and then worked part-time as a driver for Rapid Rover Airport Shuttle in Pennsauken.

Mr. Lewis was a member of Commodore John Barry Division One of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and of a unit of the Irish Northern Aid Committee.

Besides his son, Mr. Lewis is survived by daughter Jennifer, a sister, and two grandchildren. His wife, Linda Anne, died in 2012 and their son Bryan died in 1968.

Visitations were set from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 31, at the McCann-Healey Funeral Home, 851 Monmouth St., Gloucester City, and from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at St. Mary's Church, 426 Monmouth St., there, before an 11:30 a.m. Funeral Mass, with private interment.

Donations may be sent to Gloucester City Mustangs Football, 175 Gehrig Ave., Gloucester City, N.J. 08030.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mccannhealey.com.