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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
In March of 2009, Charles "Mask" Lewis was ripped from the world in a tragic automobile accident in California. The charismatic co-founder and unofficial leader of the MMA world's top clothing brand TapouT, Lewis touched the lives of so many fighters, fans, trainers and more involved in this sport, and his death shook the MMA world.
Two years later, the surviving members of the TapouT crew, Dan "Punkass" Caldwell and Timothy "SkySkrape" Katz have reflected on the memories of their friend, confidant, business partner and more in an interview with Jonathan Snowden at BloodyElbow.com.
"In our world he was the general. He was described in an early article about us as 'a more infectious Tony Robbins.' Every person he talked to felt like they were the only person in the room," said Caldwell. "He always knew the right thing to say. When he told you things were going to be okay, that we'd make something happen, it was settling. You believed things really were going to be okay. He read a lot and he was able to spit a lot of knowledge. I remember being worked up about something one day and he asked me 'Dan, can you do anything to change it?' And I said 'Not really.' And he asked 'Then why worry about it? Your wasting a lot of energy and that's ineffective.' Little pieces of wisdom like that. He was a natural born leader. We would look to him for answers and he could deliver. He was just very inspiring. He was my best friend for 20 years and the most inspiring person I've ever been around."
While Caldwell had an extremely close relationship with Lewis himself, even he felt like Lewis' death hit Katz harder. As he put it, Lewis was a big brother to Katz, and the loss of such a mentor and friend was extremely tough to take.
"He was like a big brother to Skrape," Caldwell said. The guy he looked up to. Anything that was in Skrape's life, he would talk to Charles about. Even though I looked up to him in the biggest way, when me and Charles talked it was man to man. I had a kid and a girlfriend that I lived with. It was a different situation. But I felt so bad for Skrape, because I knew how close he was with Charles. I'd had other deaths in my life, but I knew this was going to be on another level for Skrape. I was really worried that he wasn't going to get out of this without doing something crazy. To himself maybe. I knew both of our lives were going to be changed forever."
Katz echoed those sentiments, and with both of them still running TapouT on a day to day basis, under new direction after selling the company to Authentic Brands Group six months ago, said that Lewis is always on their mind.
"There's not 10 minutes that go by in a day without thinking about Charles. Our life is surrounded and entrenched in TapouT. It's impossible to not think about him," Skrape said. "For six, eight, ten months I was kind of just numb. When I met Dan and Charles I was only 18 years old. I was just out of high school, just a kid. He was like a big brother, like a father figure. He was my best friend. I looked at him for everything in my life. And suddenly I couldn't go to him anymore. When we got into a city we would just walk, the three of us walking, talking, dreaming, all that nonsense. We'd end up on a bus bench or something. Memories like that are kind of cool to think about. There's still so much more to accomplish. We haven't come close to making it, to fulfilling Charles's dream of being the biggest brand in the world. Charles always talked about TapouT being his dream. I hope he inspires people to go out and live their dream. If other people can't see it, that's because it's not their dream. Do what is in your heart and don't worry about what anybody else tells you."
Penick's Analysis: Mask's death was shocking and tragic, and I can't believe it's already been two years. The TapouT crew continues to do great things for the sport, although they are taking on a new and advanced business model with ABG CEO Jamie Salter at the helm. They continue to increase awareness for the sport, and continue to support a lot of fighters through sponsorships, and it all started with Mask and these two with him in the back of a van in the late 90s. Mask's contributions to the sport and its fighters will never be forgotten, and all fans should take a moment out to remember him and those contributions two years later.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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