Among the faces at Sedona Red Rock High School, track and field coach Lew “Jumper” Hoyt stood out with his look of utter joy every time he walked onto campus.
Hoyt, a philanthropist and devout Christian, was born on June 20, 1943, and while aspiration pneumonia ended his life on Sept. 10 the effect he had on the Sedona community and the students and alumni of SRRHS remains.
“The No. 1 thing Lew will be remembered for is his passion, generosity and the way he gave of himself,” SRRHS Track and Field Head Coach since 2021 Sean Eicher said. “He always told me that whatever we needed, there would always be a way he’d help make it happen — whether through funding or simply by being there. He always told me, ‘Sean, it’s not my money, it’s God’s money.’ One day, when I’m back at home with my Jesus, my Lord and Savior, I hope to leave a legacy, and that’s exactly what Lew Hoyt did.”
Hoyt’s life was larger than anything that’s come out of Hollywood. Earning a track scholarship to the University of Southern California, he became a National Collegiate Champion in the high jump and was an alternate for the USA Olympic teams in 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympic Games — passing those skills on to the students at SRRHS.
Earning the callsign of “Jumper,” Hoyt had a career as a U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy fighter pilot, flying combat missions in the Vietnam War before becoming a flight instructor at the Navy Fighter Weapons School, better known as TOPGUN.
He was the first American to fly with the Israeli Air Force and the air forces of both Egypt and Kuwait. After graduating from Officer Candidate School, he excelled in flight training and would go onto fly for Delta Airlines for 25 years. He also left a mark in 1986’s “Top Gun” in which he worked as a script consultant for the Tom Cruise blockbuster movie.
In addition to giving his time coaching, Hoyt established two endowment funds for students and teachers and SRRHS through Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona, rallied his friend and Wyoming investment manager and former Republican candidate for governor of Wyoming Foster Friess to donate to SRRHS student scholarships. Further, the Hoyts also created an estate gift of $1 million to Kappa Alpha Order’s Number I’s Leadership Institute among the largest in the organization’s history.
“Through the Sedona-Oak Creek Educational Foundation, Lew played a crucial role in securing and distributing $130,000 in scholarship funds for local students,” a city of Sedona Facebook post discussed giving a recognition to Hoyt at the June 24 meeting. “Thanks to the generosity of his friend Foster Friess,
Lew directed $125,000 in donations, along with contributions from other friends and his own personal giving. These funds were dispersed to the Arizona Community Foundation and the [SOCSD] Scholarship Fund, directly benefiting graduates and opening doors to brighter futures.”
“It was such a joy and pleasure working with Lew and our Scholarship program,” SRRHS Counseling Secretary Teresa Lamparter wrote. “He truly cared about our students, and wanted to help them as much as he could with their dreams of college [joining the] military and [easing] their financial burdens. He took his role very seriously, and read every single application that came across his desk. His Beating the Odds Scholarships and Foster Friess Scholarships have helped so many of our students over the years.”
How To Become Exceptional
1. Set A Goal: Set A “High Goal” — Write it Down
2. Plan Your “Steps”
A “Road Map”
Copy Success — Copy other Successful People
3. You will have to Work Harder than Anyone Else
Typical Olympic Athlete: Trains 4 Hours a Day; 300 Days/Year; 5 yrs
4. Goal: Every Day, Better Than Yesterday
Bad Weather — No Excuse
In Sports; Love the “Burn” of Exercise
5. Challenge Yourself to Be The Best
Compete to Win
“Heart” Refuse to Lose
Persistence — Refuse to Give Up
Learn From Your Mistakes
6. Maximize Your Time
Everyone Has Same Amount of Time — Be More Efficient
7. Give Back
Help Others
Be Kind
Be Different, In A Positive Way
Be Exceptional, Not Average
Coach Lew Hoyt
In 2005, Hoyt was diagnosed with throat cancer. “When he went into surgery, he was worried he was going to lose his tongue completely,” former SRRHS head track coach Harry Schneider said, about Hoyt’s loss of one-third of his tongue and nearly losing his ability to talk.
“Lew said,’ God, if I lived through all of this, I am going to be a better person, and I’m going to give back,’ and that’s what he did,” wife Nancy Hoyt said.
The couple were set up for a meeting by friends at a party over appetizers and some drinks in 1996 in Rancho Santa Fe California, while Lew was flying internationally for Delta Airlines and “I had a management company that managed facilities for the state of California,” Nancy said.
“He had a bigger than life personality, very fun. Always had a smile on his face, and he was very kind,” Nancy noted, is what led her to marry Lew on Aug. 12, 2000.
The couple, who moved to Sedona in 2003, didn’t have biological offspring but Hoyt often said he has an entire campus of children from his time coaching.
“He loved hanging out with [the students],” Nancy Hoyt said. “When he wasn’t coaching anymore … he’d still go over there and sit with him at lunch and talk to them. He loved that camaraderie … and that these kids would continue calling him even after they had long left [SRRHS].”
Among those is class of Class of 2018 graduate Nevada Karuzas who said that while she is now a resident of Nashville made a point to see the Hoyts during a return home in May. Among her most prized possessions is a copy of “The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be,” that Hoyt gave her upon her graduation.
“Nevada, this is the best book on success that I’ve ever seen,” the book’s inscription reads. “You will gain much wisdom from it. …There is no better gift I can give you, other than the Bible and I know you have your own Bible. Congratulations, with love and respect, Lew Hoyt May 2018.”
“The city of Sedona, along with myself and everyone who knew and loved him, will not be the same anymore,” Nevada Karuzas said. “Lew will be deeply missed by the many people whose lives he touched. I’m sure you could ask anyone in Sedona, and they would have an incredible story to share about ‘The Legend.’”
“The Legend” is the Karuzas family’s nickname for Hoyt, given by Nevada’s father, Darrin Karuzas, who was SRRHS principal from 2011 to 2018.
“Lew had this group of friends that he could reach out to — Foster Friess, obviously, was one of them,” Darrin Karuzas said. “It was in his soul to help and serve and he did it through his actions every single day. He was truly a father figure, a mentor, a coach [and] a leader by example to everybody.”
Hoyt had a habit of knocking on Karuzas’ door to share his love of sports and education and it’s a tradition at SRRHS that continued up until his death.
“Over these past few years Lew and I grew quite close,” Superintendent Tom Swaninger, Ph.D., wrote. “We met weekly, swapped stories, teased each other, and talked about life. He knew my door was always open whether it was actually open or not. Sometimes he would knock and poke his head in even when it was closed and I would jokingly tell him I was too busy for him. He would laugh, knowing how much I valued our time together.”
“When you were down, Lew could always lift you up,” Sedona International Film Festival Executive Director Patrick Schweiss said. Hoyt also served on SIFF’s board for three years. “That was his gift. He made you feel like you were the only one who mattered, and that you could accomplish and conquer anything.”
Whenever you saw Hoyt in Sedona was extolling the pride he felt in seeing Scorpions excel in their athletic pursuits however there’s the pride he instilled in our youth.
“Tomorrow is the first track meet,” Hoyt told the track and field team on March 4. “I know if I asked everybody, ‘Are you ready?; Everyone would say no. [But] That’s the same thing everybody else at every other school [would say]. So [until] tomorrow … practice on steroids. You’re down there to have fun. You’re down there to encourage each other … be a cheering session for each other.”
“It was about working harder [and] if you put in the effort, nothing can stop you from achieving your goals,” SRRHS student Chokyi Carstens said about listening to Hoyt. “After that, everyone pushed themselves a little harder.”
Photo courtesy of Lew Hoyt
Each year, Hoyt would pass out a handwritten note to the track and field team, sharing his personal philosophy: 1. Set A Goal, 2. Plan Your “Steps,” 3. You will have to Work Harder than Anyone Else, 4. Goal: Every Day, Better Than Yesterday, 5. Challenge Yourself to Be The Best, 6. Maximize Your Time, 7. Give Back.
“I work with student athletes at SRRHS,” Hoyt wrote in a Sept. 6, 2013, letter to the editor in response to a 2012 budget override failing to pass. “My faith is renewed in America’s future when I view their achievements. … I see them achieving straight ‘A’s during the sports season using discipline of time. Most of the SRRHS graduating valedictorians are student athletes. The importance of sports in education is that the values and lessons learned through sports are tools that make a positive difference in the development of our youth.”
“My heart is still hurting but in all of that sadness and that morning, it’s still such a blessing in that I feel like my time with Lew helped me not only to be a better leader, but a better person, So I’m forever grateful for my time with him,” Swaninger said.
Nancy Hoyt anticipates having funeral services for Lew in November, “ but it’s not set in stone,” she said.
“Throughout my professional careers, I’ve met rock stars, hopped in Black Escalades of foreign heads of state, and annoyed politicians at every level of government,” NEWS reporter Joseph K. Giddens said. “But I have never met a person who exuded a greater sense of dignity or inspired others to such an extent from his own self-confidence from a lifetime of accomplishment and service to community and country.”
