Charles “Mask” Lewis from Tapout Killed
Tapout co-founder Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr. was killed earlier this week in Newport Beach, California in a hit and run accident which tore his $300,000 Ferrari in half.
Jeffrey David Kirby was booked on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI. Kirby left the scene shortly after the accident but was spotted along with a female walking away from the car and were immediately arrested.
It is still unclear exactly how the accident occured but the Ferrari ended up jumping the curve onto the sidewalk and slammed into a light pole which fell on the car tearing it in two pieces.
Mask along with his partners were pioneers in MMA and the Mixed Martial Arts clothing boom. In an interview he explained how back in the day when MMA was illegal in the United States they would go to events selling T-shirts and would have to pretend the events were wrestling matches in order to avoid getting arrested. The Tapout clothing line can now be found in over 20,000 stores and had a gross revenue exceeding 100 million dollars in 2008. The company was originally founded in 1997 out of California and was ran out of a small apartment.
Charles Lewis Jr. along with his partners were also known for their Versus television show named “Tapout”. They would travel the United States looking for new talented MMA fighters with potential to train and sponsor.
Here are some words of wisdom from Lewis during an interview.
“Life is full of influences, it’s your application that sets you apart. That’s something I wrote to myself and completely believe in. You can’t be scared to set out to do something in life because you believe it may be similar to something, or because you don’t know the clear cut path on how you’re going to accomplish your goal or dream!”
R.I.P. Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr.
Carlos Caicedo - MrFight.com
