Beyond the helmet: Montana State captain pursues passion for teaching amidst spring ball

BOZEMAN — Most Bobcat fans know Lewis Kid on the field as No. 76, Big Lew as his teammates like to call him, but the students at Gallatin High School call the senior offensive lineman something different.

Mr. Kidd to be exact.

The captain has had his hands full the past semester juggling both lives on the football field and in the classroom.

“It basically just came down to getting on a routine and a schedule,” Lewis Kidd explained. “Figuring out where my due dates are for my classes, here’s when I have to be at practice, here’s when I have to teach, and basically just scheduling it out.”

After graduating with a degree in health enhancement this past December, Lewis was hired on as a long-term substitute teacher for this spring semester.

“With the season being canceled, I actually got the opportunity to get my student teaching done at MSU through their program,” Kidd said. “You can’t graduate until you do your student teaching and originally planned to not finish it during last fall because of football because it’s impossible to do that. [However] I got in here and kind of had some opportunities to sub with all the COVID quarantines and teachers being taken out, so I got my feet wet there and graduated, which was awesome.”

He’s been teaching sophomore health enhancement, all while navigating his first semester of grad school.

But through it all, the lineman wouldn’t change his experience for the world because if there’s one thing teaching has taught him — it’s how to be a better captain.

“I think a lot of the collaborative work has been super great, and just kind of being able to work with different teachers,” Kidd added.” Same thing goes for a team, working with different guys on the team to kind of create solutions and work together to make something bigger, so it’s been awesome. That’s something that’s been helpful for sure.”

After spending nearly six years in the Treasure State to play football, this upcoming fall will be Lewis’ last season in the Blue and Gold.

“It’s sad for sure to see my time kind of come to an end here, but it’s been an awesome experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world,” Kidd reflected. “It’s been awesome to get to know everybody – coaches and players – and I just want to go out there and finish it the right way and go out like I know we can.”

With football season right around the corner, Lewis will not be subbing at Gallatin High School during the fall semester. However, he will be helping out with the Raptors football team this summer preparing the offensive line for this upcoming season.