The dream starts young.

Every tackle. Every snap. Every throw, an opportunity to ponder, what if?

At Kathleen High School, Ray Lewis chased that dream and achieved it.

“Bar none, he’s the top. He’s the best,”  Lewis’ former high school coach Ernest Joe said.

It didn’t take long for Ray Lewis to open eyes at Kathleen. Coach Ernest Joe likes to say about Lewis, it’s like God blew a little extra talent on him.

“I’m just telling you right now, he’s the best of the best,” Joe said. “He was just, just magical.”

Lewis made a name for himself at the University of Miami and in the NFL as a destructive defensive player. At Kathleen, he did a little bit of everything.

“He could change a game on defense. He could change a game on offense,” Joe said. “He could do it all. They had to game plan for him on both sides of the ball.”

“Outspoken, a leader, always encouraging others,” his former Kathleen teammate Irving Strickland said. “I remember he came in and I was like, who is this right here. Ended up from not really being known to wow, this joker can play.”

Lewis excelled on and off the football field. He was one of the top wrestlers, producing Kathleen’s very first wrestling state title. But it was football that paved the road for Lewis’ ultimate success.

It takes a village. Lakeland raised Lewis. His induction into the Hall of Fame is just as much of a celebration for this Polk County town as it is for its most famous son.

“I think that fight and that determination has always been in him, that he was go on to greater things,” Joe said.

Ray Lewis will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 4. His NFL numbers are staggering. But those that know him best, from his formative days at Kathleen High School, know his legacy is more than just impressive statistics.

He had a dream, a dream that lives on in the current crop of Kathleen players. If Ray Lewis can do it, so can they.

“He was a hard working young man. He was a yes sir and no sir guy. He was obedient to coach, the teachers, the principals,” Joe said. “ He’s a young man that you wouldn’t mind just taking home and keeping. He had big dreams and those dreams were able to come true.”

Tune into Spectrum Sports 360 at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday as we begin to document Ray Lewis' journey to the Hall of Fame. We will have full coverage of the former Kathleen High School standout's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame from Canton beginnnig Aug.2.