Chad Lewis — the former Orem High, BYU and Philadelphia Eagles tight end — is a positive, upbeat guy. If you don't believe it, read his new book: "Chad Lewis, Surround Yourself with Greatness."

He doesn't have a bad word to say about anyone. He spends nearly 400 pages praising former teammates, siblings, parents, coaches, teachers, commissioners, neighbors, friends and other acquaintances, each one winning superlatives from the author, it seems. He even found something nice to say about coaches who cut him. He even praised Terrell Owens, a former teammate who imploded the Eagles during Lewis' final season in Philadelphia.

Chad Lewis is such a positive thinker that he makes Norman Vincent Peale look like David Letterman.

Lewis can put a good spin on anything. He came this close to playing in five Super Bowls, and never appeared in one of them — and he still finds something nice to say about those experiences.

It is precisely because Lewis is positive by nature — and a genuinely kind person who gets along with everyone — that he had many of the rich, unique experiences that he chronicles in the book. To wit:

President George W. Bush invited Lewis to introduce him at a stop on his campaign trail. Later, he invited Lewis and his wife Michelle to a Valentine's Day dinner party at the White House.

Three months later, Lewis was on the other side of the world eating dinner with the president of China, Hu Jintao, in the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square.

He introduced the Beijing Olympic mascots to the world at the International Olympic press conference in Red Theater in Beijing.

Paul Tagliabue, the NFL commissioner at the time, recruited Lewis to accompany him to China to serve as an ambassador for the game. He has represented the NFL in China on several occasions, not only because of his winning way with people, but because he learned to speak fluent Chinese while serving a church mission in Taiwan.

(While he was there, he played catch with a football on the Great Wall of China.)

Tagliabue, who spent hours conversing with Lewis one on one, thought enough of Lewis that he invited him to his 40th wedding anniversary dinner party and later invited him to speak at his official retirement party in New York. Because of transportation snafus, Lewis arrived late, just as the evening was wrapping up and the guests were giving a standing ovation for the commissioner. When Tagliabue saw Lewis enter the room, he introduced Lewis to the audience and turned the microphone over to him.