The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1059287
40 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Clemson won the day's first contest 11-5, sending the Wolf- pack to the visitor's dugout for the second game. The teams went back and forth in the early innings, with Clem- son owning a narrow 6-5 lead heading into the ninth. Towe, hitting just .150 for the sea- son, started off the inning with his second single of the game, followed by a walk from Rick Reister. That brought up all-star junior third baseman Ron Evans, who delivered one of the great moments in Wolfpack baseball history. He smashed a three-run homer some 360 feet to left center field, giving the Wolfpack an 8-6 lead and eventual victory. "I was standing on second base and that ball went over my head like a rocket ship," Towe said. "It never got far off the ground, but there was no question it was go- ing out of the park." The celebration that ensued is legendary. "David Thompson was sitting in the stands on the third-base side and he leaped over the wall and met Ron at home plate," Towe recalled. "Winning that ACC championship in baseball in Raleigh that year was about as special as it gets." As were the relationships Towe made on the diamond with room- mate Dempsey, Evans, shortstop Kent Juday and two-sport standout Buddy Green, who started his longtime football coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Wolfpack in 1979. "All of those guys have been a big part of my life," Towe said. Towe didn't play his senior year because of an intense basketball barnstorming tour with Thompson and other star players at the time. They played 35 exhibition games in 33 cities all over the country, as both Thompson and Towe pre- pared for the wrestling match that was then NBA and ABA drafts. "Esposito always said we were like the Beatles," Towe said. "It was kind of crazy." Both were eventually drafted by both leagues, and both ended up signing with the Denver Nuggets. Towe cherishes his memories from baseball days, almost as much as basketball, because of the time with his teammates and with Es- posito, who helped Towe prepare for his own lifetime of coaching. "He taught me to really respect the game, whatever that might be; to be professional; to go about your work every day," Towe said. "He would definitely push you. Some guys could handle that and some guys couldn't. "I always enjoyed being with him. It was one of the special times in my life being able to be coached by him in two sports. There is no one other than Coach Sloan that had a bigger influence on my career than Coach Esposito." After two seasons with the Nuggets, one in the ABA and one in the NBA after the leagues merged, Towe began coaching at NC State as an assistant to Sloan, following his former coach to Florida in 1980. He was a head coach on multiple levels in the 1990s, with the Raleigh Bull- frogs and the Fayetteville Flyers in the Global Basketball Asso- ciation, and with a professional club in Venezuela, and served as an assistant with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the Continental Bas- ketball Association. After serving as head coach of two junior college teams in Florida, Towe was named head coach at New Orleans in 2001, navigating his displaced program through the difficulties of Hur- ricane Katrina until returning to NC State in 2006 as Sidney Lowe's associate head coach. His final job in college bas- ketball was at Middle Tennessee State in 2014. He moved back to Gainesville, Fla., where his wife works in diabetes research and he began giving private tennis lessons. He thought his basketball coaching days were behind him until last fall, when the athletics director of Oak Hall School, a private academy near Gainesville, called to find out his interest in returning to coaching. Now, at the age of 65, Towe is having a blast teaching the game's fundamentals to high school players. "I was really just enjoying my life, teaching a few tennis lessons, and then this job opened," Towe said. "It's a different level, but it's still basketball and helping young people. I thought I was done with coaching basketball for good, but I realized I still had some juice left in me." For a Florida retiree, it's the perfect part-time job: four months of responsibility during the sea- son, some summer camps and none of the constant high-pressure recruiting that all college assistants deal with. "Coaching college basketball is a great life, but it takes its toll," Towe explained. "You don't lead a real life. It's constant travel, con- stant recruiting, constant everything." Now, Towe spends as much time as necessary with his high school team, but can still participate in other events, like charity golf tour- naments for Dereck Whittenburg and Eddie Biedenbach, or drop everything to be at Esposito's funeral. "To be honest, this has been one of the best basketball coaching experiences of my life," Towe said. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Towe coached for several different colleges and professional teams, in- cluding a pair of stints at NC State from 1978-80 and 2006-10, and is now back coaching high school basketball at Oak Hall School. PHOTO COURTESY DAVE STIRT/OAK HALL SCHOOL "It's a different level, but it's still basketball and helping young people. I thought I was done with coaching basketball for good, but I realized I still had some juice left in me." ■ Towe on coming out of retirement to coach high school basketball