Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 25, 1992 TAG: 9202250075
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER
DATELINE: NARROWS LENGTH: Medium
NARROWS HIGH QUARTERBACK IS RELEARNING BASKETBALL
As the winter bullied out football season and ushered in basketball season, Narrows quarterback Kelly Lowe shelved his cleats, laced up his high tops and took his game indoors.It wasn't long before he realized the transition from yard lines to foul lines might not be so smooth.
Among the adjustments was new coach Todd Lusk. With the coaching change came new clipboard fodder - a new offense, a new defense, new practice drills, new expectations - and all of the accompanying confusion.
There also were problems of a different sort. With no returning starters and only three players back, experience and leadership were at a premium.
The coach and team members were at square one. Lowe hadn't even made it that far.
His biggest adjustment was the simple stuff. He had to totally relearn the arts of dribbling and shooting.
Lowe, a senior, had not played basketball in two years. The extended layoff was the result of a freak football injury during Lowe's junior year, which knocked two sports out of a three-sport athlete.
It was the fifth game of the 1990 football season when Lowe, a wide receiver, took a vicious, bone-breaking hit.
Was it delivered by an angry Auburn linebacker? Or perhaps a maniacal Giles cornerback?
Nope.
The villain was a Shawsville manager, flagging down balls for the Shawnees in pre-game warmups. The collision broke the bone of Lowe's right shin.
"I went out to catch a pass, and I got nailed," said Lowe, who played football at 5-feet-7, 150 pounds. "I looked up and saw the manager. It felt pretty bad. I knew it was bad because I got sick to my stomach.
"I tried to get up and walk on it. I thought maybe it was just a stinger, but when I got up, I knew it was broken."
The real stinger for Lowe was wearing a leg cast - from toes to hip - for 12 weeks, a protective boot for a month more, and having to watch his gridiron teammates put together a playoff season.
"It was real hard," he said. "The rest of the team did a great job, and I had to sit and watch. I traveled with the team, went to all the games and pep rallies, and wore my jersey on the sidelines. I did the best I could, but it wasn't like playing.
"You don't know how much you enjoy playing sports until you have to sit out."
The cast was removed before the final game of the season, but doctors quickly doused any notions of Lowe's playing basketball. So, while Lowe had spent the two previous winters as a member of the junior varsity, his varsity debut was put on hold.
By spring, Lowe's leg had healed and he took up his position at second base for the Green Wave baseball team.
When baseball season ended, Lowe, the quarterback-in-waiting, hit the weight room in anticipation of the 1991 football campaign.
"There was never any time for basketball," Lowe said. "The football coaches don't want us messing around with basketball."
As quarterback, Lowe led Narrows back into the playoffs and had the opportunity of playing for his father, Don, who took over the team midway through the season.
As basketball practice began, Lusk awaited the arrival of his point guard with hearsay his only scouting report.
"People told me he had broken his leg, but he was a good point guard," said Lusk, who came to Narrows from Concord (W.Va.) College, where he played ball for four years.
"In my system, we run the break and shoot threes. I need a good, smart point guard to make the right decisions on the fly. Kelly does a good job.
"He's like another coach out there on the floor. He is a quarterback for us. He was a bit rusty at first, and he went through a slump, but now he's playing really well."
Lusk points to Lowe's performances in a pair of come-from-behind Narrows wins this season, one in which his team was down seven points to rival Giles with 36 seconds remaining.
"At critical times, Kelly has shown good leadership. He knows who to get the ball to and where."
Lowe, who is averaging about eight points and five assists per game for the Green Wave, said he is not quite back into the basketball groove.
"I lost my shot big time, and I haven't gotten it back yet," he said. "We have a lot better shooters on the team than me. I just give them the ball and they make me look good.
"But things have gone really well. We have a great coach and we have been playing good basketball. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season, because we just keep getting better."