KANSAS CITY -The last time I saw Dan Lowe, we were both perched on the edge of our seats in the Gaylord Entertainment Center, smack in the middle of Nashville, Tenn., watching with some sort of shocked amazement as the Ohio men's basketball team mounted a 20-point comeback against the Florida Gators in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Well, no, wait. That's not entirely true.
I was perched on the edge of my seat, typing anxious words on my computer, while Lowe, as would be expected by those who knew him, never even used his seat. He just stood up, extended his 6-foot-9 frame and cheered during the entire game. He never gave up hope, probably lost his voice at some point during the second half and simply was happy to have seen his Bobcats play on the national stage.
It is that image of Lowe -more widely known throughout Athens as D-Lo, Ohio's No. 1 Fan -to which I will hold tight, never letting it slip from my memory, never forgetting the way he whooped and hollered for the Bobcats that Friday afternoon in March during the last Ohio basketball game he ever saw.
He died of presumed heart failure Friday during a game of pickup basketball in The Convo. He was 24.
During those 24 years, though, he affected so many people -including Bobcats fans, of course. D-Lo's fanaticism, in fact, led to the growth of today's O-Zone student section and landed him a job with the Athletics Department as promotions coordinator. He also was active in Athens in Campus Crusade for Christ and even led its weekly meetings during his senior year. He was part of a rap quartet -EP, or Eternal Perspective -that one had to hear to believe. He spun records at Evolution under the name DJ Wise
he golfed and, oh yeah, he also graduated in four years and earned his degree in news writing and editing.
He was as much a figurative giant as he was a literal one, and to say he lived a full life, well, that would just be an understatement. So would saying that he will be missed.
After all, he's already missed.
Within hours of his death, messages started popping up on his TheFacebook.com profile -one of only a few venues where folks could share their thoughts about him almost instantaneously.
Thank you for being such a great friend one read.
God bless you D-Lo
read another.
Love you
Dan
read a third.
While typing away on the same computer I toted with me to the NCAA Tournament, I thanked him for the opportunity to wear the Bobcat suit one afternoon last summer during Athens' July 4 parade.
I'll never forget how he pulled out piece after piece of that costume from the back seat of his car and placed it on me -first the underbelly and the main furry body piece, then the feet and the hands, and finally the head -and then he helped me walk around. Really, he wasn't so much helping me walk as he was helping me to not fall, but it was still a dream come true for a nerdy kid who always wanted to be a college mascot.
Being D-Lo, he just wanted to get the lovable mascot costume out of its storage space in The Convo, onto the back of a pickup truck and into the public eye. He would have worn it himself, he said, but he was too tall.
Well, D-Lo, up in heaven, 6-foot-9 giants can fit into tiny mascot costumes, and the Bobcats are always playing in the NCAA Tournament.
-LaWell is a former Post sports editor who considers himself lucky to have known D-Lo for three years. He currently is covering the Kansas City Royals for MLB.com. Send him an e-mail at ml719002@ohiou.edu.
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