Lancers Past

This is part one of a two-part series. Long before Longwood, Tim Lowery wanted to be a health and physical education teacher and baseball coach. Now retired after 36 years of public-school service in Chesterfield County, Tim touches on Longwood baseball and how it shaped his high school coaching and teaching career. With 470 victories, one state championship, three regional titles, and 11 district regular-season crowns, Tim is supported by his own all-star team, wife Lori and sons Jake and Luke. Former Lancer centerfielder and base stealer Turk Crosby comments on Lowery in the beginning of the episode.

Born with a curiosity about how things work, Mary Beth Wusk found her calling at NASA. The 34-year veteran is now the Senior Leader of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center at the Langley Research Center in Hampton. The 1989 graduate and Physics major lettered two years as a setter for the Longwood volleyball team before the program was discontinued. She earned a second B.S. in Electrical Engineering from ODU.

When you talk about academic and athletic excellence AND service to peers and your university, Madison Hommey is hard to beat. She completed two degrees from Longwood in five years and was a fixture at midfield for the soccer team. Known as Maddie, she also received the Dan Daniel Senior Award for Scholarship and Citizenship and a Graduate Fellowship from the Big South Conference. This fall, Maddie starts her teaching career at Jefferson Forest High School in Bedford County.

Eliot Dix is the second consecutive Longwood graduate to transfer to a university in a Power 5 conference to play baseball. He is headed to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill to compete for the starting job at third base. In three years at Longwood, Eliot batted 340, 341 and 347 and is the only Lancer ever named All-Big South Conference three times. Eliot earned a B.S. in Sociology with a minor in Communication Studies.

Joe Kaminski first came to Longwood in 2014 as the Athletic Events and Game Operations Manager and returned a year later as the Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing Operations. In July 2023, he left the Colonial Athletic Association to reunite with Jeff Bacon, ASUN Conference commissioner. In this episode, Joe talks about his 15 years in athletics administration, conference realignment in the CAA, and his new adventure with the ASUN as Senior Associate Commissioner for Sports Administration.

In May 2023, Mallory was named an assistant women's basketball coach at Division I Northern Kentucky. As a dual sport student-athlete in basketball and softball, Longwood fans remember her enthusiasm and grit. She received her BS in Business Administration in 2021 and was a two-time Big South Conference All-Academic team selection. Mal started her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Valdosta State (GA) with an assist from Katie Pate, Associate Athletics Director for Development at Appalachian State.

Kelly Church quickly realized that making the Longwood men's basketball team was not realistic. As an aspiring basketball coach, he poured into his obsession and became a student manager. This fall, Kelly will start his 26th year as the head coach at Hedgesville High School in eastern West Virginia. He will also be inducted into the school's Class of 2023 athletic hall of fame.

Former Head Coach Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez not only elevated the Lancer tennis programs (2017-2021), but his own stock as well. As a student and coach, Jhonnatan graduated magna cum Laude with a B.S. in Business Administration from Longwood and teamed with professor Dr. Laura Poe to pen Results Generate Results. Before Longwood, he ran his own tennis academy in Orlando and was a world class tennis player in his native Venezuela. Medina Alvarez is now a professional pickleball player and a SCRUM master with Markel in Henrico County.

Saturday, May 15, 1982, Valdosta, Ga. marked one of the top moments in Longwood baseball. Faced with a depleted pitching staff in the championship game of the South Atlantic Regional, Coach Buddy Bolding turned to a seldom used pitcher in relief - John DiPierdomenico. JD pitched five innings of shut out ball to earn a 3-1 win over Valdosta State and a berth in NCAA DII CWS. Catcher Doug Toombs joins JD to re-live one of Longwood's greatest and improbable team accomplishments.

As a 6-6 post player, Ron Orr was one of the first Lancers to ever score 1,000 career points and haul in 500 rebounds. During the Orr years (1980-1983), the Lancers were 77-30, including a trip to the 1980 NCAA Division III Final Four. With a B.S. in Social Work, he served as a principal and administrator in special education and alternative schools in Union and Essex County New Jersey.