Jefferson’s Lowery looks to achieve 50-year coaching milestone after COVID ends past season
SHENANDOAH JUNCTION, W.Va. (BVM) — Going into 2020, Jefferson County High School head baseball coach John Lowery was looking to add another milestone to his extensive coaching resume. Lowery has been the only coach the Cougars have ever known, having coached the team for the past 47 years while he also coached two years at Harpers Ferry High School which was consolidated into Jefferson in 1972. This season, the 75-year-old Lowery would’ve entered his fifth decade of coaching baseball, an almost unheard of achievement.
“I’ve always enjoyed coaching,” Lowery said. “In the spring I still feel the vigor to get out on the field and go even though I’m in my mid-70’s. I still feel energetic and I try to stay active that way and I still enjoy doing it and I want to do it for a while.”
However, 2020 threw a different kind of curveball at the skipper. With the COVID-19 pandemic looming over West Virginia, the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission suspended the baseball season, and soon after, Jefferson County Schools canceled classes for the rest of the year. This means that Lowery’s year of celebration for his impressive achievement would have to wait until 2021.
As a man who has seen more baseball games than likely any other person in the state, it is hard to surprise Lowery on a baseball diamond. Amazingly, Lowery had seen something similar to the pandemic when a measles outbreak in northern West Virginia delayed the state tournament for two weeks in 1994. However, that situation had nothing on what COVID-19 did to the program.
“This is certainly the exception; it’s unprecedented really for everybody,” Lowery said. “I don’t think you can anticipate anything like this to have it all dropped on you at once.”
Lowery was raised in the game of baseball. Growing up in the same county he now coaches in, Lowery played baseball through community college where he would meet his wife Vicki. With the opportunity to coach in his home county, Lowery was more than happy to build his roots near his childhood home where he has watched the program grow year after year.
“Being at a new school gave the opportunity to be involved in the program from the onset and to watch it grow and build,” Lowery said. “Not only the team, but the facilities, the experience, the players and what they’ve done after high school, the tradition. All the things that go along with building a program and having the opportunity to build that program that’s what’s been meaningful to me.”
Over the past five decades, Lowery has led the Cougars to 1,313 wins, becoming the only coach in state history to win over 1,000 games and the 10th in the nation while also being the winningest coach in all sports in the state. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, Lowery is the winningest active coach and is third in all-time victories.
“It makes me feel good, but I guess it says I have been here for a long time,” Lowery said with a laugh.
Not surprisingly, the Cougars have also been a strong team over Lowery’s five decades at the helm. The Cougars have won 12 state championships, with at least one coming each of the past five decades, while also winning 31 sectional titles, 24 regional titles, making 24 state tournament appearances and being state runners-up four times. Lowery has coached eight state players of the year and 11 players who have made some level of MLB and over 35 first team all-state players.
Although it may seem like Lowery is reaching near the end of his career, he would say otherwise. When the season was cancelled this year, Lowery didn’t hesitate to return to his post with the Cougars. While he isn’t expecting much pomp and circumstance surrounding his upcoming milestone, Lowery does know he just wants to get his team back on the diamond.
“I’m hoping the celebration is we can just get back on the field and play some games,” Lowery said.
While approaching his fifth decade of coaching, Lowery has had many things to be proud of. He has been a state champion, a national coach of the year and a Hall of Famer everywhere from his former college, his state and even nationally in the NFHS. Even with all he has accomplished, Lowery is most proud about one thing — being able to coach young players and helping them become standup young men, including his own children.
Lowery’s children, John Jr., Charlie and Rusty, each played and won state titles under the guidance of their dad with each eventually making their way into the college ranks and John Jr. going all the way into the San Francisco Giants minor league system. Although he enjoyed his time coaching his sons, Lowery admitted it didn’t have a major impact on his coaching passion.
“I was fortunate to have a good experience with all three of my sons,” Lowery said. “It’s been a good experience that way, but I enjoyed it before they got there and I certainly continue to enjoy it after they graduated and moved on.”
John Jr. even took it a step further, joining his father in the coaching ranks as an assistant coach for the University of Michigan before becoming the head coach at Jefferson’s rival school, Martinsburg, from 2004-2009 where he helped lead them to a state title. While they still loved each other off the field, the games did get a bit intense for the Lowery family.
“It turned out not only to be a Martinsburg-Jefferson rivalry it kind of turned out to be a family rivalry,” Lowery said. “I think it kind of wore on us both a little bit at times. Probably from my side I could’ve handled it a bit better, but I always want to win so you know how that can end. But he did a great job up there.”
That isn’t the only interesting thing Lowery has been able to experience during his coaching career. Lowery has seen a number of players and team managers work together on the field only to eventually get married later on in life. He has also coached generations of players, now having players who are the grandchildren of some of his earliest players.
“I’ve had a couple of kids now where I have coached their grandfathers so that’s kind of interesting,” Lowery said. “You see those things over the years which is kind of fun to follow.”
As he prepares to enter the next era of his coaching career, Lowery will keep his process much of the same way. The best players will play, he will manage them, and the Cougars will win. That much hasn’t been debated. But Lowery will also take some time to enjoy the smaller things that he missed this past season like watching his grandson Beau Lowery pitch for West Virginia University and being able to watch his team’s games from the dugout. Although he still plans to coach next season, Lowery understands that he is near the end of his journey.
“I’d like to go a couple more years as long as I feel good like I do now,” Lowery said. “I’d like to keep going for several more years, but when you turn 75, you have to say the end is in sight somewhere. It’s closer to the end than it was to the beginning that’s for sure.”
Lowery will be a welcomed sight for Cougars fans next spring. It had been many years since they didn’t get to watch the skipper lead his men onto the diamond at Jefferson, but that will hopefully end next season. With five decades of coaching upcoming and seemingly no end in sight, Lowery will continue to have the Cougars ready for seasons to come.
