LITTLETON, Colo. — There are quite a few words to describe the winningest coach in Columbine football history, Andy Lowry.
“Dedicated, inspirational, motivating, passionate, selfless, a winner,” a few Columbine football players said.
Coach Lowry is in year 30 at Columbine High School and 36 overall coaching, just recently picking up career no. 300 with the Rebels.
“It's huge," Lowry said. "I don't know if it's dawned on me yet because I'm worried about this week.”
Win 300 wouldn’t come easy. To get his 300-win plaque, Columbine had to get through an undefeated Arapahoe team.
“Friday night, it was special," Lowry said. "It just was an incredible game and our kids came back from behind. We've come on the short end of that too many times and I can remember all those. So I remember a lot more about the losses than I do about the 300 wins.”
Beginning his career in Columbine in 1994, there’s one win he will never forget.
“We had to overcome the tragedy in 1999,” Lowry explained.
In 1999, the school won its first football state championship immediately following the worst high school shooting in history that introduced us all to Columbine High School.
“We were already there together and we're relying on each other," Lowry expressed. "We were as coaches relying on the kids and vice versa. We trusted each other.”
Lowry, though directly affected, showed his leadership by coaching.
“It was one of those things emotionally wise that I still remember," Lowry said. "After the game, we were all in tears and it was tears of happiness, tears of sorrow, of losing 13 great human beings and people that were so impactful and just tears of just plain exhaustion.”
It was win number 13 that season, one win for each soul lost on Columbine’s campus.
"This was all divine intervention and God watching over us and Matt Khector who we lost as one of our teammates in the shootings," Lowry recalled. "I know they were watching and pushing us and they were that 12th player, I know that and I think we all felt it. There's no way that we should have won that game."
With almost four decades in his career and so much history to show for it, 301 wins later, who knows when Coach Lowry will call it quits.
"You know, I don't know that's a that's a great question," Lowry said. "If I ever stopped enjoying it, then that will be time, and then if I figure out what I want to do when I grow up, I think that's going to be the next thing. And like I said, it's a vocation more than it is a job right now."
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