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BASKETBALL

Towle comes home, delivers message

Former Cony star says hard work pays off for those willing to put in time

By Gary Hawkins ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- For a few minutes Saturday, Gary Towle found himself back in 1978.

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STYLE AND SUBSTANCE: Gary Towle, former Cony High and Providence College basketball player, talks to young basketball players at the Maine Gold Rush camp Saturday afternoon at Thomas College. Towle averaged 28.4 points per game in leading Cony to the state high school championship in 1978, but it was the style points he scored that captured the imagination of fans around the state.

Staff photo by Joe Phelan

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CROSSOVER: Gary Towle demonstrates some of his skills at the Maine Gold Rush camp Saturday at Thomas College. Towle, 50, brought a team he coaches from Bedford, Nova Scotia, to the three-day camp.

Staff photo by Joe Phelan

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Addressing a throng of middle school basketball players at Gold Rush Camp on the campus of Thomas College, Towle demonstrated a few of the drills that eventually turned him into the state's top high school player during his senior year at Cony.

"I haven't done these in 30 years," he said while dribbling the ball through and around both legs just a couple of inches off the floor.

Towle, 50, brought a team he coaches from Bedford, Nova Scotia, to the three-day camp. He's lived in the Canadian province where he owns a printing business for several years, but his playing experiences here in Maine and later at Providence College are never far from his heart.

By the time the 1977-78 season rolled around, Towle had spent thousands of hours, many at Farrington School court near his house in Augusta, working on his game. Much of this was done on his own as he replicated drills from his hoop idol, Pete Maravich. By his senior year, Towle even had Maravich's nickname, "The Pistol," and by Maine high school standards he lived up to it.

Towle averaged 28.4 points per game in leading Cony to the state high school championship, but it was the style points he scored that captured the imagination of fans around the state. Much as Maravich did in college, Towle adopted a flashy style -- underpinned by strong fundamentals -- of between-the-legs dribbling, no-look passes and creative shooting not seen in Maine gyms in the '70s.

"It was his uniqueness," said former Cony coach Bruce Hunt who runs the Gold Rush Camp. "He provided that passion for the game and was willing to go out and put that time and effort in. It created extreme excitement in all the gymnasiums."

Towle wasn't sure he had more than five or 10 minutes of hoop talk for the campers but his speech lasted for more than a half-hour.

"I asked him if would speak and I just got tingles down my spine," Hunt said. "Did you see the kids eyes?"

The couple hundred kids in attendance were riveted to Towle as he relived some of his high school and college experiences.

Despite the fact he scored 36 points in the state title win against South Portland, the highlight of Towle's high school career -- and his Cony teammates, for that matter -- was the New England championship the Rams won in 1978.

Towle went through the semifinal game against Central High School of Providence, a team that hadn't lost for several seasons. Towle recalled how the Rams came back from five points down in the final minute by forcing three turnovers. They regained the ball with eight seconds left and Towle brought the ball up the floor, banging heads with an opponent and sustaining a cut that would require several stitches. The game, however, continued.

"They weren't going to call anything at that point," Towle said.

As he was hit, Towle released a pass to Cony center Ray Felt, who floated a high shot over Central's 6-foot-8 David Duarte that dropped in at the buzzer to give Cony a 78-77 victory.

Towle, who was the third high-scorer in the game behind teammates Felt and Steve Busque, called it the most incredible game in which he played. It may have earned him a scholarship to Providence College under legendary coach Dave Gavitt.

Towle averaged 23 minutes a game his freshman year, highlighted by games against North Carolina and Louisiana State in which he scored eight straight field goals.

Towle attended the same camp at Thomas, known then as All-Maine and run by Hunt's father Dick and Brendan Malone of Power Memorial High in New York City.

"I was just an average player, with average speed," he told the campers. "I was probably in the bottom third of the camp."

Towle told the group of the hours he put in from that point on, often turning down offers from friends to do other things.

"I didn't practice two or three days a week," he said, holding up seven fingers. "It was every day. I don't think I went to the beach in five or six years."

Towle mentioned he was known more as a shooter than anything else, and when one of the campers asked for a demonstration he reluctantly consented. Suddenly, he was back in 1978 again, showing an inside-out dribble, followed by a crossover, then back between his legs for an 18-footer than swished through the net.

"I've seen him do that hundreds of times," said former Winthrop coach Dave Poulin, an instructor at the camp.

Towle, who has a 12-year-old son who plays, also coaches a team during the winter in Nova Scotia. The speech to the campers was, however, his first and went over very well.

"There so many people here that gave to me, it's a crime not to give it back," Towle said.

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com