Hillsdale College lost a legend and the sport of football lost a titan in the game with the passing of Richard "Dick" Lowry earlier this week.

Lowry made an incredible impact on the sport of football for two decades in the 80s and 90s at Hillsdale College, leading the Chargers to heights the program had never seen before and have not reached since. It was under Lowry's leadership that the Chargers won the only team national title in school history, in 1985, arguably the greatest athletic accomplishment in the history of Hillsdale College.

While that singular and memorable season stands out in the history of Hillsdale College and in Lowry's career, it was a part of a much larger record of sustained excellence and success that Lowry built over many decades in the game.

Born on Oct. 16, 1935, Lowry was a standout three-sport athlete at Berea High School and a team captain in football at nearby Baldwin-Wallace in college from 1953 to 1957. He then embarked on a coaching career beginning in the high school ranks in Ohio, where he spent 13 years at various places and was twice named Greater Cleveland Conference Coach of the Year, and in 1963, the Ohio Bell Coach of the Year.

His impressive high school coaching resume opened up opportunities at the college level, and in 1970 Lowry made the leap to Akron University as the Zips' Offensive Coordinator. Just three years later, after building one of the top offensive attacks in the country, Lowry received his first college head coaching opportunity at Wayne State University in Detroit.

In six seasons with the Warriors, Lowry won seven or more games four times at a program that had just two seven-win seasons total in the 56 years prior to Lowry's arrival. That immediate and unprecedented success at a program with no past history of it made Lowry an attractive candidate for Hillsdale when the Chargers job came open at the end of the 1979 season, and Lowry jumped at the opportunity to make the two hour drive west to take over as Hillsdale's head coach.

When Lowry took the Hillsdale job in 1980, he assumed control at a low point for the program. The Chargers had fallen far from their glory days in the 50s and 60s, and were coming off two of the worst seasons in program history in 1978 and 1979. Despite the daunting challenge, Lowry proved to be up to the task immediately, guiding the Chargers to their first-ever GLIAC championship in his first season in charge.

That first title was the start of a golden decade for the Chargers, up there with the greatest in the history of Hillsdale College athletics. In 10 years with Lowry at the helm, Hillsdale won five GLIAC championships, made five NAIA Playoff appearances, reached the NAIA Semifinal round four times and reached the pinnacle of the sport at the NAIA level in 1985 with a national title.

As the 80s turned to the 90s, Lowry helped guide Hillsdale's transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II, adding another conference championship in 1992 and remaining competitive in a new classification and a tough league.

In 17 seasons at Hillsdale, Lowry posted a 134-52-5 overall record, with just one losing season. Along with the 1985 national title, his 1982 team still holds the program record for most wins in a season with 12, and Lowry ranks second all-time in both total wins and winning percentage as a coach at Hillsdale. He helped develop 17 All-Americans and 12 Academic All-Americans during his tenure.

Lowry married Phyllis Reed shortly after graduating from Baldwin-Wallace in 1957, and the two were married for 67 years. Together they had two children – Marianne (Lowry) Colbert, who graduated from Hillsdale and was an All-American tennis player for the Chargers, and Reed Lowry. Later in life, Lowry also was the cherished grandfather of Sean, Meghan and Caitlin Colbert.

Former players describe Lowry as a hard-nosed, disciplined and detail-oriented coach who challenged his players, but one who also had the ability to build close relationships and support them.

""He had high expectations and demanded a lot from us, but he had a real gift for doing it in a way that made us feel like we had the potential to live up to those expectations," said Tim Sunday, a senior on his first Hillsdale team in 1980.

"He helped us feel like we could be a great football team if we executed and battled on every down."

Lowry had a great eye for talent, both in recruiting some of the greatest players Hillsdale has ever produced, and in assembling a first-rate coaching staff. He had great faith in defensive coordinator Dave Dye, who came with him from Wayne State and coached with him every year at Hillsdale, and Dye rewarded his faith with excellent defenses throughout the '80s and early '90s. Former Northwood head coach Pat Riepma, who led the Timberwolves to great success in the early 2000s, and former Chargers head coach Keith Otterbein, who would head another great run for the Chargers in the 2000s, also got their coaching starts on Lowry's early staffs at Hillsdale after playing for the Chargers.

"The thing that always stuck with me about Coach Lowry was his commitment to his standards and to the plan he had in place," said current Hillsdale College head football coach Nate Shreffler, who also played under Lowry from 1989 to 1992. "He had great confidence in the potential of his players, his coaching staff, and himself and no matter what happened, his confidence never wavered and he never lowered his expectations and standards for us.

"That consistency and unwavering commitment to excellence is what made him great, and is something our program seeks to emulate to this day."

Jeff Lantis, currently Hillsdale's Director of Development for Athletics and a former player under Lowry who was a member of the 1985 national championship team also highlighted Lowry's consistency under any circumstance as a big part of the former coach's magic.

"For 17 years, before every game, he would read the same short prayer to the team, and after every contest, win or lose, he would end his postgame speech in the exact same way," Lantis said. "It seems like such a little thing, but it really imparted on us players the importance of being steadfast, paying attention to details, and doing our jobs the same way and with the same intention and intensity every time.

"From the beginning, Coach Lowry preached to us about focusing only on the things we could control, and blocking out everything else. That's a life lesson that's benefited all of us, not just on the football field, but in everything we've done after, every day since."

The visitation for Coach Lowry will be on Nov. 8 from 5-7 PM at the Baker Funeral Home in Berea, Ohio, and the graveside service will be held on Nov. 9 at 11 a.m. at Lakewood Cemetery in Rocky River. In lieu of flowers, donations in Lowry's memory may be directed to Southwest General Hospice in Strongsville, OH.