UNT Hall of Fame Article - DRC/Vito

[Harry]

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/...27s.8e7944.html

Lowe heads UNT’s ’06 Class

08:59 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 11, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Richard Lowe came to an understanding with the North Texas athletic department before he agreed to take over as the Mean Green’s men’s soccer coach in 1980.

Lowe had a job in the history department and didn’t want to venture too far from his career path, so he agreed to coach for one season. More than a decade later, Lowe was still UNT’s soccer coach and the Mean Green were a national power.

UNT was ranked as high as No. 7 in the national poll and became the first team in school history in any sport to advance to the NCAA Tournament during Lowe’s tenure that lasted from 1980-93.

UNT honored Lowe for those accomplishments on Monday when the athletic department included him in its 2006 Hall of Fame Class that features six former Mean Green greats.

Vidal Carlin, Troy Redwine and Dick “Rosebud” Lindsay all represented the football program while Victor Rodriguez (track and field) and Bill Eschenbrenner (golf) also joined Lowe in UNT’s latest induction class that will be honored on Oct. 7 during homecoming.

That ceremony will offer a reminder of one of the greatest teams in UNT history, one that Lowe helped build from a club program in the early 1970s.

“We felt like we had a chance to be a good soccer program back when it was just a club team,” Lowe said. “We played against college teams and the Dallas-Fort Worth area was one of the hottest spots in the country for soccer talent.”

Lowe started out as a faculty sponsor of the club team from 1971-75 and helped convince the UNT athletic department to elevate the team to varsity status in 1976. When Simon Sanchez resigned as head coach in 1980, athletic director Andy Everest asked Lowe to take over.

Lowe faced what looked like an insurmountable task in his first game as head coach, when the Mean Green took on national power Indiana.

“They were ranked first or second in the country, depending on what poll you were going by,” Lowe said. “Horacio Duhart beat their goalkeeper on a breakaway to give us the win. I thought about retiring right there.”

Indiana went on to win the national title that season, while Lowe had found a job for the next 14 years.

UNT was ranked among the top 20 teams in the nation for much of Lowe’s tenure and never had a losing season. In 1981, Lowe’s team qualified for the NCAA Tournament and won its first-round game over Eastern Illinois.

John Hedlund served as an assistant under Lowe before starting the UNT women’s soccer program from scratch in 1995.

“I learned a lot from Richard that I have used in the women’s program,” said Hedlund, who has led UNT to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons. “He taught me all phases of how to run a program from recruiting to the budget to how to build a relationship with players.”

Lowe’s tenure as UNT’s men’s soccer coach came to an end when the program was disbanded. Lowe said the decision was based in part on concerns about Title IX gender equity legislation that requires schools to offer equal opportunities to male and female athletes.

The scores and records from that era have been lost over the years, but live on with Lowe and his former players.

“It’s nice to have this happen,” Lowe said. “It brings back some of the memories from that era.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

NORTH TEXAS HALL OF FAME CLASS

The North Texas athletic department announced its 2006 Hall of Fame Class on Monday.

* Troy Redwine — UNT’s all-time leading receiver with 2,567 yards helped lead the Mean Green to a No. 18 national ranking in Division I-AA in 1994 and the Southland Conference championship.

* Vidal Carlin — Started at quarterback for UNT in 1965-66 and led the Mean Green to an 8-2 record and the Missouri Valley Conference Championship as a senior. Carlin guided UNT to wins over UTEP, Louisville and Cincinnati and was ranked fourth nationally as a senior in passing. Threw for 3,233 yards and 25 touchdowns in his career.

* Dick “Rosebud” Lindsay (Old Timers Committee selection) — Lettered three times as an offensive tackle in the late 1940s and helped lead the Mean Green to the Salad Bowl in 1948.

* Victor Rodriguez — Three-year letterman in track was the first Hispanic to receive an athletic scholarship at UNT in 1952. Played a key role in helping UNT win the Border Olympics and the Fort Worth Track Meets.

* Bill Eschenbrenner — Three-year letterman in golf from 1958-60 helped lead UNT to the Southern Intercollegiate championship in 1958 and a runner-up finish in the 1958 and 1960 Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Eschenbrenner went on to a decorated career as a golf pro and was a 2005 finalist for National PGA Professional of the Year.

* Richard Lowe — Served as UNT’s men’s soccer coach from 1980-93.

[SilverEagle]

I took "The Civil War and Reconstruction" under Dr. Lowe. I remember him talking about the soccer club and being a faculty sponsor.

I also remember his first speech to the class. He told us that if anyone turns in a test paper that talks about the "Calvary", he was going to take 25 points off their test grade. Unless of course, someone could creatively tie the location of the crucifixion to the American Civil war.

Everyone just learned to spell Cavalry correctly.

[Eagle-96]

My first season to follow the Mean Green was 1994. Troy Redwine, Luis Silva, and David Brown getting passes from Mitch Maher. Boy, talk about being spoiled to get to watch that air attack. I wonder how good Redwine, Silva, and Brown would have been without a great quarterback slinging the ball around. Makes you wonder what Quinn's stats would have been with someone like Maher throwing the ball.

GMG!!!

Beat Texas!!!

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---Glad to see Vidal Carlin on the list. He was the QB just prior to the Steve Ramsey/Joe Green era and was a good one. I am probably one of very few to see him play since I as old as rocks. North Texas games were interesting then with a lot of passing and was more like the NFL than was the SWC which was run, run, and then pass if needing 7 or more yards. Baylor was the one exception in the SWC. The MVC was a passing league with Tulsa, North Texas, and Lousiville having extreme passing attacks. They fed the NFL a lot of players.

---Unfortunately they played in an era in Texas that was "all about the SWC" and UNT, UTEP, West Texas, Arlington, and Lamar were pretty much ignored by the Texas media. The last three finally faded away in football eventually. We haven't nor has UTEP but we are still struggling to get proper respect. [ thanks to SMU in part and their votes and attitude against us ]

Beat Texas, then DESTROY SMU (rats).

[SilverEagle]

---Glad to see Vidal Carlin on the list.  He was the QB just prior to the Steve Ramsey/Joe Green era and was a good one.  I am probably one of very few to see him play since I as old as rocks.  North Texas games were interesting then with a lot of passing and was more like the NFL than was the SWC which was run, run, and then pass if needing 7 or more yards.  Baylor was the one exception in the SWC.  The MVC was a passing league with Tulsa, North Texas, and Lousiville having extreme passing attacks.  They fed the NFL a lot of players.

---Unfortunately they played in an era in Texas that was "all about the SWC" and  UNT, UTEP, West Texas,  Arlington, and Lamar were pretty much ignored by the Texas media.  The last three finally faded away in football eventually.  We haven't nor has UTEP but we are still struggling to get proper respect. [ thanks to SMU in part and their votes and attitude against us ]

Beat Texas, then  DESTROY SMU (rats).

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I remember Vidal Carlin. Mainly because he threw a lot to one of my favorite receivers of all time....John Love.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

I remember Vidal Carlin. Mainly because he threw a lot to one of my favorite receivers of all time....John Love.

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John Love.... he also played basketball some, bench player mostly but caught a zillion passes from Carlin in football. He was able to play in NFL for a year a two, Redskins I think and mostly as a kick returner if I remember correctly. He was rather short guy that could really get high in the air in football and basketball.

Edited July 11, 2006 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[DallasGreen]

Our present players should be told the stories of the great teams of the past that were snubbed by the metroplex media because of the metroplex privates who continued to live in their glory of decades before. We have many "horse huggers" on this board who won't either admit or else do not realize the grief that these horse's as__s have inflicted on our program over the years. Since DD and RV come from other than NT backgrounds they can't or won't make this known to current players. You could all help to provide just that little inspiration to the players to give them the edge to kick some pony butt!!! I truly believe the fans and students can be the difference in this game, and a team playing duly inspired can whip one that has superior talent if they are just not at an unattainable level like UT will be. We can't say we had better talent than #18 SDSU or the University of Tennessee, but we won those games because our team wanted them more!!!

As the legendary Arthur Perkins, SMU alum, wrote in 1990 " At SMU we love NT grads. We feel they produce some of the best domestic help in all Highland Park." THE ATTITUDE has not changed since, but our team may not know that, and it's up to us to make them aware of the past.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

My first season to follow the Mean Green was 1994. Troy Redwine, Luis Silva, and David Brown getting passes from Mitch Maher. Boy, talk about being spoiled to get to watch that air attack. I wonder how good Redwine, Silva, and Brown would have been without a great quarterback slinging the ball around. Makes you wonder what Quinn's stats would have been with someone like Maher throwing the ball.

GMG!!!

Beat Texas!!!

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With the play-calling and philosophy of our present offense, probably no more than he has now.