Former Columbus North and longtime travel softball coach Ed Loweth poses for a photo with North standout Maddi Rutan after a game at Southside Elementary this spring. Loweth died on Wednesday.
Submitted photo
Once a week for the past six years, Ed Loweth, Jerry Burton and Ron McDonald have met for breakfast.
The trio of coaching legends just met Wednesday morning at Jill’s Diner to talk about softball and life in general.
“He bought our breakfast,” said McDonald, the coach at Columbus North. “It was his turn to buy. I asked Ed how he was feeling, and he said he wasn’t feeling that well. The last thing I said to him, was ‘I hope you’re feeling better.’ I didn’t know that was the last time I’d see him.”
Loweth died Wednesday night at the ago of 80.
After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1961-65, Loweth began a softball coaching career that lasted more than four decades. He coached slow-pitch in the early 1980s and helped bring fast-pitch softball to Columbus in the early 1990s.
Loweth started and coached the Indiana Nitro travel team from the mid-1990s until about 2018. He coached about 50 players who went on to play college softball.
“Ed had no agenda for himself or with anybody or anything,” McDonald said. “He was for all the girls all the time. He was so supportive of all the coaches. Ed was truly there for the kids. There’s a lot of people that are not like that, but Ed was always genuine. What you saw was what you got.”
Loweth spent time as an assistant coach at all three county high schools. He served under Jerry Burton at Columbus East in the late 1990s, had a stint at Hauser and was assistant coach under Ron Horton at Columbus North from 2005-09.
“Both my girls played for him and just loved him to death,” Jerry Cox said.
“I don’t know anybody that’s had more of an impact with kids and families,” Burton added. “He was just a good guy who helped out families if they couldn’t afford it, if they didn’t have the gloves or the money to play.”
Since retiring from coaching in 2018, Loweth has been a fixture at Columbus North games at Southside Elementary. Bull Dogs assistant coach Joe King came up with an idea to place a chair and maybe a plaque and leave an empty chair where Loweth sat beside the North dugout.
“Ed lived and breathed softball,” McDonald said. “He was one of our biggest supporters. He was such a fan of our program. He was there during our 1-25 season, and he was there when we were good the last couple years. He said that’s probably the best team that’s come out of Columbus. He just said that about two or three weeks ago. Big Ed said (North senior) Maddi Rutan is the best softball player ever to come out of Columbus. We won’t forget him and the impact he had on softball around the area. He is a legend.”
Crystal Lucas played slow-pitch travel softball for Loweth from 1994-96. Her daughter Kelsey also played for Loweth.
“Ed got me into coaching right out of high school,” Crystal Lucas said. “He had asked me to help out with the local summer fast-pitch league. He was like a dad not just to me but to all of kids. He made things possible for kids who did not have opportunities. He just took care of us like we were his own. He was an amazing person, and he was the complete backbone for starting softball in Columbus, Indiana.”
Viewing for Loweth will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Jewell Rittman Funeral Home, with burial to follow at Garland Brook Cemetery.
“We’re going to miss him,” McDonald said. “I’ll cherish all those meetings that we had. Jerry said, ‘I knew I’d miss him, but I didn’t know it would have that affect on me.’ I said, ‘I’m the same way.’ I’ll miss that text or phone call that I got every week. He was a good friend.”
