Hours before Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School’s meeting with Ambassador Christian School on the gridiron Friday night, RGNS defensive line coach Joe Crosby walked the field, as he does before every contest.
But this walk was different.
The Eagles and Lions battled at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), a historically black college (HBCU) in the heart of Charlotte, roughly a mile from Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers.
From the field is a clear view of the Charlotte skyline behind the south end zone, which lights up the “Queen City” in purple and blue at night. Behind the north end zone stands a towering Golden Bull statue, for the school’s athletic identity, the “Golden Bulls.”
Crosby – a Charlotte native – has seen the view from midfield several times before, but not from the turf field that was played on Friday night.
In 1981, Crosby was working as a banker at Wachovia Bank in Charlotte when his linebackers coach from his playing days at North Carolina A&T, Wylie Harris, paid him a visit. Harris – who had recently accepted the head coaching job at Johnson C. Smith – was not there to open a checking account.
“He looked me straight in my face and said, ‘I need you to quit your job and be my defensive coordinator,’” Crosby recalled as he laughed. “‘You ran my defense for three years, and you’re gonna do it. So quit your job like I told you.’ So, of course, I quit working at the bank and went to Johnson C. Smith.”
Crosby became JCSU’s defensive coordinator and a recruiter while working in the school’s finance department. It was his first collegiate job in what turned out to be a lifetime of coaching.
At the time, Crosby’s coaching experience consisted only of leading his church’s basketball league.
“I guess since he was my coach, I was doing what my coach said,” Crosby said.
Crosby remained with JCSU until 1986 before his first of two stints at Savannah State, which featured NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe on the Tigers’ roster. Before landing at Rabun Gap decades later, Crosby made stops at Florida A&M and Morris Brown.
But Crosby had a vision for Johnson C. Smith before he left. In particular, that vision was for the program’s football field.
Before his departure, he asked the school’s business manager Mac Davidson to walk with him to the school’s track, which circled an empty field of weeds. As the two stood on the hill opposite of the Charlotte skyline – where the Golden Bull statue now rests – Crosby proposed the idea of putting the football field there. Davidson concurred.
As the process began, the sod was not being laid fast enough. So, Crosby and then-head coach Horace Small helped lay the sod by hand to speed up the process and – partially – out of excitement for having a field.
“It brought back memories,” Crosby, now 70, said of returning to JCSU Friday night with Rabun Gap. “I almost forgot until I got to the stadium, when I looked at it. I was like, ‘I remember standing on that hill.’”
From the field, Crosby could see the building that once was Wachovia Bank – which has since been acquired by Wells Fargo. He told his defense on Friday night before the game that they had to put on a show.
In its 31-6 victory, Rabun Gap’s defense did just that.
Entering Friday night, Ambassador Christian quarterback David Echevarria was the top passer in North Carolina and had thrown 18 touchdowns to zero interceptions. Rabun Gap held him to 172 yards and intercepted him twice.
The defensive line – coached by Crosby and highlighted by multiple Division I recruits – came away with a season-high eight sacks and 16 pressures.
“Coach White (Rabun Gap head football coach) and I had talked all week about how in order for us to do well, the defensive line has to play good. That’s what I tell them every game,” Crosby said. “‘If we play up front and we get the quarterback disrupted, we’ll win the game. Because I don’t care how good you are, if your quarterback gets disrupted,
it’s different.”
Crosby – returning to the place that gave him his first coaching job 45 years ago – called it humbling to be back at JCSU decades later and stand where it all started.
“It was humbling. It really was,” Crosby said. “It was a good moment but it was a humbling moment because you can reflect back when you did it. And I’m still coaching now.”