Tipoffs and towels: These legendary Midlands basketball coaches share common thread
Lexington’s Bailey Harris and Keenan’s Zach Norris are two of the winningest high school basketball coaches in South Carolina.
The S.C. Basketball Coaches Hall of Famers have different personalities. They’ve amassed almost 1,300 victories and seven state titles in their careers. But there’s one thing Harris and Norris have in common beyond their love for the sport.
They have their trusty towels with them on the bench during each game they coach.
“As an assistant in college, I always had a clipboard in my hand and something to hold on to,” Harris said. “My first year I was head women’s coach at Coastal Carolina, I had a red towel because I grind my teeth and needed something to chew so I wouldn’t try to say something I might not want [to a referee].
“People have stress balls. I just put the towel in my mouth. It is more of a calm-you-down kind of thing.”
The towel has become a staple of Harris’ gameday attire, former Lexington player and current Dorman basketball coach Thomas Ryan said.
“We used to laugh at how he would chew on the towel when he was nervous or intense,” Ryan said. “Over the years it really has become part of his coaching wardrobe. He is going to have it draped over his shoulder. I can’t imagine what would happen if that thing went missing.”
Harris has used just two towels, both blue, during his 800-plus games of coaching at Lexington. He bought a second one only because he lost one on a road trip. He had his father’s initials on the towel but they have faded.
The Presbyterian College grad keeps the towel in his bag during the season and on an office shelf during the offseason.
Norris started using his towel at the beginning of his coaching career, which has included stops at Saluda, Williston-Elko, Newberry and now Keenan, which is ranked No. 1 in latest Class 3A poll. He did it primarily as a tribute to hall of fame coaches John Thompson and Jerry Tarkanian.
Norris loved the way Thompson’s teams played defense at Georgetown and was fond of the fast-paced style of Tarkanian’s UNLV teams that were dominant in the 1990s.
“I used to love those guys,” Norris said of Thompson and Tarkanian. “I patterned myself after them as being a coach, and the towel was part of it.”
Norris has had seven or eight towels during his career and has bought a new one before each of the past three seasons and used it the whole year. He said his managers do a good job reminding him to have it on him, especially before road games.
Unlike Harris and Tarkanian, Norris rarely bites on the towel and he doesn’t carry it on his shoulder like the 6-foot-10 Thompson did. The USC Aiken grad’s towel usually is in his hand or pocket during the game.
Norris also waves it to get excited, although he said he doesn’t do it to get the crowd going, a claim a few coaches have made to him over the years.
Norris’ players are well aware of the towel because it is usually an indication on how the team is playing that night.
“He is smacking it or grabbing it,” Keenan junior Dillon Jones said of the towel. “I think that it is his escape route. It is a relief kind of for him.”
It also can be a relief if he works up a sweat, especially in some of the older gyms like the one Keenan had before they built their current one.
“At the old Keenan it used to be real hot so I needed something to keep the sweat off me. I do chew on it sometimes and bite it,” Norris said. “When we are on a run I like to wave it and no telling what I might do with it. Sometimes I throw it. I just like having it around.”
Harris does his best to make sure it stays clean but prefers not to mess with it during a winning streak. Lexington is off to its best start in school history at 22-0 following Tuesday’s win over River Bluff.
“It hasn’t been washed a whole lot, to be honest,” Harris said. “But my wife isn’t going to let me go out of the house with it too ratty.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 8:15 AM.