Lookout Valley basketball coach Joe Galloway was honored Friday night for his 39-year coaching career.
photo by Jeremy Barrett
Trying to plan a surprise event for Lookout Valley basketball coach Joe Galloway wasn’t quite as easy as it might have seemed when daughter Kristen Clounch first got the idea.
In order to bring her family together to recognize Galloway as he begins his 39th and final year of coaching, Clounch, head coach of Lookout Valley’s girls’ team, had to take two other basketball schedules into consideration. After consulting with her brother Keith, the boys’ coach at Hardin Valley Academy in Knoxville, and sister Katie Burrows, an assistant coach for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team, she discovered there would be only one Friday night this season when all three siblings could come together.
So prior to the start of Friday’s boys’ game between Lookout Valley and Signal Mountain, Galloway was asked to step out to the center of the court in the gymnasium named in his honor.
He was joined by his family and team while nearly 100 former players cheered as their coach was presented with a plaque that will hang in the gym with the inscription: "Coach Galloway, 39 years of education and service."
“I finally started to realize that something was up when I started seeing people who haven’t been here in a long time, but this was so nice,” Galloway said. “They did a great job, and I appreciate it so much. This has been such a great place to coach, and I'm going to miss doing it. But I've got grandbabies in Knoxville and basketball is a long season, so this is going to be it.”
Besides the legacy of his three children, all successful coaches in their own right, Galloway will be remembered after his retirement for the countless other young people he has impacted during his 39 years of service. After graduating in 1965 from Tyner High School, where he was an all-city basketball and baseball player, Galloway earned his degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1974.
He began his career as a teacher and coach at Lookout Valley the following year, and was named the school's athletic director in 1980. He has served as coach of the Yellow Jackets’ football, volleyball, baseball and golf teams, leading the baseball team to a state championship in 1980, but Galloway is widely known and respected for his basketball career.
In 39 years he totaled 658 varsity victories between the girls’ and boys’ teams, and those seasons included six district titles, four region championships, a sectional championship and a state final four trip in 2000.
During his years as an educator, Galloway taught science, physical education and health at Lookout Valley, and also served as assistant principal. He retired from teaching in 2009, but remained on staff as boys' basketball coach, a job he has held without compensation since being elected to the Hamilton County School Board in 2010.
“He puts so much time and effort into coaching and he never asks for anything in return,” said Clounch, who has coached alongside her father for the past 16 years. “It's been an honor for me to be with him all these years as a player and a coach. Besides all the people who were here tonight, I had so many other calls and emails and texts from other people who wanted to wish him well. You can see his impact just by the sheer number of people who took the time out of their Friday night and paid the seven dollars just to be here to show their appreciation for him.”
Galloway is finishing his Lookout Valley career along with his grandson Chase Clounch, a senior basketball player for the Yellow Jackets this year. The coach said he’ll enjoy spending more time with his grandchildren once he retires, as well as getting to watch his children coach more often, but knows he will miss forming the relationships that have been the most significant part of his 39-year career.
“I would just want people to remember that I treated kids right and helped them learn how to be good citizens,” Galloway said. “I'm just thankful to have been able to spend so much time here and build so many good relationships. I've had such a good time coaching, and what I want these kids to do is just be thankful for their time here. They only get four years, but I've had almost 40. This was really a special night.”
And like many of his former players, Clounch could think of no one more deserving of special recognition than her father.
“I can't even begin to describe the impact he’s had on me,” she said. “It's been so special and so precious, and I'm so sad to think that it's coming to an end. It's been such a blessing for us all to have someone who is so selfless and so humble.”
(E-Mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN GIRLS 44, LOOKOUT VALLEY 42 (OT)
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 6 8 10 16 4 -- 44
LOOKOUT VALLEY 4 10 4 22 2 -- 42
Signal Mountain (44) -- Petersen 2, Aryn Sanders 11, M. Whitmire 6, Whitmire 7, Lydia Bledsoe 14, Heisser, McGowan 2, Boals 2.
Lookout Valley (42) -- Beth Crownover 15, Annie Marr 13, Workman 5, Mitchell, Foster 1, Evers 1, Cabrera, Rogers 7.
3-point goals: Signal Mountain 3 (Bledsoe 2, B. Whitmire); Lookout Valley 3 (Crownover 2, Workman).
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 52, LOOKOUT VALLEY 24
Signal Mountain 11 16 15 10 -- 52
Lookout Valley 2 8 7 7 -- 24
Signal Mountain (52) -- Nolan 2, Teeter 4, Heinichen 3, Louis Guiterrez 10, Palmer 9, Lannon Sowell 15, Hodge 9.
Lookout Valley (24) -- Robinson, Ba. Melton 3, Clounch 2, Dixon, Yarbrough 3, Morris, Woods, Be. Melton 3, Billingsley 2, Parham 4, Stansifer.
3-point goals: Signal Mountain none; Lookout Valley 2 (Morris, Be. Melton)