STOW, Ohio -- With 30 years as a head coach, including 27 years at Stow, Dave Close has seen it all. His teams have reached the state semifinal twice (1990, 1993) and on Friday, he picked up his 500th win as a head coach.
The local coaching legend spent some with cleveland.com to discuss what the Stow community means to him, what type of players he coaches at Stow, his pregame rituals as a coach and the 500th win. Close did all of this while guiding us on a tour of Stow High School and the gymnasium.
As a Stow graduate, the school has extra significance for him. Close's children also attended and playing athletics at Stow. He also helped start the school's athletic Hall of Fame.
Close has also made sure that his teams are involved in the community. On Wednesday, the boys basketball team will be volunteering all day at the Open M Ministries in Akron.
"It has been a blessing for us in our basketball program to serve alongside the many fine volunteers at Open M every Christmas season," Close said. "At Stow, we want to develop in our young men a sense or service."
Check out the video above from second stop at Stow and see an inside look at a program that continues to have success under Close.
All season long, we'll be making stops across Northeast Ohio basketball gyms to get an inside look at the school and the basketball program. Our first stop was at Villa Angela-St. Joseph, where coach Babe Kwasniak guiding us through his high school.
Another installment in the series will be coming soon to cleveland.com. If there is any coach in particular that you would like to see, leave a comment below.
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