Even though he was known as a talented baseball pitcher with a big overhand curve and basketball player at Carson High School in the early 1970s, Dave Lundy never lost sight of his long-range goal to be a teacher and coach.
The goal was achieved, and on Friday afternoon, Lundy was coaching Owyhee High School in the NIAA/U.S. Bank State Basketball Tournament 1A girls championship game at Lawlor Events Center. The Braves came up short in their bid to repeat as state champs - losing 53-52 to Trinity Christian - but Lundy's spirits were hardly dampened.
"We should have won this game," said Lundy, who is in his second year as a coach and special education teacher at Owyhee. "But they earned it. They did the things they needed to do and we didn't."
Lundy spoke with the same calm demeanor he showed during his own playing days at Carson, where he graduated in 1974.
"We have a good group of young girls coming back," said Lundy, who is in his second year as a coach and special education teacher at Owyhee. "This was a good learning experience for them. They know what it's like to play in the big arena and in the big game. They'll be back."
Lundy previously spent 10 years in Winnemucca at Lowry High and coached the Buckaroos to a state boys basketball title in 1992. This is exactly what he wanted to be doing after he graduated from Carson and went on to the University of Nevada, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in education.
"I went for the education," Lundy said. "I wanted to teach and I wanted to coach. My mom worked at Stewart for years and years, and that's what I wanted to do."
Lundy had some good memories of his days with the Senators, including a co-state baseball championship in 1972 with Clark. Carson - led by a pitching staff that included Guy Duensing, Rick Green, Ken Carvin and sophomore Lundy - split the first two games of its best-of-three series against Clark and then the final was rained out.
"David probably had one of the best pick-off moves for a high school right-handed pitcher I've ever seen," said Butch Cattanach, who was on the Carson's baseball coaching staff at the time (currently the head football coach at Dayton High). "He was a control pitcher, he wouldn't blow the ball past you. He was crafty."
Lundy was also a member of the first basketball team Tom Andreasen coached at Carson in 1973-74 - the year before the Senators won their state title.
"I learned a lot at Carson," Lundy said, flashing a smile. "I still run the same plays Andreasen taught us. We just play basic basketball and try to play tough defense. Defense wins championships."
