Mike Gore's "40-for-40": Eddie Biedenbach

Eddie Biedenbach turned 80 last August.

The winningest coach in Big South Conference men's basketball history is now 80. That's hard to believe and even harder when you talk to him. He hasn't slowed down too much. Eddie is still Eddie.

Eddie Biedenbach was our head coach for 17 years and he took the program to heights it had never seen. We had never won a regular-season Big South championship until Eddie. By the time he was finished, we had won five of them. We had never gone to the NCAA Tournament and Eddie took us three times. The Big South had never won a post-season basketball game until Eddie led the Bulldogs to a win over Texas Southern in 2003.

And the players Eddie brought into the program. People laughed when he took a chance on a 7-7 center named Kenny George from Chicago. Not too many opponents were laughing during the 2007-08 season when Kenny led the nation in field goal percentage and was ranked nationally in blocked shots. Asheville went 24-10 that season and won another Big South regular-season title.

There was 6-0 power forward named John Williams from Raleigh who was a tremendous leaper. John would help the Bulldogs win a regular-season title as a freshman in 2008 and then a tournament championship in 2011. His six blocked shots in a Big South title game are still a record. He is among the Big South all-time leaders in rebounds and blocked shots. And oh, could he dunk. John was the first Bulldog ever to be selected to the Slam-Dunk contest at the Final Four in Houston. He finished second in the contest despite not missing a dunk.

Eddie is in the UNC Asheville Athletics Hall of Fame and the Big South Conference Hall of Fame. Additionally, Eddie is in the Western North Carolina Hall of Fame along with the North Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

Eddie's family celebrated Eddie's birthday in August with an amazing celebration at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh. There were friends from Eddie's hometown of Pittsburgh, N.C. North Carolina State players he coached, including Tom Burleson and David Thompson, there were Bulldog players there, along with former college basketball officials (believe it or not!!) and former assistant coaches who became successful head coaches. The roll call was impressive as Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes came from Knoxville, former Davidson mentor Bob McKilliop, and former Denver Nuggets head coach Jeff Bzdelik. Nick McDevitt, who played for Eddie, coached under Eddie and succeeded Eddie came from Middle Tennessee State. Brett Carey, who played for Eddie at Asheville and later served as an assistant coach during two Bulldog championships, made it in from Charlotte where he is in first year.

They all came to honor Eddie Biedenbach, who did so much for UNC Asheville besides winning basketball games and graduating impressive student-athletes. There was no bigger supporter of Bulldog athletic teams than Eddie. Whether he was leading the crowd in doing Macarena at a UNC Asheville baseball game or getting on an official at a volleyball or women's basketball game or giving up his locker room for a soccer opponent to accommodate the Bulldog soccer team.

And fundraising. Eddie was front and center in everything the Bulldog Athletic Club was trying to do. He did his part and then some and routinely played several guaranteed games that didn't help the win-loss record but helped the department's bottom line.

I got to work with Eddie closely for his entire 17-year career at Asheville. I have loads of stories but there's a few I'd like to share to show you what Eddie meant to other people, not just folks at UNC Asheville.

When we were going to the semifinals of the 2003 Big South Tournament in Lynchburg to face top-seeded Winthrop, I got an email from the Radford official scorer at that time, Gordon Peters. Gordon was coming down to keep the book for Radford in the second game of the semi-final when it would face Liberty. He wanted to know if he could keep the scorebook for us. "If it helps Eddie, I want to be there to help him," Gordon told me in his email.

I told him we would love to have him help us. Gordon later told me how Eddie was always kind to the clock crew and him whenever Asheville would play at Radford. That can't be said for all visiting coaches. When we beat Winthrop on Alex Kragel's last-second shot in overtime, Gordon was almost as excited as we all were.

Whenever we played at Liberty, we would also try and practice the day before at the Vines Center. And more than a few times I would see Liberty volleyball coach at the time, Shane Pinder watching our practice. Shane wasn't scouting for Liberty basketball.

"I love watching Coach Biedenbach conduct practice. I may coach a different sport but you can always learn from someone like Coach Biedenbach and I always do. I appreciate him letting me watch his team practice. You can see why his teams are always so good because they are so well-coached."

Eddie may be 80 now but he keeps up with the Bulldogs from his home in Wilmington. He's known to call Coach Morrell and give advice and observations. He was there in Raleigh earlier this year when the Bulldogs almost upset N.C. State.

He hopes to come to homecoming with his lovely and patient wife Barbara next month. I sure hope he does. Eddie has done a lot for UNC Asheville over the years and just having him in the building will be exciting.

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University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Mike Gore's "40-for-40": Eddie Biedenbach

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