If a full life has four seasons, Terry Crosby is likely in the winter of his at age 63.
And, like the seasons, things have changed significantly for the man still regarded by many as the best two-sport athlete in Toledo’s history.
Regardless of ups and downs of the journey, as he reflects on his coming years, Crosby does so with optimism and the avowed intention of giving back to a world that, for the most part, has been pretty good to him.
For the last year he has worked for the Toledo-based Taylor Automotive Family of car dealerships, serving as an outreach community ambassador.
Although Crosby’s eyes are on the future, it is difficult to ignore his athletic past after he emerged as a bona fide star during his four years (1971-75) at the former DeVilbiss High School.
As a junior, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged 24.3 points per game and earned first team All-Ohio honors in Class AAA, an honor he repeated as a senior in 1974-75 after averaging 21.5 points during the greatest era ever for City League basketball talent.
In football, Crosby was a three-year starter at running back and safety for the Tigers under coach Dale Pittman. Along with classmate Farley Bell — his best friend from youth — Crosby led DeVilbiss to back-to-back Shoe Bowl CL championship victories over St. John’s, 7-0 in 1973 and 42-20 in 1974.
Crosby was named first team AAA All-Ohio on defense in 1974, and Bell, who would be recruited to play at Ohio State, was named Ohio’s lineman of the year.
If he wasn’t already viewed as Toledo’s greatest two-sport athlete by then, Crosby solidified this claim during Thanksgiving week of 1974.
On Sunday, Nov. 24 of that year, Crosby had arguably the greatest single performance in Toledo prep history in the Shoe Bowl win over St. John’s at the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl.
He rushed for a then CL-record 328 yards and three touchdowns (five, 63, and 90 yards), and had three interceptions on defense.
Then, on Saturday, Nov. 30, his Tigers opened their basketball season at Scott, facing the defending CL-champion Bulldogs, who had reached the AAA state semifinals the prior season. Scott was led by its own All-Ohio guard in Truman Claytor.
In a packed Scott gym, the two stars staged Toledo’s individual duel of a lifetime. Crosby scored 38 points and Claytor had 40 in a two-point Bulldogs win.
Crosby, who had over 200 Division I college offers between football and basketball, ultimately decided to play basketball at the University of Tennessee.
With coach Ray Mears’ Volunteers, Crosby joined a Tennessee team that included the famous “Ernie and Bernie Show,” with established high-scoring stars Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King.
In his junior and senior seasons, Crosby averaged 19.0 and 14.1 points, respectively, and closed his career with 1,096 points. He was selected by the Kansas City Kings in the third round of the 1979 NBA draft.
Crosby made the Kings roster to open the 1979-80 season, but he played in only four games before being released. After returning home to Toledo, he got a call from Craig Lynch, who had starred at Start High School and was coaching a team in England. He accepted Lynch’s invitation and resumed his pro career in England beginning in 1982.
Crosby played overseas for parts of 17 seasons for teams in four different countries (England, France, Italy and Switzerland), averaging as many as 37.3 points per game one season, and scoring 73 points in a single game.
Except for occasional visits back home in Toledo, Crosby remained in England through 2011. He has three adult children, two daughters, and a son.
BEGINNINGS: The only child of Leon and Dorothy Crosby, Terry Dale Crosby, born Jan. 4, 1957, believes he was set on his successful path in life by his parents and the life lessons they taught him.
“My parents were extremely disciplined,” Crosby said. “They both set first-class examples for me, and they emphasized the importance of education and how to be a respectable young man. The things that they instilled in me were unbelievable. I appreciate them, and that, to this day.”
A NATURAL: “My first team was the Avondale Colts in football in fourth grade,” Crosby said. “They used to call me ‘Touchdown Terry,’ even back then. I had something like 22 touchdowns one year.
“It was probably in about seventh grade when I realized I had talent, when my dad coached the Nathan Hale Colts. We had an excellent basketball team, too, with me and Farley Bell and George West. We won the championship in basketball and football.”
DEVILBISS: “It taught me at a very early age to accept all people and to appreciate diversity, because we all got along,” Crosby said of his high school experience. “It was predominantly white at DeVilbiss when I got there, and there were some black and latino students. We were all like one big family.”
TIGER TITLES: “In football, we won back-to-back Shoe Bowls my junior and senior years,” Crosby said. “We just had so much talent at every position, and a lot of skilled players. My junior year we had Jerry Blanton, who went on to play [linebacker] in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs. We had Jerry, Farley, myself, George West, Charlie Miller — so many great athletes at different positions.
“Dale Pittman was one of the greatest coaches of all time because of his creativity. We ran the wishbone my junior year, which was unheard of back in the day, and my senior year we ran the Houston veer. I still see Dale and his wife, Ellen, to this day.”
THE GREATEST WEEK: “Without a doubt that’s my best memory in sports,” Crosby said of his mythic football-to-basketball transition (Nov. 24-30, 1974). “People ask me, ‘How did you do that?’ When you do something like that so quickly, that was nothing but God-gifted talent.
“They talk about switching to basketball and say, ‘You’ve got football legs.’ I didn’t have any football legs. I just went out on the court and played basketball. There were many other moments in my career, but people still talk about that week to this day, and that was almost 50 years ago.”
TENNESSEE: “It was a decision to where I was promised some things in regard to playing time and being part of the Ernie and Bernie Show,” Crosby said, “and I felt like I would fit in well with the players they already had there. That’s what I was told. But, once you commit and get somewhere, it’s out of your control.
“I had a great time at Tennessee, and there were great people down there. I met a lot of wonderful friends. But, if I had it to do all over again, I probably would’ve chosen Kentucky, or stayed somewhere closer to home in the Big Ten.”
PRO BASKETBALL: “I absolutely loved the opportunity to go over to Europe to play. It gave me so much knowledge about how other people live in other cultures. You just learn so much. That was a blessing in itself. When Craig Lynch called me up, I had no intention of staying over there.
“But, I liked it that much once I got there. It was an adjustment with the fish-and-chips and the pubs and stuff like that, and it was something I had to get used to. I adjusted extremely well, and the league was quite competitive back then.”
COMING HOME: “I came home in March of 2011 to check on my mom, and I saw that she wasn’t doing very well at all,” Crosby said. “So, I flew back to England and had a heart-to-heart talk with my family over there. I said, ‘Look, I’m going to have to go back with my mom for a while.’
“It was very disheartening. I had two kids over there that I love dearly, but I knew I needed to be with my mom at that particular time. I came back in April to be with my mom.
“That was the best decision that I’ve ever made in my life, even though I separated from my family. I have no regrets, and I was glad I was able to spend that last year with my mom.”
First Published May 9, 2020, 12:07 a.m.
