The basketball coaching profession around Tidewater and the state of Virginia suffered an unexpected, giant loss this past week. Maze Toomer, who led the Surry Cougars to a 26-4 overall record last season and a share of the Class 1 State Championship, passed away.

Maze (pronounced Mah-zay) was just a few months short of his 50th birthday. His sudden death had many in total shock with sadness felt all around the community.

“It’s heart-breaking. I just spoke to him (Tuesday) because we had our annual coaches meeting. When I got the call, it took me by surprise because I had just talked to him around 2:30 earlier in the day,” commented Surry Athletic Director James Pope, also the school’s Head Boys Basketball Coach. “Those girls stuck to him like no other. It’s a big hurt.”

News of Toomer’s passing trickled out through social media. At this time, the cause of his death is unknown, though the basketball team has been made aware.

“The girls have heard and a lot of them are shaken up,” Pope relayed. “Our captain, Bre’cha Byrd, who is down at St. Augustine’s in North Carolina, was extremely hurt. She was crushed. Her parents called me after I had heard and I talked to them. This 2020 year has been crazy.”

A native of Baltimore, Toomer played at Lackey High School and served in the Navy before enrolling at The Apprentice School. From 2000-04, he starred for the Builders and left his mark in the school’s record book.

Toomer finished with 1426 career points and 748 rebounds – placing him among the Top 5 in both categories – while shooting over 53% from the field. He was an influential piece in securing back-to-back USCAA National Championships in 2002 and 2003.

In April, it was announced that Toomer would be enshrined into The Apprentice School’s Hall of Fame come October. One could make the case that he was well on his way to a Hall of Fame type of coaching career, too.

During his first stint at Surry for six seasons, Toomer led the Lady Cougars to the 2010 State Championship, where they beat J.I. Burton 61-58 to capture the Group A, Division 1 crown.

“Coach Toomer was (and still is) a phenomenal man. His methodology transformed the Surry County Lady Cougars basketball team into a powerhouse dynasty,” posted Charles City Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach Andre Jones on Facebook.

“We always had talks whenever we got together and I picked his brain for knowledge all the time as he did mine. We were competitors in the coaching world, but as with any brother and sisterhood in the coaching community, we loved each other behind the scenes and always shared it.”

Kecoughtan hired Toomer to be the Head Girls Basketball Coach in 2014, where he remained until the opportunity to go back to Surry came. Chris Brown, who guided the Lady Cougars to consecutive State Final appearances in Class 1, left to take the Head Boys Basketball job at Jamestown in 2019. That’s when Toomer inherited a senior-laden group and earned Region 1B Coach of the Year honors.

“To be honest, we don’t have a lot of State Championships around here and he’s the first coach to bring Surry County two of them. Even though our football program has won two, that was with two different coaches and the same thing for the boys’ basketball program with Coach [Joe] Ellis and myself,” Pope pointed out. “He’s the only one to bring two of them to the county.”

Above the success on the court, Toomer will be remembered by many for how he was willing to lend a helping hand.

“Maze really meant a lot, and not just to the girls program alone. He meant a lot to the school in general. Not only did he bring two State Championships at two different times to our girls program, he also assisted with a lot of boys during workouts because he was a skills guy,” Pope noted.

“Whenever he saw something wrong and anything kids wanted to work on, he made himself available not only for the girls, but also the guys and helped out a couple of my post guys. He impacted so many lives.”

Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a regular contributor to the ACC Sports Journal. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him on 757 Saturday Sports Talk from 10 AM to Noon on ESPN Radio 94.1.