The Rev. Jerry Falwell was not only Liberty University's founder and chancellor but also its biggest fan.

Falwell, who died Tuesday at the age of 73, frequently showed up at LU sporting events to root on the Flames.

"He loved all the sports," said Gardner-Webb women's basketball coach Rick Reeves, who was Liberty's coach from 1990-99. "When we went to the NCAA tournament, he made just as big a fuss as when the guys went. ... If he was in town and there was an athletic event, he was there."

"He was always at the football and basketball games -- he was at the baseball game just the other day," Liberty assistant athletic director Mickey Guridy said. "He'd stop you in the hall and ask what a certain player's average was or something like that. He was very into what was going on."

Falwell saw athletics as a way to build the profile of LU, which began in 1971 as Lynchburg Baptist College. In the 1980s, he oversaw the athletic program's move from NAIA to NCAA Division II to his goal, Division I. He still had ambitions of upgrading football from I-AA to I-A.

Falwell brought big names to campus in the 1980s, hiring ex-Cleveland Browns coach Sam Rutigliano to steer the football team and former New York Yankee Bobby Richardson to coach the baseball team.

"He saw athletics as a vehicle [through] which he could get the mission and the message of Liberty out to a great number of people," said former Liberty athletic director Chuck Burch, now vice president for athletics at Gardner-Webb. "He always wanted to be for the evangelical kids what Notre Dame was for the Catholics."

"He loved athletics. He loved the competition," said Indiana assistant men's basketball coach Jeff Meyer, who coached Liberty from 1981-97. "For the university itself, it was a tool that was used. Liberty, a Christian university, by competing as a Division I member, wanted to reach out ... to Christian young people."

Liberty attracted future pros, such as Sid Bream (Pittsburgh Pirates), Eric Green (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Katie Feenstra (WNBA).

Winning was important to Falwell. Men's basketball coach Randy Dunton was let go after last season. In November 2005, football coach Ken Karcher was fired and athletic director Thom Park resigned under pressure.

"I'm 72. I don't have much time to get the football program in the Top 20," Falwell told the Lynchburg News & Advance after his 2005 moves.

Falwell, whose school joined the Big South in 1991, relished the Flames' successes. When the men's basketball team made its NCAA tournament debut against a North Carolina team coached by Dean Smith in 1994, Falwell was there.

"As Dean Smith is holding court in the media room [the day before the game], you see all these people getting up and leaving. The buzz in the back of the room was, 'Dr. Falwell's out doing interviews courtside,' " Burch said.

Falwell also was a fan of the women's basketball team, which made the NCAA tournament 10 straight years (1997-2006).

"In '97, he was right there at the [Big South] championship game, cheering us on," Reeves said.

"He was even coaching a little bit. I saw him wave his hand, like, 'Slow it down,' when we had a lead."

Athletic facilities were also important to Falwell. The football stadium debuted in 1989, and the basketball teams moved into the Vines Center a year later. A football building was unveiled last summer.

"He believed you're either first class or no class," Reeves said. "He tried to make everything first class."