'Holding the string to the kite'

They lived in the same apartment complex in Columbia and met playing tennis. Bobby Cremins needed a partner. In Carolyn, he found one for life.

While Cremins, with his shock of white hair and boyish good looks, is one of the most recognizable figures in college basketball, his wife Carolyn is just the opposite. Quiet. Shy. Behind the scenes.

She explains her loving relationship with the College of Charleston basketball coach saying, "I'm the one on the ground, holding the string to the kite. Sometimes I have to reel him in."

It's a combination that has worked well for 32 years on one of the wildest rides you can buy a ticket on — the life of a college basketball coach.

"I met Bobby when he was a graduate assistant for Frank McGuire at South Carolina," Carolyn said. "When we were dating, he interviewed for his first head coaching job at Appalachian State. So I knew what I was getting into."

They were married on July 4, 1975. She had two daughters from a previous marriage. They were 8 and 10 when the couple moved to Boone, N.C., where they had a son, Bobby III, and Cremins would establish himself as an up-and-coming college coach.

His success there would take them to Georgia Tech where Cremins recruited and coached a boatload of future NBA stars and became nationally known in the world of college basketball.

Carolyn, meanwhile, made birthday cakes for players and watched quietly from the bleachers.

Twist of fate

A native of Detroit, Carolyn Jacobson grew up privileged, the youngest daughter of a Chrysler executive who took her to baseball games.

"We saw every night game the Detroit Tigers played in 1956," she said in a recent interview.

Educated at Northwestern — she lived down the hall from the future actresses, Ann-Margret and Paula Prentiss — she earned a degree in business, got married and had two daughters as her first husband chased his Ph. D.

That quest took them to University of South Carolina in Columbia. As that marriage was ending, she met the boy who would become the man known as Bobby Cremins.

"We were married on July 4, Bobby's birthday," Carolyn said. "I thought it would help him remember our anniversary, but it hasn't. He still forgets."

Cremins, for all his success, is still a 60-year-old man-child whose eyes get wide when he talks about basketball with the Bronx accent that followed him South where he starred for legendary coach Frank McGuire during the Gamecocks' glory years in the ACC.

After coaching for 19 years at Georgia Tech, he and Carolyn retired to the quiet life on Hilton Head Island, where they walked their dog on the beach and wondered what was next.

Six years later, in an interesting twist of fate, Cremins came out of retirement to take the College of Charleston job after former Winthrop coach, Gregg Marshall, changed his mind the day after a big press conference.

"It was a great day for us," Carolyn

recalled. "I don't know who was happier, me or Bobby."

Perfect fit

That was 18 months ago. Today the Cremins duo has become known as a perfect fit at this boutique, liberal arts school in downtown Charleston.

Cremins won 22 games his first season with the Cougars, a new basketball arena is under construction on campus, and Carolyn is in love with Charleston.

"We bought a condo on King Street near the campus," she said. "I can see Bobby's office from our window. We just love living downtown. Charleston is such a beautiful city."

The couple learned their way around the narrow, historic streets of Charleston by walking their beloved 10-year-old Lab, Murphy.

But Carolyn is not your typical homebody. Rather, she is a world traveler.

"I love to travel, but Bobby does not because he travels so much for his job," she said. "So I've done a lot of travel around the world by myself, sometimes with close friends. Most recently, I've been to Russia and China."

As for basketball, Carolyn says she enjoys the game, but stays very much in the background. Most fans, in fact, don't even know what she looks like.

"I never liked to sit behind the bench at Georgia Tech because that's where all the big donors sat and I didn't always like to hear what they had to say," she said. "I like to be anonymous."

Here in Charleston, at tiny Kresse Arena (3,500), she attends all the Cougars home games and sits midway up in the stands. She doesn't go to all the road games any more, but visits each away site at least once.

As for giving Bobby advice, she said, "One time at Georgia Tech Bobby dressed down a player on the sidelines during a game. I told him it didn't look good. That's what practice was for. He never did it again."

Really good team

Some might say these two are an odd couple because Bobby is so outgoing and Carolyn, by nature, is not. But she says that's what makes it work.

"Our relationship is not based on basketball," she said. "Bobby is very much into recruiting and coaching, so I'm the one who brings maturity to the marriage.

"That's the biggest difference between us. I'm the one who has to watch the money and keep everything in line. I'm the one who has to play the devil's advocate at times. Bobby is so generous with money. He would just give it all away."

Thanks to Carolyn, they have managed to keep some of it. They still own a home on Hilton Head Island overlooking the Calibogue Sound and Carolyn is still tethered to the resort island by a tennis team she plays with once a month.

"I think that's my biggest disappointment since we've moved here is that I haven't found the right thing to volunteer for," she said. "I've always done volunteer work. I know it's my fault because my schedule isn't set. I still run down to Hilton Head to play tennis four or five days a month."

In the past, she has volunteered with hospitals, working in the recovery room of a children's hospital for years in Atlanta. She wants to do something similar in Charleston and will find a way to work it into her schedule soon.

Meanwhile, you might see Bobby and Carolyn Cremins walking Murphy along the Battery almost any morning in downtown Charleston. And what you see is what you get. A famous, high-profile basketball coach and his very down-to-earth wife.

"We're a really good team," Carolyn said with a smile.

Reach Ken Burger at 937-5598 kburger@postandcourier.com.