www.telegram.com/story/sports/2021/01/11/donald-dee-rowe-fondly-remembered-unofficial-worcester-ambassador-coach-friend/6619206002/For the last 50 years, Donald “Dee” Rowe lived in Connecticut, not far from UConn, where he served as men’s basketball coach and was an esteemed administrator in the university’s athletics department, but as he always said, he “never really left” his beloved hometown of Worcester.
Until recently, Rowe returned every Wednesday to Worcester Academy, his alma mater, in his role as special assistant to WA’s head of school, to aid with fundraising efforts and alumni relations, chat with faculty, staff and students, eat lunch with them in the dining hall, and, of course, to stop by boys’ basketball practice. Rowe coached the Hilltoppers from 1955-69 and was also director of athletics. Worcester Academy’s basketball court is named in his honor.
Dee Rowe at a Worcester Academy coaches clinic in 1964.
“Dee was one of those magnetic people that was really invested in people’s lives,” Worcester Academy head of school Ron Cino said. “People stayed connected with him and he also helped people stay connected with one another and really build community around himself and also amongst the people that were close to him.”
Rowe was, indeed, a lifelong champion of Worcester Academy, an ambassador for the game of basketball and a true friend to thousands.
“Dee Rowe was revered, not just admired by so many who saw his passion for life,” Worcester Academy director of athletics Ed Reilly said, “and his unparalleled gift for giving to others.”
Rowe passed away Sunday at his home in Storrs. He was 91.
Photographed at a Worcester Academy coaches clinic in 1964, front row, from left: Lester "Buster" Sheary, Don Lemanager, Dave Gavitt and Charlie Bibaud. Rear, from left: Dee Rowe, Andy Laska, Bill Ferris, Paige Rowden, Joe O'Brien and Joe Mullaney.
“Dee was the most special, sweetest, gentlest and most compassionate man,” said Holy Cross and Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy, who was a close friend of Rowe. “He was the nicest man perhaps I’ve ever known.”
Rowe was selected by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as the recipient of the 2017 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a member of the Worcester Academy, UConn, ECAC and New England Basketball halls of fame.
“In addition to his professional accomplishments that we’re all aware of,” Cousy said, “he was just a sweet man.”
Rowe was born in Worcester in 1929 and learned basketball at Thorndyke Road School from his gym teacher, Buster Sheary, the former Holy Cross coach. After HC won the 1947 NCAA championship, Rowe was among the fans who greeted the Crusaders upon their arrival home at Union Station.
The Laska Yuletide Invitational Basketball Tourney promo photo. (L to R) Gerard Spinney, St. Peter-Marian, Steven Rebh, Shrewsbury, Chris Kinback, Shrewsbury, Michael Sikonki, Wachusett, Bob Cousy, Matthew Badjo, St. John's, Dee Rowe, Dan Little and Ross Pentland, St. John's.
“He used to love to tell that story,” Cousy said.
The ’47 Holy Cross team, and its players, had a great influence on Rowe.
“Basketball in Worcester has always been such a special thing,” Rowe said in a 2017 interview.
Rowe was an honorary pallbearer at Sheary’s funeral in 2001.
Rowe graduated from Worcester Academy in 1947. He went on to play at Middlebury College, where he met the love of his life, his wife, Ginny, who passed away in 2018. They had seven children and 17 grandchildren. Three of their grandsons graduated from Worcester Academy.
(L-R) Dee Rowe, Ted Mingolla, Dean Christie, Fran Polito and Donald Gauch at the the Rowe Scholarship at Pleasant Valley Country Club.
After graduating from Middlebury and earning a master’s degree from Boston University, Rowe returned to Worcester Academy and led the Hilltoppers to prep school prominence. His teams went 180-44 and won nine New England Prep School championships in 13 seasons. Rowe also coached baseball at WA.
In 1969, Rowe became men’s basketball coach at UConn and during his eight seasons guided the Huskies to a pair of NIT berths and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. After stepping down as UConn’s coach in 1978, he launched the fundraising arm of UConn athletics, played a key role in raising money to build the school’s on-campus basketball arena, Gampel Pavilion, and was a member of the search committees that brought Hall of Fame basketball coaches Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma to UConn.
After “retiring” from UConn in 1991, Rowe remained actively involved at the school in his emeritus role as special adviser for athletics.
Tom Moore, who served as a Huskies assistant under Calhoun from 1994-2007 and returned to UConn in 2018 to join Dan Hurley’s staff, grew up in Millbury and shared a special Central Mass. connection with Rowe.
“For 30 years,” Moore said, “he always introduced me as ‘a Worcester guy.’ I would say, ‘Actually, Coach, Millbury.’ He would say, ‘You’re a Worcester guy.’”
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In 1994-95, UConn faced UCLA in the Elite Eight. Rowe was sitting next to Moore on the team bus as it rode from the hotel to the arena in Oakland, where the game would be played.
“I was looking at the timing sheet,” Moore said. “The header on it was ‘UCLA vs. UConn.’ Coach leaned over, he looked at it and he said, ‘Thomas, do you know where you are right now? That’s not Tatnuck Elementary vs. Chandler Elementary (referring to the Worcester schools).’
“At that time, me and him were probably the only two people in the state of California who appreciated that line,” Moore recalled fondly.
Upon hearing of Rowe’s passing Sunday, Hurley asked Moore to address the team and share perspective on Rowe with the current players. Rowe attended UConn practices through last season, Moore said.
“I said to them the thing about him was he loved the things that he loved,” Moore said, “and it came out of every pore of his being. He loved his wife and his children and his grandchildren. He loved his roots, the city of Worcester and Worcester Academy. He loved UConn. He loved the game of basketball, which a lot of people do, but he loved coaches. I never met anyone in our profession who cared as deeply about coaches, coaches and their families.”
Worcester Academy boys’ basketball coach Jamie Sullivan, who grew up nearby in the Vernon Hill neighborhood, was 23 when he became the Hilltoppers’ junior varsity coach in 1998. From day one, Rowe nurtured, guided and inspired him.
“Both being from Worcester, we always had that in common,” Sullivan said. “He would come in the gym and he just always treated me like gold. He always believed in me, even when I was a part-time JV basketball coach.”
Sullivan, who became varsity coach in 2011, looked forward to Rowe’s weekly visits.
“It was incredible,” Sullivan said. “He would come into our locker room, talk to our players. When we get on that court, ‘Dee Rowe Court,’ looking at that court and thinking about it, he’s from the 508, and he was so special to our school. Being on that court is so special.”
Rowe, a distinguished dresser, was an eloquent orator and also had a wonderful way with the written word (not to mention beautiful penmanship). Sullivan is among those who treasures the handwritten notes and letters he received from Rowe over the years.
“He would write to me to encourage me,” Sullivan said, “to tell me to remember your heritage and how important your roots are, to make sure to take care of your family and be a father figure to your players. It wasn’t about basketball; it was about relationships.”
Cousy initially got to know Rowe through Andy Laska, his former Holy Cross teammate and Rowe’s coaching predecessor at Worcester Academy. While coaching at Boston College, Cousy recruited several of Rowe’s WA players.
They maintained a social relationship for decades and occasionally played golf together at Pleasant Valley Country Club with former PV owner Ted Mingolla, also a Worcester Academy alumnus, Dave Gavitt, one of Rowe’s WA assistants, and Assumption hall-of-famer Joe O’Brien.
Cousy said he last spoke to Rowe on the phone the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Worcester Academy’s Rowe Family Scholarship Golf Tournament has annually drawn hundreds and benefited many Worcester Academy students. For the last seven years or so, Cousy has attended the post-golf dinner with good friend Ken Kaufman. Rowe would speak at the event, and capture everyone’s attention.
“He was a great speaker,” Cousy said, “and he did it conversationally. It was like you were sitting in his living room. He would call out to all the alumni that were there. He was beloved. He had great respect of the Worcester Academy and UConn alumni.”
Cino, who has been head of school at Worcester Academy for 20 years, previously worked in admissions at Trinity College. When Cino was coming to Worcester Academy, former Trinity basketball coach Stan Ogrodnik gave him some great advice.
“He told me, ‘If there’s one person you want to meet when you get up there right away, it’s Dee Rowe,’” Cino said. “I had the good fortune of meeting Dee early on and came to understand his love for the school and his love for people. Once you were connected with Dee and were his friend and had that mutual respect, he was a great ally and friend no matter what the circumstances, and that became apparent quickly.”
According to the Worcester Academy website, the Rowe family announced that funeral services will be private, but a celebration of Rowe’s life will be held at a future date when the COVID-19 pandemic has abated and conditions allow.
“(Sunday’s) news of Dee’s passing was a sad day for so many,” Reilly said. “Dee’s circle of friends and his sphere of influence knew no boundaries. He was blessed with an amazing capacity to bring out the very best in everyone he came in contact with. His kindness and genuine concern for others was his calling card and he leaves a legacy of goodness we should all aspire to. We will miss his smile, his quick wit and his presence, and will forever celebrate his life and his significant contributions.”
