RIP Dee Rowe

[Madmannsucks]

He was a great coach-3 years in NOT twice and NCAA tourney. Back then that was a big deal. He added Dom Perno who also had a nice run before the Earl Kelly situation got the best of him. Also an incredibly nice human being. R I P.

 

[uconnric]

Was at UConn when Dee Rowe became the coach. He restored UConn’s proud basketball tradition. Always saw him at UConn events, palling around with another UConn legend, Andy Baylock. Dee also gave a former Rutgers player his first coaching job. Jim Valvano.

 

[UConnLen]

I was fortunate to get to know Dee Rowe during the late 70’s. He was a class act, s gentleman. He loved UConn as many of us here do. Rest In Peace Dee.

 

[Hoopcrazee]

RIP coach... a GREAT human being!!!!

 

[alphasigko]

I was a sophomore when Dee took over, inheriting a 6 win team that had two decent players - Bob Staak and Bobby Boyd. He always said his biggest mistake was going 14-9 is first season, raising expectations that UConn was "back." I was at the Rhody game mentioned above (35-32, which was something like 9-7 at the half). My classmate, Doug Melody, a little used sophomore, had to start and ran the offense to near-perfection. Dee was sub-.500 the next two years, but his recruits came of age after that, and the Huskies were indeed back as a regional power. I was fortunate to get to know him a bit as an announcer on WHUS for the basketball games for the 70-71 and 71-72 seasons. The post game press conferences, such as they were, were held in his little office at the field house. There might have been a writer from the Courant, the Waterbury and New Haven paper(s), the Daily Campus and me on hand to listen to his dissection of the game. I'll never forget a picture of him that got some national publicity. Hartford's Bob Nash, one of many Connecticut high school stars that got away back then (see Calvin Murphy) came back with his nationally ranked Hawaii Rainbow team. The game was a barnburner (something like 77-71, as I recall) and at one point, late in the game, Dee was basically prone on the floor out of emotion. As was said above, he was a class act and a true credit to basketball in general and to UConn in particular.

I was also at that great URI game. Doug Melody was my Alpha Sig frat brother and he had most of the house there rooting for him. I clearly remember him performing a masterpiece dribbling performance in Dee Rowe's version of the four-corner offense. That was something to see! A true classic game in the annals of Husky basketball lore! I am happy to read that there are others here in the Yard that were at that great game.

May coach Rowe rest in peace.

 

[gsmooth]

I was also at that great URI game. Doug Melody was my Alpha Sig frat brother and he had most of the house there rooting for him. I clearly remember him performing a masterpiece dribbling performance in Dee Rowe's version of the four-corner offense. That was something to see! A true classic game in the annals of Husky basketball lore! I am happy to read that there are others here in the Yard that were at that great game.

May coach Rowe rest in peace.

I remember Doug Melody as 15-year old in Jim Calhoun's basketball camp. He was a great motivational speaker. I ran into Jim Calhoun a few times at the Sugar Shack which was across the street (Rt 195/Storrs Rd) from my high school.

I never had the good fortune to meet Dee Rowe even though I sawhis plaque at the Field House all the time when I played pickup games there. He sounds like he was founding father of UConn basketball in a lot of ways. I never knew he was so instrumental in getting UConn to the Big East back in 1979 or that he played a big part in getting Calhoun to coach at UConn.

 

[UconnU]

Rowe seemed to have the polar opposite style of play as Calhoun/Geno/Hurley he believed in pack line zone defense and holding the ball when up(prior to the shot clock). The argument can be made that it was a different era but Hurley said in the presser yesterday that Rowe tried pressuring him into playing zone lol.

 

[jdb50]

Nice article in The Courant about Dee today. In many ways because Dee really believed in UConn and tried to make things happen we are where we are today. It would be interesting to know what Dee based his conviction on when he told Geno "This is a special place." That was in the mid 80's and the campus and State constraints on modernization and support for the University had things in a fairly bleak condition as far as campus buildings etc. He saw the potential but it was still over the horizon. RIP Dee Rowe.

 

[Watchdog]

Coach Rowe was the most genuine person you could ever find in today's world full of "image is everything" thinking.

We got to know him in the mid-80's during the campaign to raise the money to build Gampel. He was always gracious, remembered everything and everyone, and always made people feel special because he could remind you of things that happened from years ago related to you personally.

He loved UConn and was thrilled with how far the programs have come since his time as coach, and so proud of Gampel and the Werth Center, but you never heard him say a thing about his role in so many of the important events that made UConn sports what they are today.

We had only spoken a few times over about ten years after I moved a thousand miles away, but over the last four years I've had business that brought me back to CT in early November (good timing because it worked out every year to be the first week of the season) and when I called in 2016 to see if he might like to get together for lunch he readily accepted and asked me to pick him. He didn't tell me until later that he did that so he could give me a tour of the Werth Center and to a men's team practice after lunch when I took him back to his office.

No sign of Chief, but I could feel his presence.

We always went to Geno's for lunch because he said it was favorite restaurant. At lunch that first year we talked about how UConn became a national power and I reminded him of something that happened in the mid-80's that showed just how far we'd come. It was the morning after the Wednesday night play-in game at the Big East tournament (the dreaded, at that time, eight versus nine game). The athletic development department hosted a breakfast at the hotel across the street from the Garden (not sure what name they were using at the time) and we went. The room was the size of a ballroom, probably seating 250 or more, and we thought we were in the wrong place. We entered at one end and there were five people at one table at the other end. Five. And those five were two other couples and Dee Rowe. We joked about it a bit as we had lost the game the night before and most people bailed out, but we went for the whole tournament every year to get a flavor for how it would feel one day to be there and win it. No matter, Dee carried on with the six of us as if we were important people for the future of UConn. He made everyone feel important.

Geno's closed earlier in 2020 and last Fall I wondered where we would go for lunch, but with the start of the season delayed and my trip cancelled, there would be no 2020 lunch. Just a reminder to everyone to live life to the fullest as Dee did to the end.

 

[Steve UConn72]

And then there was one. I think Andy Baylock is about the only remaining member of the UConn Athletic Department from my stay in Storrs (1968-72). He and Dee Rowe were like brothers from another mother - equal parts graciousness and humility. Andy was the assistant baseball coach under Larry Panciera during my two years as the WHUS baseball announcer. He always remembered me, whether it was an alumni function in D.C. or calling me to invite me to the 25th anniversary of the 1972 World Series team. On the way back to Maine from our annual beach vacation in Delaware in early September of 2001 or 2002, I took the family by the campus and stopped in the old field house to show them my dad's pictures on the baseball, football and rifle teams back in the early '40's. They were still hanging in the hallway across from the coaches offices back then. While pointing him out, Andy popped out of his office and not only recognized me, but called me by name (Stevie, usually) and greeted me like a long lost brother. He even invited us out to the new indoor batting cages next to JO Christian Field where a couple of the pitchers were working out. He had one of them throw a few to my kids (and me). You would have thought we were VIP's . I guess everyone he knows is a VIP to him. A couple years later, while working part time for the Portland Sea Dogs (AA Eastern League), who strolls through the press box but Andy, sporting a sweaty uniform. He had just pitched batting practice to the Norwich Navigators at the age of sixty-something. I guess he still does that from time to time for the current occupants of that stadium. Finally, on my way back from my 50th high school reunion in Virginia two years ago, I stopped by Storrs and looked him up. I missed him in his office, but caught him and Dee Rowe leaving the latter's office. As usual, he was glad to see me, and the three of us had a ten minute conversation. I so wish I had had someone take a picture of us.