Former UConn hoop coach Rowe, 91, dies

Former UConn basketball coach Donald “Dee” Rowe, who served for more than five decades as an ambassador for the school’s athletic department and as a mentor for coaches including Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma, died on Sunday at his home in Storrs. He was 91.

Rowe was hired as UConn’s coach in March of 1969 and was on the bench for eight years, leading the Huskies to the round of 16 in 1976. He was named New England Coach of the Year twice, in 1970 and in 1976.

After retiring as coach in 1977, Rowe launched the fundraising arm of UConn athletics and played a key role in raising money to build the school’s on-campus basketball arena, Gampel Pavilion.

In 1980, Dave Gavitt chose Rowe as an assistant coach for the U. S. Olympic men’s basketball team, which never got to play because of the U.S. boycott of the games in the Soviet Union.

Rowe was born Jan. 20, 1929, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He played at Middlebury College in the early 1950s and earned a master’s degree in education from Boston University in 1953.

He served as director of athletics and basketball coach from 1955-1969 at Worcester Academy, building the school into a national prep school basketball power.

Rowe’s combined 21-year head coaching record at Worcester Academy and UConn was 300-132, including 120-88 at Connecticut.

Rowe was preceded in death by his wife, Ginny, in 2018. He is survived by seven children and 17 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.