By Phil Chardis

Special to uconnhuskies.com

STORRS, Conn. – It seems altogether appropriate that a statue celebrating the life of Donald "Dee" Rowe has been placed at an entrance to Gampel Pavilion, the basketball venue on the UConn campus that he helped build during the late 1980s.

But a statue of Rowe would also be appropriate near the UConn team bench, where Rowe spent eight years as head coach of the men's basketball team.

Or, perhaps outside the offices of the UConn Foundation, the fund-raising arm of UConn Athletics, which Rowe helped to create.

Or, maybe close to the Athletic Director's office, where he served as a special adviser for 30 years.

Truth be told, there are hundreds of locations, on campus, around the state, and throughout the country that Rowe touched with his special charm as an ambassador for UConn Athletics during his unprecedented 53-year association with the school that ended with his passing in January, 2021, at age 92.

The life-sized statue of Rowe, created by sculptor Brain Hanlon, is located just inside the North Entrance to Gampel. It was dedicated on Monday, just before UConn's men's basketball season opener at Gampel, in front of a group of Rowe's family, friends, colleagues and former players.

Master of ceremonies Mike Enright summarized Rowe's impressive list of accomplishments, including 120 wins and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance as UConn's head coach, an assistant coach for the U.S. Team in the 1980 Olympics, the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame and induction into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. After his coaching career ended, Rowe created UConn's fundraising arm and led the effort to raise $7 million to build Gampel Pavilion, he sat on the search committees that hired coaches Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma, and he paved the way for UConn's inclusion in the newly-forming Big East Conference via his close friendship with founding commissioner Dave Gavitt.

But for all his achievements, all agreed that it was Rowe's ability to connect with all he met that was his greatest attribute.

"What impressed me as much as anything was that it wasn't as much about who Dee was a basketball coach as it was about who he was as a person," said UConn Athletics Director David Benedict. "One of professors told me, 'It's not about who you know, it's about who knows you,' and everybody knew Dee. It's what made him truly special."

Longtime UConn baseball coach Jim Penders was a close friend of Rowe.

"Long after he hung up his whistle, Dee continued to mentor, to inspire, and to lead, and he did that wherever he went," Penders said. "Some of the best and most productive hours I spent at UConn were in Coach Rowe's office. He left a little of himself with anyone and everyone that he met. Maya Angelou once said 'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.' Coach made you feel good, always."

Doug Melody, who played on Rowe's first UConn team in 1969, remembered not only his times on the court, but the lessons he learned off the court.

"A good coach can change a game, a great coach can change a life," Melody said. "Dee changed so many lives for the better."

Bob Staack was a three-year player for Rowe who went on to professional basketball and then a successful college coaching career.

"He got me my first coaching job," Staack related. "I got cut by the Pittsburgh Condors of the ABA, came back to Connecticut, and within a week or so, Dee got me the job as head coach at East Hartford High School. From there, the next year, he hired me as an assistant. It was a great pleasure to be a fulltime second assistant at my alma mater and work with a man who had an enormous impact on my life. I miss him to this day. There was never a decision I made whether it was career or family or what have you, that I didn't pick up the phone and call Dee and ask for his advice and counsel."

Coach Rowe's seven children were represented by his son, Don.

"I miss my Dad greatly," he said. "He was a special man to all of us here, but he was a great dad. I want to thank everybody for honoring his legacy – a legacy of courage, and hope and resilience and ambition. As I think of this statue, I think of a man who had a commitment to inspiring the dreams of others. He loved UConn, he bled blue. He thought all dreams were achievable. He would say, 'Dare to dream and dare to have the courage to make it happen.' May my dad's legacy continue to inspire us all."