The UConn world mourned the loss of an icon on Sunday with the passing of Donald "Dee" Rowe at age 91. Originally the men's basketball coach in the 1970s, Rowe became a fundraiser and ambassador for the university in a relationship that spanned 53 years. In short, he was wholly, purely UConn.
Just about every coach and student-athlete to pass through Storrs over the last five decades was personally impacted by Rowe, who was a mentor and gentlemen to all. As tributes continue to pour in, here are just a few of the highlights in a magnificent career of a Husky legend.
He was hired as the men's basketball coach in 1969. After a 13-year stint turning Worcester Academy into a New England power, Rowe was hired in 1969 to help a UConn team coming off a 5-19 season. He matched that win total with a 5-0 start in his inaugural season, leading Connecticut to a 14-9 record and a Yankee Conference championship.
Over his seven-year tenure Rowe would win 120 games with three straight postseason appearances, highlighted by a run to the 1976 Sweet 16 - the program's first since 1964 and it's last until 1990.
His impact in Storrs goes well beyond the sideline. As a university ambassador he was one of the school's first fundraisers, including finding the millions of dollars to build Gampel Pavilion in 1990. He was on search committees that helped the school hire Jim Calhoun to coach the men and Geno Auriemma coached the women. Both of those hires worked out okay. Good friends with Dave Gavitt, he was a pivotal player in the founding of the Big East. He also became a mentor to both, along with countless other UConn coaches and athletes.
He would have been an assistant coach on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team. Rowe was going to be on the bench with Dave Gavitt at the Moscow Games, before the United States boycotted. A picture of that team -- featuring the likes of Isiah Thomas, Mark Aguirre and fellow assistant Larry Brown -- hung on his office wall throughout his career.
Fast forward to 2012, with Auriemma coaching the women's Olympic team, he and then-athletic director Warde Manuel plotted to get Rowe to the London Games. Despite being retired since 1991, Rowe was brought on as a university ambassador, representing UConn at the Games in an official capacity.
He was awarded the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hall of Fame. While not enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Rowe is as close as one can get. In 2017 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by the Hall, honoring those who "contributed greatly to the game of basketball".