Lester Rowe

Lester Rowe (born January 11, 1963 Rowe also competed in the high jump in high school.

College As a freshman, Rowe led the 1981–82 West Virginia Mountaineers, which was the Eastern Athletic Association regular season-champion in rebounding (5.5 rpg).

When West Virginia won the 1983 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament, Rowe was on the all-tournament team. Rowe was selected along with Terence Stansbury, Mike Brown and Barry Mungar, among others, to a 12-man Atlantic 10 Conference all-star team to tour Spain for a 12-day, 8-game tour to play against Spain, Panama and Soviet Union national teams in Santiago de Compostela, Palma de Mallorca and Madrid from May 12 to 22, 1983. Rowe was the leading scorer on the tour with a 19.9 average.

For the 1983 preseason All-Atlantic 10 first team, Rowe was joined by Tony Costner, Bob Lojewski, Stansbury, and Brown. Rowe was selected as co-captain along with Tim Kearney. Rowe was the leading scorer (15.6 ppg) and rebounder (6.9 rpg) for the 1983–84 team.

Rowe, who was known for his leaping ability, was joined by Brown, Maurice Martin, John Battle and Granger Hall on the 1984 preseason All-Atlantic 10 first team. Rowe was selected as co-captain along with Dale Blaney. By some accounts, seven minutes after the game, West Virginia had already left the Palestra to catch a plane. However, Atlantic 10 basketball commissioner Charlie Theokas restored West Virginia's victory two days later, noting that "hen the referees signaled Rowe's field goal was good, and subsequently left the floor, the game was over." Rowe again led the team in scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg) and earned second-team All-Atlantic 10. Rowe was a four-time conference player of the week.

Professional career Player In 1985, Rowe joined the Shell Azodrin Bugbusters of the Philippine Basketball Association; he played in the PBA again in 1986. Rowe was teammates with Nancy Lieberman on the Long Island Knights of the United States Basketball League in 1987. Rowe played with the Savannah Spirits early in the 1987–88 season before being waived in late November. On December 8, 1987, the International Basketball Association conducted its draft with Lester Rowe being selected in the first round with the fourth pick by Ohio. When four of the ten IBA teams wanted to delay commencement of the league until 1989, the other six formed the World Basketball League (WBL) for players listed at or less. On April 15, 1988, he signed with the Youngstown Pride of the WBL, where he was teammates with his former Co-Player of the Year Hall. In July, Rowe, who was listed as a center in this league for short players, was traded to the Vancouver Nighthawks. He also played in Argentina, France, Germany, and Venezuela.

Rowe was inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

Coach Rowe was hired as an assistant coach for Gale Catlett and West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball in September 1997. He performed coaching, recruiting, scouting and administrative duties. He served on the staff for five seasons, highlighted by a Sweet Sixteen run by the 1997–98 team in the 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. With five games remaining for West Virginia in the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Catlett resigned during his 24th season as head coach. At first, Dan Dakich was announced as Catlett's replacement after Bob Huggins rejected the job. Eventually, incoming head coach John Beilein brought all three of his assistants from Richmond to fill out his staff.

Rowe had coaching offers but did not want to move from Morgantown, West Virginia, at that stage of his life. From 2002 to 2010, Rowe served as a commercial property manager and sales executive. His tenure lasted until 2019, with the team earning both a regular season Big 12 Conference championship (2014) and a Big 12 Conference Tournament championship (2017) with Rowe. On July 1, 2020, Rowe joined the Xavier Musketeers women's basketball staff under head coach Melanie Moore.

Personal Rowe has two daughters, Monalisa (born 1991/92) and Monique (born 1993/94). Rowe met his wife, Lisa, in Morgantown.

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