By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in Chief
Rowe, former News sports editor, had legendary career
Northwestern Rangers can ride pretty far in life. John Rowe proved that point.
Rowe, a legendary sports journalist at The Record newspaper in Bergen County, New Jersey, died Dec. 31 at the age of 76 after a decades-long career of covering high school sports, the Jets and the Giants.
His time in journalism started at the Northwestern News right here at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma. Ride, Rangers, Ride.
In 1963, Rowe came all the way from Lyndhurst, New Jersey, to Northwestern, according to his obituary in The Record.
“The tiny town and the small college in its midst would never be the same,” The Record’s Greg Mattura and Paul Schwartz wrote in Rowe’s obituary. “And neither would John.”
Rowe, a 6-foot-4 basketball player with impressive talent, never planned to come to Northwestern, according to his obituary. Folks said he was going to play for the University of South Carolina. But a new coach at the university took away his scholarship in the eleventh hour.
“So he ended up with two of his Lyndhurst classmates at the small NAIA school about 200 miles west of Tulsa and 150 miles north of Oklahoma City,” Mattura and Schwartz wrote.
“He graduated four years later, having never played varsity basketball, but having served as sports editor and editor of the school newspaper and the sports information director for the college. Soon after he graduated, he came home to Lyndhurst and joined the Sports Department at the Herald-News a month later. He spent two years in the Army, writing for Stars and Stripes, before returning to the Herald-News in 1969.”
A study of the Northwestern News’ archives showed that Rowe wrote multiple pieces in each edition of the paper, which was then published every other week. Rowe’s pieces were topped with his byline, which was a privilege that not every News staffer had. For decades, writers and editors had to “earn” their bylines at our paper and most others.
That’s different now, but then, it was an honor.
One of the first stories he wrote for the Northwestern News was in the Sept. 19, 1963, edition. The headline: “Rangers Seek to End Loss Streak Saturday.”
His story started this way: “Seeking to break an eight-game losing streak which has extended over the past two years, Northwestern State College’s football team will travel to Tahlequah, Saturday night to face Northeastern State.”
Eight-game losing streaks are nothing new to Northwestern, and despite the university’s best attempts to break them, the losses have often persisted. Look no further than this year’s overall record of 2-9. (Of course, we had that big win in 1999. Can’t forget that.)
Rowe likely covered lots of losses during his time here, some of which he chronicled in his “Ranger Sports” column. But in his career, he covered countless wins, too.
Rowe started at The Record in 1973 and retired in 2016.
“John covered such iconic events as the NBA Championships, the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and the NCAA Final Four,” Mattura and Schwartz wrote. “He was a member of the Heisman Memorial Trophy Committee and a lifetime honorary member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.”
He wrote some during retirement, with his last stories printing in April 2020.
“Fittingly, his final stories published in The Record, on April 24 and 25 in 2020, covered the Jets’ draft, a commentary on how the NBA’s G League would not harm college basketball and a commentary on Alex Rodriguez’s day-to-day impact if his group was successful in purchasing the New York Mets,” according to his obituary.
Fittingly indeed. Because even in retirement, Rowe was still plugging away with lots of stories – just like he did in every edition of the News.
The Northwestern News has another tie to The Record. News adviser Dr. Kaylene Armstrong worked there during the summer of 2006 as part of a program to put journalism professors back in the newsroom, helping them better understand the modern skills young journalists would need.
Northwestern President Dr. Janet Cunningham once remarked that, no matter where she goes in the United States, she meets people who have some tie to Northwestern. They look back on their time here fondly.
I’d wager Mr. Rowe did, too. And I’m sure that, thanks to this News alumnus, lots of folks on the East Coast heard about Northwestern.
Now there’s a Ranger who had a long, beautiful ride. Ride, Rangers, Ride indeed.