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EDITOR'S NOTE: Daily Mail contributor and longtime West Virginia journalist Mickey Furfari is reconnecting with several WVU legends prior to the Mountaineers' celebration of their 100th anniversary of basketball on Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum. This is another of his columns in a continuing series.
MORGANTOWN - Lester Rowe was one of the nation's premier small forwards as a basketball standout for West Virginia from 1982-85.
Besides being a four-year starter, the Buffalo, N.Y., native was a rare two-time captain. He's on the WVU all-time team for the period 1976-85.
At 6 feet 5 and 200 pounds, Rowe had a huge hand in 90 victories - 20 or more each year. His amazing 42-inch vertical leap was an advantage even against players much taller.
He went on to play eight years of professional basketball abroad, including stints in the Philippines, Argentina, Venezuela and France.
After his retirement as a player, Rowe returned to his alma mater and served five years as an assistant coach to Gale Catlett, his former mentor.
"Since leaving in 2002 when Coach Catlett retired, I've been working for Petroplus...