Southwest Florida track and football coach LeDondrick Rowe succumbs to cancer. He was 44

LeDondrick Rowe, a longtime coach and trainer to thousands of Southwest Florida athletes, died on Saturday after battling lymphoma. He was 44

Rowe was dedicated to preparing local talent, from youth athletes to NFL stars like Sammy Watkins and J.C. Jackson.

“Just about everybody in the area knew him,” East Lee County High School Herbans Paul said. “Everybody in the area had a relationship with him. For an area like ours where athletics are a priority for most families, you’re going to definitely put Coach Dondrick in your plan as far as raising your kids.”

Based out of Shady Oaks Community Center in Fort Myers, Rowe got his start as athletic director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lee County and built a national model for youth sports and fitness.

“Everybody in the area loves him,” Paul said. “He’s gone, but he definitely won’t be forgotten.”

Shady Oaks was the site of a memorial and balloon release for the community on Monday. More than 100 well-wishers gathered and released multi-colored balloons into the sky to honor Rowe. Most striking was the amount of young children in attendance, part of Rowe's Beast Mode youth track program.

Richard Johnston, Rowe's right-hand man with Beast Mode, helped organize the event. He said he spoke with his friend on his deathbed about keeping his legacy going.

"Dondrick was well loved out here by the kids," Johnston said. "I miss him so much."

His mother, Marsenia Rowe, said her son was private about his health and they first became aware of his issues in July. LeDondrick was always thinking of others throughout his illness.

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“Even when he was going through this, he was trying to make me strong,” she said.

Putting others before himself was how Rowe always operated. In a single-parent home, it was LeDondrick who looked after his brothers and sisters.

“He took care of everybody,” his mother said. “If he could help you, that was it.”

Rowe was on Paul’s Jaguars coaching staff last season and spent this year on the sidelines at Charlotte as a defensive backs coach.

Charlotte head coach Cory Mentzer described him as a “true competitor.”

“He just brought toughness and brought things to the next level for the kids, an intensity,” he said. “They all respected him and loved him.”

Rowe’s health became an issue early in the season. He was in the hospital twice during the first few weeks and at one point received a blood transfusion.

“He was complaining about having stomach issues, and he didn’t understand why,” Mentzer said. “There would be days where he text, ‘Hey, coach, something is not right. I need to get this checked out.’”

Mentzer said Rowe put in long hours and coached during games when he wasn’t feeling the best. He decided to step away on Sept. 8 to focus on his health. A few weeks later, he informed Mentzer of his diagnosis and said it was treatable.

“And then I get the call Saturday that he had passed,” Mentzer said.

Paul had a unique perspective as someone who coached with Rowe and also trained with him during his football career.

Paul, who played at Immokalee and East Lee, started with Rowe as a sophomore and continued during his collegiate career at Florida State.

“He is tough as nails,” Paul said. “He might be the toughest guy that I’ve ever met in my life."

Behind the tough exterior was someone who would drop everything for someone else in their time of need, according to Paul, who described Rowe as “one of the most caring guys you could meet."

“There is never going to be anyone else like that.”

Glen Huggins, who trained under Rowe, described him as a father figure at Monday's balloon release.

Brent Burnside, the East Lee athletic director and former Florida Firecats player, witnessed different generations benefit from Rowe’s coaching, from former arena football teammates to current students.

"I just always remember his smile being able to light up the place and make me push even harder," Huggins said. "I’m sure that right now he’s telling each and every one of us, ‘Keep pushing. Don’t give up.'”

“His passion to see this area be successful and prosper was widespread,” he said.

Rowe’s coaching was designed to help athletes reach their full potential, sometimes with some “tough love,” Paul said.

“He pushes you to your limits,” he said. “Everything you got, he’s going to get out of you.”

At the memorial, Patrick Ryan, who trained with Rowe for 20 years, recalled early on when he hid from Rowe in the bathrooms at the Boys and Girls Club.

"If you could survive Coach Dondrick workouts, you could survive anything," he said.

That was the level of excellence he demanded, Ryan added.

Rowe's resume spoke for itself, guiding Southwest Florida standouts like Ed Gant and Robert Jackson all the way to the NFL and Lee County all-time passing leader Dallas Crawford to play at the University of Miami.

“I didn’t know that he had touched so many lives,” Marsenia Rowe said. “He never bragged about it or talked about it.”

That strength of character was unwavering, even at the end. His mother said she recalled LeDondrick telling her he had a good life and “I did what I had to do here."

“LeDondrick had a big heart,” she said. “When he did things, he did things out of heart.”

Rowe's influence was overwhelmingly evident, particularly with the diversity in age, race and gender among those in attendance at the balloon release.

Gant, the former NFL wide receiver — now training players like his former mentor — remarked that his coaching path was inspired by Rowe.

"The legend will die," he said. "He will never die because, I’m going to tell you right now, he lives through all of us."

Dennis Maffezoli of the Sarasota Herald-Tribute contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: LeDondrick Rowe, who trained football players from youth to NFL, dies at 44