David Homeyer Rowe (born June 20, 1945) is a former American football

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

and sports commentator.

Football career

Born in Neptune City, New Jersey and raised in

Deptford Township, New Jersey Deptford Township (pronounced DEP-ford) is a township in Gloucester County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,561, reflecting an increase of 3,798 (+14.2%) from the 26,763 counted in t ...

, Rowe played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

at Deptford Township High School and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, where he was on the first team coached by Joe Paterno. He was a second-round draft pick for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

, where he played for four seasons and was picked for the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

in his second season. Following a change of head coaches at the Saints, Rowe was traded to the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in 1971, where he played for three seasons under three different coaches. After one full season with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, where he served as team captain, he was traded to the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

one game into the 1975 season; the Raiders went on to win Super Bowl XI the following season. He spent his last season with the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

Broadcasting career

After retiring from the NFL in 1979, Rowe worked as a sportscaster for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

on its

Sportsworld ''Sportsworld'' (also known as ''NBC SportsWorld'') is an American sports anthology television program which aired on NBC on Saturday afternoons from 1978 to 1994. Format The program presented a wide variety of lower-profile and offbeat sporting ...

series, where he covered sumo, weightlifting and other "non-traditional" sports. In 1987, Rowe was the color analyst alongside

Gayle Sierens Gayle Sierens (born 1954) is an American former broadcast journalist and television news anchor on WFLA-TV. Early life and career Sierens joined the Tampa NBC affiliate in 1977 as a weekend sports anchor and reporter after working with WFSU i ...

, who became the first female NFL play-by-play announcer when she called a

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

–

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

matchup for NBC. He later broadcast college football games for

Raycom Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Communi ...

and Jefferson Pilot, and won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for his last broadcast, where he provided commentary on a game between Central Michigan and Georgia in 2008.

Personal life

Rowe is a devout Christian and co-founded the Professional Athletes Outreach ministry with eleven other NFL players; he also spoke on two Billy Graham crusades and attended a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

prayer breakfast. Rowe lived in

Asheboro, North Carolina Asheboro is a city in and the county seat of Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 25,012 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Greensboro–High Point metropolitan area of the Piedmont Triad and is home of the sta ...

from 1975 to 2007, when he moved to

Boone, North Carolina Boone is a town in and the county seat of Watauga County, North Carolina, United States. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Boone is the home of Appalachian State University and the headquarters for the disaster a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Dave Living people 1945 births American football defensive tackles Baltimore Colts players National Football League announcers New England Patriots players New Orleans Saints players Oakland Raiders players Penn State Nittany Lions football players People from Deptford Township, New Jersey People from Neptune City, New Jersey San Diego Chargers players Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Gloucester County, New Jersey Sportspeople from Monmouth County, New Jersey