Paige Rowden, you have been described as an institution in local basketball first as an outstanding player at Worcester State College and later as a highly successful basketball coach at Leicester Junior College and Leicester High School.

You made your mark at Worcester State by becoming the starting center as a freshman and you averaged 13 points a game during your three year playing career. Your basketball career took a strange twist as you were appointed the head basketball coach at Leicester Junior College while you were still a sophomore at Worcester State. Your junior year you played for Worcester State while coaching Leicester Junior College. That year the two teams met on the court and you coached the Leicester Junior team and bypassed the game as a player. You did not play your senior year, devoting all of your efforts to coaching.

Your leadership qualities were recognized as you were elected captain of the basketball team your junior year. You were selected by the Senior Class as their delegate to the Swampscott English Convention. You were a member of the Glee Club for three years and a member of the Student Christian Association for four year.

Your Coaching career at Leicester Junior and Leicester High School spanned 28 years, 12 of which you coached both teams at the same time. Your Junior College teams won 10 New England titles and two regional titles in 1964 and 1966 and your team finished fifth in the nation in 1964. Your teams won more than 700 games and had a better than 80 percent winning percentage. You were named the New England Junior College Coach of the Year seven times and your junior college coaching record was 487 wins and 181 losses. At Leicester High School, your football and your basketball teams each went undefeated in 1960. Your high school team had the longest winning streak in a league nationally at one time by winning 87 consecutive games.

You also joined an elite group when you were awarded the Paul N. Johnson Memorial Award for your contributions to Worcester area basketball. You were selected by the Worcester College Coaches, Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

You are currently the assistant principal for the Leicester School System.

Paige Rowden, it is with great pride that we induct you into the Worcester State College Athletic Hall of Fame.