John D. Rowlands

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John Rowlands was the Athletic Director at G.A.R. Memorial High School where he was involved in sports for twenty-eight years, six as a stellar athlete, ten as Head Football Coach, and twelve as athletic director. Performing in high school interscholastic competition, John earned eleven varsity letters: he was a three-year starting player and Captain for the football team, two years a wrestling Captain, 1960 District Wrestling Champion, and Co-Captain of the Track and Field teams. Additionally, for three consecutive years, he was a member of the Coaches All-Star Football Team and, in 1959, was selected to both the local All-Scholastic Football Team and, more impressively, to the All-State Football Team. Rowlands’ prowess earned him a football scholarship to Susquehanna University; there he garnered All-East and All-State honors as a center and linebacker and led the football team to a four-year record of thirty-two wins and two losses. In 1964, he was selected as a Charter Member of the Susquehanna University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1964 and 1965, John served as Assistant Football and Wrestling Coach at Wilkes College for teams which won Middle Atlantic Conference Championships. From 1966 through 1969 he was Line Coach at Coughlin High School, where he developed three Paulino Trophy winners; this award designates the outstanding lineman in the Wyoming Valley Conference. Later he would produce three more such winners at G.A.R. During these years at Coughlin, he also was Assistant Track and Field Coach. In 1970, John was named Head Football Coach at G.A.R. Memorial High School, where he built a program which gleaned innumerable Wilkes-Barre city titles, six consecutive Wyoming Valley Conference Division II Championships from 1974 through 1979, an undefeated season and overall Wyoming Valley Conference Championship in 1976, and Pennsylvania State titles in 1976 and 1978. He was named Coach of the Year on a steady basis, and in 1976 was honored as the Sunday Independent Coach of the Year for all sports. During his tenure, Rowlands three times coached Unico football clubs and served as a coach in the 1976 Big 33 All-Star Football Classic. In 1973 and 1974, he was also Head Track and Field Coach at G.A.R.; both years his teams won Wyoming Valley Division II and District Championships. In 1980, John left coaching to become G.A.R.’s Athletic Director. In 1982, he was inducted into the G.A.R. Wrestling Club’s Hall of Fame; in 1989, he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Wyoming Valley Football Conference. John Rowlands’ long association with sports as an athlete, coach, and administrator has produced nothing but admiration and success. John passed away in March of 2022.