Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Maynard  Rowe ended a spectacular high school basketball career as a state champion and Heritage Christian School’s all-time leading scorer.

Now, he is ready for the next stage of his career after signing a basketball grant to Webber International University of Babson Park.

Rowe, who scored 2,260 career points, led the Eagles to the 2011 Florida Christian Conference championship, its first in a decade. He averaged 25 points per game.

“I think I’m ready (to play at college), Rowe said at a signing ceremony at the Eagle gym. “I might need to get a little quicker and a little stronger.”

Webber Coach John Shoffner said Rowe should be a good addition to his team, which was 14-15 and finished fifth in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Sun Conference standings last season.

“What impressed me was his persistence, and after we looked at his tape we could see that he had good skills,” Shoffner said.

The Warriors coach projects Rowe to play shooting guard.

“I think that’s where his skills translate best for us,” he said. “It’s hard to say at this point what his role will be, but down the line I see him contributing to the program, maybe as a significant contributor.”

Heritage Coach Jim Estrella has known Rowe since he was an elementary school student and said Webber is getting an outstanding player.

“Mentally, you could see him maturing between 10th and 11th grades, and again between 11th and 12th grades,” Estrella said. “You could see the leadership forming, the silent leadership.”

Estrella said Rowe’s work ethic is unsurpassed.

“The (Webber) coach is going to be happy with Maynard. He is the type of person who you can tell to go and shoot 2,000 free throws, and he’s going to come back and tell you he shot 3,000,” Estrella said. “He’s like 5-11 or 6 feet, but when he played at the county all-star game, he showed how he plays a lot bigger than that. He had like 17 points against those guys.

Rowe’s parents, Maynard Sr. and Diane, and his sister, Syanne, joined the celebration.

The elder Rowe said he took his son with him when he played basketball years ago.

“He would tag along with me, and that’s probably where his interest began,” he said. “I could see that he had talent, but I didn’t expect it to get to this point, where a coach would come (to offer a scholarship).”

Diane Rowe said it will be difficult for her to see her son play, even though the campus is about an hour away from their Poinciana home. Both parents have worked long hours to provide a private school education for their children.

“It’s something that we felt was important, to offer them the opportunity to get the best education they can,” she said. “It will be hard to go to his games because I work nights, but I’ll try to get to a couple.”

She said that once Maynard discovered basketball, he wasn’t interested in other sports.

“No, we tried baseball and soccer but he wasn’t interested,” she said. “It was always basketball.”

Rowe had an opportunity to attend a college in North Carolina, but he turned down the offer, said his father.

“It snows up there,” Maynard Rowe Sr. said with a laugh.

Rowe plays to study sports management.

“I’d like to work in basketball, the NBA,” he said.

Coach Estrella said Rowe left a legacy of success for future players to follow.

“It’s been a blessing to have him here,” he said.

Rowe and Heritage assistant coach Jay Kingston, a former standout for the Eagles, are believed to be the only two basketball players from the school to earn scholarships. Jillian Baker earned a volleyball scholarship to Tennessee Temple University in 2001.