By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Howell Dean Safrit passed away on Monday at 66.

A West Rowan graduate who went by “Dean,” he is well remembered as an outstanding baseball player at West Rowan and for the Rowan County American Legion team.

He was a three-year starter for the Legion team for coach Joe Ferebee  in a very competitive era in which every local standout aspired to play for Ferebee at Newman Park.

Those were all very solid Rowan teams  that Dean played on — 18-8, 21-10, 17-9 — when just about every area program was tough. There weren’t many easy games.

Dean Safrit was the younger brother of Cass Safrit, one of the all-time greats for the Rowan program. When Cass finished his Rowan Legion career in 1970, he was the program record-holder in virtually every offensive category except steals, triples and homers. Cass was second in homers, tied for second in steals and third in triples.

Dean added his part to the family legacy with an outstanding career in his own right. He amassed 105 hits, with 21 doubles, nine homers and three triples. He scored 72 runs and drove in 69. He batted .322 for his career and put up the numbers he did in 326 career at-bats. When Dean finished his Legion career in 1976, he was in the all-time top 10 for Rowan in just about every offensive category.

The monster offensive numbers put up by Coe Brier and his slugging teammates were a still a few years away.

Dean pitched some and could play the outfield, but he made his mark as Rowan’s first baseman. He became the starting first baseman as a 16-year-old in 1974, debuting with a 3-for-5 effort and two RBIs as Rowan opened that season by pounding Timmonsville, S.C., at Newman Park. Later that summer, he powered homers against Statesville and Concord in back-to-back games. That was an unusual feat for the era. He led the team that summer with a .349 batting average, four homers, 37 hits and 21 RBIs.

Dean helped Rowan win Southern Division of Area III titles in 1974 and 1976.

The 1975 Rowan team had some success in the playoffs and reached the Area III championship series, before losing to Asheboro.

Dean’s final game was a playoff loss to Lexington that ended Rowan’s 1976 season. He had two hits.

Rowan won a game in that Lexington series , 26-7 — Dean had four RBIs in that one — but Rowan lost the series three games to two.

Safrit married an East Rowan girl, Tammy Fink, in 1980. They had two sons, Aaron, and Chase. Aaron hit quite a few homers for East Rowan.

He worked 38 years for the Food Lion Distribution Center in Salisbury, retiring in 2020.

Services were held on Thursday.