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S2c Frank Malcom Rowell
Frank Malcom Rowell played right guard for a high school football team that won 43 straight games in the 1930s.
The east Texas oil towns of Hull and Daisetta in Liberty County shared a school, and in a state where football is the king of sports, Hull-Daisetta High was the top of the pack from 1936 until the final game of the 1939 season. It returned to form the next year, winning its district championship before again losing the final game of the season.
Mr. Rowell graduated from Hull-Daisetta on May 23, 1941, and enlisted in the Navy four days later. He was a seaman second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. He was still 17.
Born Jan. 7, 1924, he was the son of Jesse Malcom Rowell, an oil driller and pumper and a Navy veteran of World War I, and Irene Walker Rowell, a homemaker. By 1930 the family was in Liberty County circa 50 miles northeast of Houston.
A memorial service paid tribute to Mr. Rowell at the Hull Baptist Church in February 1942.
One of his younger brothers, Jack, served in the Army from 1954 to 1956.
Sources: The Liberty (Texas) Vindicator; Census; Navy muster roll; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death file; “The Night the Sky Fell Down,” a history of the Hull-Daisetta football team in the 1930s, by Phil Carrico. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.
NOTE: If you are a family member related to this crew member of the U.S.S. Arizona, or have additional information, pictures or documents to share about his life or service to our county please contact us through our FAMILY MEMBER SUBMISSION FORM.