Gaston College freshman guard set to play in gymnasium where his father's jersey hangs on the wall

Gaston College freshman Ian Howard knew he would face challenges moving from high school to college basketball.

For Ian Howard, who played for a 2025 Western N.C. 1A runner-up at Mint Hill Queen's Grant High, the next level comes on the same court where his father was an all-time great.

Ian Howard's father Roderick remains the all-time leading career, single season and single game scorer at Gaston College's basketball home of Ashbrook High School.

Roderick Howard's No. 50 jersey also hangs on the wall at Larry Rhodes Gymnasium alongside Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy and NBA award-winner Darrell Armstrong.

"It's going to be exciting," Ian Howard said. "I'm really appreciative about what he was able to do and how he's been able to teach me. It's great to have that type of role model."

After Ashbrook, Roderick Howard played on two NCAA tournament teams and one NIT team during his four-year career with the Charlotte 49ers. He has since become a longtime Charlotte-area AAU coach who lives in Concord.

And while Roderick Howard has a huge resume that also includes breaking Worthy's Gaston County Conference Junior High single season and single game scoring records at Lowell's Holbrook Junior High, he says he didn't share tales of his basketball success with Ian Howard or his older brother Nyles Howard (now a junior guard at the Naval Academy).

"I never talked much about my career because I didn't want that pressure on my kids," Roderick Howard said.

Said Ian Howard: "He told me some stories but he never talked about games or records or stuff like that. He was never bragging about anything but I figured it out from what other people say about him."

During his time at Gaston College, Ian Howard is getting some idea of his father's greatness by living in Gastonia with his paternal grandparents Novel and Dezerea Howard.

"It makes me feel great and makes me feel like I have something to live up to and accomplish," Ian Howard said of playing in the gym where his father remains immortalized. "It's really cool to see that he is up there with some other great players."

For Roderick Howard, having his youngest son play in the gym where he once played is special.

"It will be an honor to see my lineage play on that floor," Roderick Howard said. "I don't come back much but I have so many fond memories of playing at Ashbrook.
"It will be full circle for me to see him play on that floor. And I'll enjoy it a lot."

Ian Howard and the Rhinos will take an unbeaten 12-0 record into Sunday's 2 p.m. game at Ashbrook against Virginia Peninsula Community college in their final game of the first semester.

Ian Howard has been a reserve guard who is averaging 6.2 points and 1.2 rebounds while converting 53.8 percent of his shots in the six games he has played.