Raised in Auburn, Alabama, Rowdey Jordan lettered four times at the city’s eponymously named high school, three times in baseball and once in football. In his four seasons with he Tigers, he hit a cumulative .409/.504/.705 in 117 games, slugging 21 home runs and stealing 46 games. His senior season was particularly good- he hit .406/.562/.745 with 8 home runs and 25 stolen bases- and that led to him being recruited by various baseball schools, but in the end, he passed them up to attend Mississippi State University.
He played for the Terre Haute Rex in the Prospect League that summer and then hit the ground running at MSU, hitting .