When Orville Rogers was six years old, his father left home never to be heard from until April 2014 in the form of a half-sister Rogers never knew existed. When he traveled from his home in Dallas to visit her and other relatives in Oregon, he learned the newly discovered branch of his family tree included a Nike Inc. executive. So it was hardly surprising when Rogers showed up for the 13th Annual CrossPoint 5K at CrossPoint Baptist Church, Trussville, wearing Nike shoes and clothing.
The surprising part was that a man Rogers’ age would be running a 5K. He recently celebrated his 97th birthday.
Invited to participate in the November 2014 run by CrossPoint Pastor Ryan Whitley, Rogers spoke at CrossPoint’s morning worship services the day after the Nov. 22 race. Whitley introduced the nonagenarian as a world record holder in every category in his age bracket, including the USA Track & Field’s Masters Outstanding Overall Male Athlete in 2013. But he also noted athletic accolades are secondary to Rogers.
“He is not into world records,” Whitley said. “He is into glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. He does it in his life. He does it in his generosity. He does it in his words.”
Rogers was inspired to become a runner nearly 47 years ago after reading the book “Aerobics” by Kenneth Cooper. He has since accumulated more than 40,000 miles.
“That’s not a lot for world record holders,” he said, citing other similarly placed runners who have run upwards of 180,000 miles.
A strong advocate for maintaining one’s physical health through exercise, Rogers said while physical fitness is important, spiritual fitness is essential to a good life.
“I became a Christian when I was 10 years old,” he said, “but I didn’t go (to church) much until I was in college.”
As a senior in college Rogers turned his back on the idea of a career in flying, which he’d wanted all his life, because he felt God calling him to Christian service. So the following year he enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Less than three weeks later he received a draft notice, a development he considered “God’s way of turning me around.”
It was in the service that Rogers realized his dream of learning to fly, becoming part of a training command in which he instructed pilots during World War II.
Rogers later began flying missionary planes to and from such places as Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. At varying times he delivered mail and supplies to missionaries, transported missionary kids and delivered missionary planes around the world.
“I was one happy camper when I found out I could serve God by flying,” he said.
Rogers has been a member of First Baptist Church, Dallas, since 1946.
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