Outstanding X
Published 08.24.11 by El Paso I.S.D. ~ Filed Under: School News
Jimmy Rogers Class of 1952
We are thrilled and honored to announce Jimmy Rogers, Jr. – Class of 1952 as our 2011 Outstanding Ex!! We will updated and continue to get information on Mr. Rogers in the next few weeks but here is a great article on him from the El Paso Times from this past year!! Congratulations to Mr. Rogers!
Jimmy Rogers is a legend. That is the only way to describe the 76-year-old El Paso businessman who has done as much, if not more, than anyone else in El Paso for the Sun Bowl: When the annual game needed a sponsor, he was among those talking to Norwest Bank and John Hancock; when El Paso voters were being asked to approve a car rental tax to save the game, he was a promoter.
And, more importantly, Rogers is the reason CBS continues to televise the game.
“You can’t put a price on what he has meant to the Sun Bowl Association,” said Bernie Olivas, the game’s executive director.
In 1999, the Sun Bowl Association officially made Rogers a Legend of the Sun Bowl, an honor bestowed on players, coaches, announcers and volunteers who have helped make the game special over the years.
But of those 27 legends and the thousands of volunteers and workers who make the Sun Bowl go, Rogers merits special recognition.
Rogers, vice president of Wells Fargo Insurance Services, began volunteering with the Sun Bowl in 1961. This year’s game between Notre Dame and the University of Miami will be his 50th as a volunteer.
He is looking forward to the matchup, but for a different reason.
“I’m happy because the community is happy with this matchup,” Rogers said. “You can tell how happy the community is because of how fast it sold out. There were a lot of people that worked hard to get us here. I’m happy because they are happy.”Among those who are content with this year’s game is CBS, the national network that has broadcast the game for decades. The Sun Bowl is the only college bowl game on CBS. Rogers is the bowl’s CBS liaison, a relationship that stretches back to 1969.
CBS will televise the game for the next four years — mainly because of Rogers.”We have a great relationship with CBS because of Jimmy,” Olivas said. “He will credit others, but it is because of him and what he does for this community.”An El Paso native, Rogers graduated from El Paso High School in 1952. He went to Southern Methodist University, where he was a manager on the football team for four years. After earning a business administration degree in 1956, he joined the Air Force, where he spent three years before returning to El Paso to work for his father’s insurance company, Rogers and Belding.It was his father, James Rogers Sr., who taught him to give back to the community.”Giving back is something we grew up with,” he said.Throughout the years, Jimmy Rogers Jr. has served on just about every board, commission and nonprofit in this city. But it is the Sun Bowl where he has distinguished himself.”The Sun Bowl is El Paso,” he said. “I compare the Sun Bowl to a successful professional sports franchise. The players change, but your affiliation to it does not. It becomes part of your reputation, your heritage, your pride.”The pride that Rogers has for the game and El Paso is now being passed on to his children. Michael Rogers is the Sun Bowl Association’s incoming president, and Jimmy Rogers III has volunteered for years.Jimmy Rogers III said his father helped make the Sun Bowl special in their family.”What the Sun Bowl does for El Paso and all that it brings to the city — it means a great deal to him,” Rogers III said. “It’s the volunteers who do all the work that make it special, but, yes, he’s done his share.”It just happens to be a lion’s share, said John Folmer, chairman of the game’s football selection committee. Folmer has been volunteering for 30 years and he, too, has been named a Legend of the Sun Bowl.Without wanting to disrespect the thousands of other Sun Bowl volunteers, the staff and this community, Folmer also says that what Rogers has done for the game cannot be measured.”For so many years he’s been the stable guy in that organization,” Folmer said. “He’s never done anything for himself. It’s been a pleasure to work with him because I’ve seen how unselfish he is.”Folmer said that Rogers always puts the organization first.”Jimmy told me once, ‘Yes we can enjoy what is happening right now and what we’ve accomplished,’ Folmer said. “But, ‘We have to remember that there were thousands of Sun Bowl volunteers before us, and hopefully there will be thousands after us. This is not about us, it’s about the Sun Bowl.’ “For that, El Paso should thank Jimmy Rogers Jr., the legend.Ramon Bracamontes may be reached at rbracamontes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6142.
