Francis Stephen Rogel (December 12, 1927 – June 3, 2002) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

fullback for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

Collegiate career

Unable to enroll at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High ...

due to the college's post-World War II policy of giving admissions priority to returning veterans, Rogel spent the 1946 season playing at the California State Teachers College. Along with other top-tier talent awaiting admission, he helped propel the Vulcans football team to a 9-0-0 record. Rogel continued on to Penn State, where he was a star fullback and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

for three seasons. He was the Nittany Lions' leading rusher each of those seasons and was on the 1948

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in ...

team which tied Southern Methodist, 13-13.

NFL and CFL

Rogel was drafted by the Steelers in the eighth round (#100 overall) in the 1950 NFL Draft, and he did not miss a game his eight seasons with the team (1950–1957). Rogel's style of play was characterized by " Hey Diddle Diddle, Rogel up the middle" — a popular cheer by Steelers fans. Head coach

Walt Kiesling Walter Andrew Kiesling (May 27, 1903 – March 2, 1962) was an American football guard and tackle who spent 36 years as a player, coach, and aide with National Football League (NFL) teams. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall ...

, a conservative-minded coach, started nearly every game by running the same play: "Rogel up the middle." One day, owner

Art Rooney Arthur Joseph Rooney Sr. (January 27, 1901 – August 25, 1988), often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football franchise in the National Football League (NFL), from 1933 until his death. ...

suggested to Kiesling to

throw Throwing is an action which consists in accelerating a projectile and then releasing it so that it follows a ballistic trajectory, usually with the aim of impacting a remote target. This action is best characterized for animals with prehensil ...

it instead. Not wanting to be undermined by Rooney, Kiesling had one of his lineman intentionally go offsides so it could nullify the play. Sure enough, against the rival

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Jim Finks James Edward Finks (August 31, 1927 – May 8, 1994) was an American football and Canadian football player, coach, and executive. Early life and playing career Finks was born in St. Louis, Missouri, attended high school in Salem, Illinois, and ...

threw a touchdown pass that was nullified by the penalty. The following play after the penalty would be "Rogel up the middle." Rogel was a

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

. By the time of his retirement following the 1957 season, he was the Steelers' leading career rusher with 3,271 yards. Rogel also played briefly in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

. In 1959 Rogel was the playing coach of the Sarnia Golden Bears in the semi-pro ORFU. Because of his running style he was nicknamed "twinkle toes". For eight years during the 1960s, Rogel was head football coach at North Braddock Scott High School and for eight years in the 1970s he was head coach at Highlands High School in Natrona Heights, PA. His teams made one playoff appearance.

Death

Rogel died of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

at age 74 on June 3, 2002, in

Richland, Pennsylvania Richland is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, Pennsylvania metropolitan statistical area. The population was 1,490 at the 2020 census. Geography Richland is located at (40.357122, -76.2571 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogel, Fran 1927 births 2002 deaths People from North Braddock, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania American football linebackers American football running backs Players of American football from Pennsylvania Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Pittsburgh Steelers players