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PCHS Homecoming 2023 Grand Marshal: Roger Worley.

By Heidenwith, Calvin on October 03, 2023

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Please give a warm Putnam County R-1 congratulations to our 2023 Homecoming Grand Marshal, Mr. Roger Worley!!

Roger graduated in 1973 from Putnam County and has been one of the biggest Midget fans ever since.

Roger is married to Beverly Worley who is also a 1973 graduate. They have two kids, Kenneth (Class of 2001) married to Samantha, and Sara Jo (Class of 2004) married to Alex Leffler. Roger and Beverly have 5 grandchildren who they are very proud of; Riley, Randall, Liam, Savannah, and Lira. Riley and Randall are senior student-athletes here at Putnam County.

Roger was a manager on the football team from 1971-1972. Stu Cline was the head coach of that team and he is forever grateful for the opportunity he afforded him. Roger was a part of the 1971 NOMO Conference Champion team that went undefeated in the conference, beating North Shelby, Milan, Marceline, and Scotland. In those 1971 and 1972 seasons, he was also a part of 2 shut-out victories on homecoming. He thinks we can have another this year!
In addition to being a manager on the football team, he was also a two-year member of the baseball team.

In 1976, Roger started working at Con-Agra as a meat processor. From 1986 to 2002, Roger had perfect attendance at work. For 16 years and 7 months, Roger never missed a day of work, something he is extremely proud of. He would like to pass on this advice to all of the students, “Attendance is important! You should always try your best to make it to school. You never know what you might miss out on.”

Roger has a tremendous memory when it comes to Midget sports. He can tell you exact scores and stats dating all the way back to 1965, his first Midget football game! It was a 7-0 victory over the Milan Wildcats and Bob Varner was the one to score the game’s only touchdown. Roger also wanted it to be known that Duane Schnelle, one of his favorite coaches, was on the losing sideline that night.

You would be hard-pressed to find a Midget football game over the years that Roger wasn’t in attendance for. We asked Roger to give us some of his all-time favorite Midget memories. In no order, here are his favorites:

“In 1971 we beat Milan 20-6. We stopped their good running back #30 Mike Cowgill that night. We were ahead 12-6 late in the game and Joe Ream scored a touchdown to ice the game. Bradley Frazier scored the 2-point conversion.”
“In 1979 we faced a really good Brookfield team. They were tough as nails. We only had 2 first downs the entire night and still won the game 12-9. With 3 minutes left in the game, Rick Busby scored on 4th down. We then stopped Brookfield at midfield to end the game.”
“The 1989 team was fun to watch. I got to go down to Faurot Field in Columbia, MO, and watch them in the State Championship game. It was in November, the day after Thanksgiving. We lost 17-6 to a good John Burroughs team. That year we went 13-1. We beat South Shelby 15-13 and Monroe City 24-23. We also beat the Butler Bears 44-20. I’ll never forget the game Reggie Brundage had running the ball against Butler.”
“In 2000, we beat Fayette 40-14 and my boy Kenneth had a great game. He scored the first touchdown on a long run and he also caught a touchdown in that game. He had 289 yards that night.”

Roger is looking forward to watching more Midget games in the future. He is excited to cheer on his grandson Riley and the football team against Gallatin. We asked him if he had any advice for the team and he said, “I know you can beat them. I think you’ll have a good night if you play hard. I’m guaranteeing a win!”

Roger is beyond excited to be honored as this year’s Grand Marshal. We want to thank him for being such an avid supporter of Putnam County and always being there to cheer on our student-athletes.

Let's give it up for our 2023 Putnam County Homecoming Grand Marshal, Roger Worley!
#PutnamProud #GRC
Article: Calvin Heidenwith
Photo: Haley Watt