Martin H. Rogers Scholarship
Dr. Martin H. Rogers, emeritus professor, coach, and administrator at The College at Brockport, endowed this scholarship to recognize an outstanding student in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies.
He was a 1935 graduate of Oberlin (OH) College where he excelled in football and track and field. A physical education major, he also served as the student athletic trainer for Oberlin’s basketball and track teams. He earned his master’s degree from New York University in 1936 and his doctoral degree from Syracuse University in 1956.
After earning his master’s degree, he served as director of recreation programs for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Huron and Lorain (OH) counties in 1936-37, and the following year he was director for the Boys’ Division of the Akron (OH) YMCA.
In 1938, Dr. Rogers and his wife Billie went to the Middle East, where he served as physical education director for Roberts College in Istanbul, Turkey. With World War II beginning in Europe, the couple traveled back to the United States via Russia, Japan, and China. They reached Hawaii a few weeks in advance of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, arriving in Ohio just before the United States entered the war.
Upon his return to the U.S., Dr. Rogers applied to Buffalo State University and to training as a U.S. Naval officer. While waiting to hear, he took a factory position, and in an accident lost three fingers on his right hand and the chance for a Navy career. He taught at Buffalo State from 1942 until 1945, serving on the U.S. Coast Guard temporary auxiliary during the war.
In 1945, he joined the Department of Health and Physical Education at Brockport, serving as chair of men’s physical education from 1945 to 1964 and athletic director from 1945 to 1955. When Brockport became a liberal arts college in 1965, he developed a program in recreation and leisure studies and became its chair, a position he held until he retired in 1977.
Dr. Rogers came out of retirement in 1979 to organize the Special Olympic Games at Brockport and again in 1984 when he managed the Western New York Senior Games at the College.
In 1985, he was a member of the first class inducted into the Brockport Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2001, he was honored at the first Recreation and Leisure Studies Alumni Banquet, where he received an honorary membership in the newly formed National Recreation & Leisure Association.
Dr. Rogers passed away in 2002.
Students eligible for the Martin H. Rogers Scholarship must be full-time students matriculated in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brockport.