It may have been back in January when Indiana University’s football juggernaut won the national championship, but that aroma of success still fills John Roggeman’s nostrils.
He still can’t breathe in enough of it.
No one is a bigger IU football fan than John after playing for the Hoosiers from 1979 to 1982. The Mishawaka city attorney and former Caveman star played in Indiana’s first-ever bowl victory — an upset win over BYU in the Holiday Bowl — and rooted on his Hoosiers through thick and mainly thin.
John is a retired Big Ten official … a member of the Indiana Football Hall of Fame … a guy who once ran for a 97-yard touchdown against Penn … and a member of a family known for football and ferocity.
And he shed enough tears last season to fill a wading pool during Indiana’s unparalleled rags-to-riches story.
Here’s nine things to know about John Roggeman — the Red Rogge:
1
This may give you an idea of how big an IU fan John is. After working as a Big Ten official for a Nebraska-Iowa game in Lincoln on a Friday night, he jumped into his car and drove through most of the night until he finally stopped in Effingham, Illinois. “I just remember getting to St. Louis and turning left,” he says.
The next day, he made it to Bloomington by game time. He had taken off his black-and-white stripes by then.
Another time, John officiated an Ohio State-Michigan game at noon and made it to Bloomington in time for a 30-year reunion of the Hoosiers’ 1979 Holiday Bowl victory. His son Chad, then a walk-on player for the Hoosiers, joined him.
And when he was working high school games, he would often take Friday night assignments near Bloomington — places like Ellettsville and Salem and Crawford County — so he had a short drive to watch his Hoosiers the next day.
He was like “Cheers” — where nobody knew his name.
2
John went to four home games this past season, the 56-3 blowout at Purdue and all three playoff games — the 38-3 win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, the 56-22 victory over Oregon in the Peach Bowl and the 27-21 championship victory over the Hurricanes in Miami.
He was planning to watch the championship game at home with his family because of the $4,000 price tag on tickets. “But I was in a lottery for former players and won two tickets,” he says. “They were $525 apiece and I decided I could handle that.”
Of course, he cried at every playoff game, especially the first one because it was at the Rose Bowl. “As a Midwestern kid and with the Big Ten champion team always playing there, I started crying just walking into the stadium,” he admits.
3
Even though he is a die-hard IU and Mishawaka fan, he actually rooted for South Bend Washington and Purdue as a youngster. His uncle, Tom Roggeman, was the head coach at Washington and later an assistant at Purdue, where Tom had been a two-way starter in the 1940s.
John and his four brothers always wanted to run across School Field’s gridiron after Washington games but their father, Bill Roggeman, wouldn’t let them. “Dad always told us that we needed to earn the right to step onto that field,” John recalls.
So when he was a Mishawaka sophomore and took a short pass 65 yards for a touchdown against Adams on that very field, he felt like he earned that right. His dad did, too. “It was like heaven for me,” John admits.
4
Even though he was just 6 years old, John does remember when Indiana made its only other Rose Bowl appearance to cap off the 1967 season. Ken Kaczmarek, his mom’s cousin, was a star linebacker on that Big Ten championship team. Kaczmarek, a South Bend St. Joe graduate, forced a fumble on the goal line at the end of the game to preserve the 19-14 victory over Purdue and send IU to Pasadena.
There are obviously some tough genes on both sides of John’s family.
5
His most memorable game as an IU player? That’s easy. During his junior year against the archrival Boilermakers in 1981, John led the IU offense in the first half. “I was all-Big Ten for a quarter and a half,” he laughs. “I already had had 13 carries and six pass receptions when I injured my knee.”
John would have to leave the game — he underwent surgery the following day — but he was still out on the sidelines on crutches and rooting his team on during the second half. The Hoosiers won, 20-17, and John was named the Player of the Game by ESPN.
That kind of spirit was one of the reasons he won IU’s Howard Brown Award for courage and dedication. He was always a fan favorite and also a member of the Big Ten all-academic team three straight years.
6
John officiated in the Big Ten for 20 years and had to miss only one game. And he had a good excuse; he had a stroke.
Before the 2017 season, he had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation — an irregular heartbeat. Then after a jog on a hot day, he collapsed at home and ended up being air-lifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, where they performed two operations — one of them a ground-breaking procedure.
He wasn’t down for long.
His stroke was on a Wednesday. On that following Sunday, he was at St. Bavo’s Church. “Somebody said it was like the return of Lazarus,” John says with a smile.
7
Like a lot of young athletes, John dreamed of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. And he made it. OK, it was on the very corner of the cover and not as a player but when he was officiating a college game.
Hey, it still counts. He was on the cover — at least most of his body was.
8
With the toughness John displayed in football, you might think he had a steady diet of raw meat. But today, he is a vegan.
“My wife, Bev, convinced me to go on a vegan cruise two years ago and we’ve stuck with the diet,” he says.
He rarely cheats. He might have an occasional ice cream but he stays away from the prime rib and burgers. “Even though I had been a meat and potatoes guy, I don’t really miss it.”
9
Now 65 and a football official for more than 40 years, John may no longer work the high-profile games of the Big Ten, but he continues to referee high school, junior varsity and even junior high games.
“I just love being out there — still being part of it,” he says. “When I was a baby, I already had a football and a helmet.
“So I guess I’ve loved football since I was in diapers.”
Bill Moor started at the Tribune in 1973 and is the former sports editor and human-interest columnist. Contact him at bry14zzo@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Roggeman’s carried football from cradle. IU love came later | The 9
Reporting by Bill Moor, Special to The Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
