Orville Rogers was born in relatively poor Oklahoma farm family in 1917 and when he was fairly young his father ran off to never be heard from again until Rogers encountered a half-sister when he was nearly eighty and learned that their father had died drunk in a flop house. But, with the help of mother, grandparents, and a couple of uncles, Orville Rogers accomplished an exemplary life as a commercial airline pilot, oilfield investor, a volunteer pilot for a religious organization upon his retirement, a board member of a couple of religious organizations, and a world record holding elderly runner. He is still alive today at 100 and managed to run a mile on his last birthday. I chose to read this book, which is outside my normal purview, after seeing Orville Rogers featured on a television news show as he approached his centennial. I always respect and pay attention to elderly achievers and did so even when I could not have been thought to be even approaching that aged status. I still remember the well known Old Regular Baptist Preacher Clabe Mosley who was said to have preached a three hour sermon on his 102nd birthday when I was only 7 years old. I have also come to understand that if I wish to live as long as two of my half-sisters and reach centenarian status that I must exercise and maintain as much of my physical condition as I can. Orville Rogers did not begin running until he was about sixty and is still doing so today although not at the same pace at which he set several senior citizen records. I thought Orville's book might be something I could learn from in the field of physical fitness for the aged.
The book was written with a named ghost writer, Barbara Norris, and I am not a fan of ghost written books. But at 97 or 98, I can understand why Orville Rogers might have thought it was wise to use a professional writer if for no other reason than to ensure that the job would be finished in the event he died. I am only superficially aware of Clovercroft Publishing, the vanity press which Rogers and Norris used to produce the book. But the book itself is professionally acceptable in terms of printing, paper, photographic reproduction, and most other areas. It does have a typical amount of typographical errors which one is likely to find in books from such companies.
Orville Rogers led a sufficiently interesting life to keep me reading until the end when, at times, I knew I had better things to do with my time. The book moves along in a manner which keeps the reader awake without ever approaching the status of literature. Rogers and Norris tell his life story in a direct timeline fashion from poor Oklahoma farm boy to millionaire pilot, investor, runner, and religious believer. But, for my original purpose of learning about physical fitness for the elderly, the book fall short. It simply discusses how Rogers met Kenneth H. Cooper, M. D., who runs the Cooper Clinic in Dallas and wrote the early physical fitness book "Aerobics" in 1968 and has been a well known proponent of running and physical fitness for many years. The book virtually leaves training routines untouched and focuses primarily on the religious life of Orville Rogers. Shortly after I read the book, I saw in the media that Orville Rogers family threw a major birthday party for his 100th birthday and collectively ran a hundred miles in his honor with Mr. Rogers joining his family for the last mile. It is good to know that even at 100 he has not given up running in which field he holds several world records for competitors in their 80's and 90's.
If you are seeking an autobiography about an airline pilot or a religious believer and volunteer, you will find this book worth reading. If you are looking for literature or advice or running, don't bother. But I still hope Orville Rogers lives another hundred years and runs every day of his life.
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