Roy Rogers at Field House

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A group of 150 newspaper carriers were the guests of Roy Rogers
 at his Memorial Field House show. Pictured with him are
Stewart Fox, Richard Thompson, Charles Sowder,
Jerry Adkins and Earl McCallister.

 Special Collections at MU Library

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Huntington’s Memorial Field House was brand new when,
 on Nov. 19, 1950, Roy Rogers — known to millions as
“The King of the Cowboys” — staged
a show at the new arena.

Visiting Huntington must have been almost like
 returning home for the cowboy star, as he
was raised on a farm at Duck Run,
 located just north of
 Portsmouth,
Ohio.

Before long, the family pulled up stakes, moving
 to California. There one day, the boy told his
father he was moving to Los Angles to try
 his hand at being a western singer.

He formed a singing group, the Sons of the Pioneers, which
scored big with such songs as “Cool Water” and “Tumbling
Tumbleweeds.” Also, he began playing small parts in
 western films, billed as Len Slye, the name he was
 born with. Then came his big break. Gene Autry,
 one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, got in a
dispute with his studio. The studio, looking
for a replacement, picked Len. In the
 process, he got a new name —
 Roy Rogers.

 As the saying goes, the rest would be history. From
 his first starring role on the screen, Rogers went
 on to be become a film legend. During his
long career, he made 100 movies. His
 radio show aired on 500 stations, his
 comic books sold by the millions
 and, when television arrived,
 his shows quickly won
 a huge audience.

Of course, with Rogers on stage at the Field House was his wife,
 Dale Evans; his horse, Trigger; and Bullet, his German shepherd
dog. Tickets for the show, priced at $1 to $2.50 (tax included),
 were sold at the Bradshaw-Diehl department store. But 150
carrier boys who delivered The Herald-Dispatch, the
Advertiser and the Sunday Herald-Advertiser didn’t
 need tickets. They were admitted free as
 guests of “The King of the Cowboys.”

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on June 4, 2024.

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