Langston Rogers and Staff are Archiving Ole Miss Athletics: A Daunting but Revered Task

Editor’s Note: As part of Homecoming, 2023 activities, Langston Rogers will receive the Honorary Alumni Award, which recognizes individuals who, though not graduates of the University of Mississippi, have consistently demonstrated extraordinary commitment, support, dedication, loyalty, leadership or service that has enriched the substance of and contributed to the advancement of the university’s or Alumni Association’s missions, reputation or prestige. 

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss fans pride themselves on knowing players’ names, numbers, and statistics about a player’s athletic performance.  Of course, over time fans forget statistics, and the next generation of fans may have no clue what the Ole Miss athletes, coaches, and staff of the past accomplished unless a significant milestone was achieved.  However, some fans love to learn about the history of Ole Miss athletics, and there are occasions when former athletes, or their family members, would like to have pictures or information about the athlete’s days as an Ole Miss Rebel.  The information they seek would be lost to history if not for the archive rooms located in the Starnes Athletic Training Center, where the athletic past of Ole Miss is meticulously cataloged and preserved for posterity.

So, who would be best suited to oversee such a vast collection of game programs, news articles, pictures, and physical memorabilia? The answer is a man who has dedicated much of his adult life to Ole Miss and the athletic programs in particular, Langston Rogers.  We were able to speak with Rogers and learn more about what treasures the archives hold and the expertise and commitment needed to ensure athletes and their accomplishments are not lost to the past.

Rogers served as Sports Information Director and was the Senior Associate Athletics Director for media relations when he retired in 2010 after twenty-nine years of service. Presently, he works part-time as a special assistant to the Athletics Director for history. Throughout 42 years, Rogers has seen a great deal of history made and has further developed a system of cataloging and maintaining athletic statistics, pictures, articles, and other memorabilia.

In a world of technology, folders in filing cabinets just don’t cut it anymore.  People need access to information in an easier-to-attain format. With this in mind, the archives department began the daunting task of scanning into digital format the history of Ole Miss athletics. 

Several years ago, when the scanning process began, the group who came in to help Rogers design the archives room estimated there were three million scans to complete. Three million! Needless to say, the job of scanning millions of pages and pictures is a very time-consuming task. 

Still, Rogers and other dedicated workers have undertaken the mission to digitally preserve every single thing they can get their hands on that deals with Ole Miss athletics.

Langston Rogers

Such a vast amount of information needs a system of cataloging that is meticulous and easily searched. Rogers explained how each person’s information is scanned into the computer and saved in a digital folder.  Within the folder are subfolders specific to the item scanned.  

Langston Rogers on the archiving process

Here is the actual summer workout Coach John Vaught gave to Archie Manning in 1968.

And here is the cast Archie wore after breaking his arm in 1970, along with an article written at the time.

Not only do Rogers and others have the job of scanning documents from past years, but they also have to keep up with the more current players and coaches who graduate or leave. It’s an ongoing, never-ending process.

Rogers related, “Media guides of all the sports was our starting place. Media guides, game programs, plus the alphabetized list of former athletes, coaches, and support staff A to Z.  It doesn’t matter what year they played, it’s just alphabetical.  We’re doing them alphabetically that way because each year when people leave we try to make sure if it’s someone from the A’s or B’s we keep up with it because we have already been through the A’s, B’s, and C’s,” he explained.

People who aren’t history buffs may not understand why the archives of Ole Miss athletics are such a big deal, but for those who do, the archives serve as a gateway to the past. Whether it’s a former student-athlete who lost their belongings to a disaster, family members in need of information for an obituary, or fans in general who just want to know more about Ole Miss, Rogers can fill a void by providing the information they need. 

Langston Rogers 

Rogers says some players may not understand the importance of the archives until they get older. Players return and stop by to visit with Rogers and relive the glory days of their student-athlete experience.

“The older you get,” Rogers explained, “the more important it becomes.  You don’t think about it when you’re here at Ole Miss, but we’re trying to document each individual student-athlete, coach, and support staff, even down to the football, baseball, and basketball managers.  They’ll all have a file.”

When we asked Rogers what pieces of memorabilia stood out most to him, he told us about two rather unique pieces.

The first is a bear trap with a bear tail attached which was anonymously sent to Coach Vaught after Ole Miss defeated Alabama in 1970. The plaque attached to the trap reads, “John Vaught Trapped the Bear, October 3rd, 1970, Ole Miss 43, Alabama 23.” As far as anyone knows, Coach Vaught never found out who sent the gift.

The second item of interest once belonged to former Ole Miss football player and chancellor Robert Khayat. “Back in the 50s,” Rogers recounted, “the Sugar Bowl gave the players gifts.  They gave them a big piece of brown luggage with a sugar cube inside. They were big, and they had the player’s image on the sugar. It’s beginning to disintegrate, and I’ve had to spray the area because bugs get in the sugar….I just think it’s one of the most unique things out there. There’s a lot of trophies and plaques and stuff, but there’s nothing like that.”

Here’s the original picture of Robert Khayat from which the sugar cube was patterned, followed by the sugar cube.

Rogers doesn’t focus only on the past but also plans for the future and a time when the history of Ole Miss athletics is right at fans’ fingertips. 

Langston Rogers

For Ole Miss athletes, coaches, and staff, there is a great deal of Ole Miss Athletics history to make. Each athletic program has accomplishments and championships yet to be commemorated.  Rogers and others will continue to preserve as much memorabilia as possible and document all the achievements of Ole Miss Athletics so future fans can learn of the legends of the past and dream of becoming the champions of the future.

Here are some additional photos from our visit with Langston Rogers. We appreciate his time — and his work — more than we can express.

Hotty Toddy!