Running's ticket for parking lot patroller
by Jacob Tucker, associate editor
all photos by Jon Seaborn
Bill Rodger is fighting illegal parking,
one ticket at a time.
Rodger, who works part-time at South
Plains College as a ticket writer, is not exactly the college
student’s best friend. But he sees his role in a comedic sort
of way.
“I’m not giving the ticket to the
person,” Rodger said, “that’s the Dean’s job. I give the
ticket to the car, and I ask the vehicle if they will move,
but they just sit there.”
In 2003, then-South Plains College Police
Chief John Wuerflien was in need of a parking supervisor. He
recruited Rodger, and he has liked it ever since.
“I enjoy meeting the kids,” said Rodger.
“Ninety Nine percent of them are good kids.”
But divvying out tickets is not the only
thing that Rodger does. He is an accomplished runner.
During a period of 22 years, Rodger has
run in 26 marathons, including marathons in Boston, New York,
Chicago, and Washington, D.C., among many others. He has also
competed in two marathons hosted by SPC, placing third and
fifth.
“I have run a little over 50,000 miles
since I started in 1984,” said Rodger.
Rodger began running in 1984 after a
startling trip to the doctor.
“I thought I was having a heart attack,
so I rushed to the doctor,” he said. “It was a false alarm,
but he told me that I was too fat, smoked too much, and I
needed to quit.”
Rodger decided that he would quit smoking
and lose all his weight. He began to run in very small doses.
“I could not even make it around my block
without almost passing out,” recalled Rodger.
He eventually worked himself up from 400
yards to a mile, then from a mile to two miles. Eventually,
Rodger was running almost six miles a day, his best at the
time. He currently runs 15 to 20 miles every day.
“I get up at 6 a.m. and just run,” said
Rodger. “Sometimes its 20 miles, sometimes it’s two.”
Rodger overcame his weight and his
smoking habit, but then was faced with another challenge that
running might not help.
“I was diagnosed with prostate cancer on
top of all of that,” said Rodger.
Rodger continued to run throughout his
treatments, and three months after his surgery, he ran in the
100th running of the Boston Marathon.
“There were over 47,000 people running in
that marathon,” said Rodger, “and I placed in the top 23,000.”
Rodger said is what they call a ‘street
corner’ runner. He runs every day, regardless of rain, sleet,
or snow. Rodger even runs when he goes out of town.
“I was at a wedding in Midland a few
weeks ago, and I ran every day that I was down there,” said
Rodger.
He has been running every day for the
past five years.
“I was up to 15 years straight, but I
decided to quit for about two weeks for no reason,” said
Rodger. “Now I’m back up to five, and still going strong.”
Rodger logs about 2,000 miles every year,
and that does not count the four miles that he walks every day
while handing out tickets on campus.
Shortly after he started to run, Rodger
became a member of the West Texas Running Club. This club
holds monthly races for all ages, and Rodger was wanting more
competition.
“What really kept me going was to beat
all of the people in my age group,” said Rodger.
Rodger would pick out a block of runners
in his group, trim his own time down to beat theirs, and move
on to his next victims. Rodger eventually reached the top of
his class, and many other age groups.
“I’m the one everybody wants to beat
now,” said Rodger. “All of the younger kids’ goals are to
beat me.”
Rodger and his wife also volunteer their
Sunday and Wednesday nights to Friendship Company, a church
group for 3-to-5 year-olds at South Plains Church.
“I really like to teach the kids,” said
Rodger, “and I believe strongly in God.”
Rodger believes that every day has
something good to offer people.
“There is something good in every day,”
said Rodger. “You can’t be lazy. You just have to get up and
find it yourself.”
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