Despite sharing the same name, Will Rogers III, an American football quarterback, isn’t related to an American vaudeville performer, Will Rogers.
These two famous icon share their name but come from entirely different backgrounds and eras.
Highlights
- Will Rogers III and Will Rogers aren’t related and belong to different eras.
- Will Rogers’s birthname was William Penn Adair Rogers, and Will Rogers’s is William Wyatt Rogers III.
- Will Rogers lost his life in an airplane crash in northern Alaska in 1935.
William Penn Adair Rogers began his career as a vaudeville performer, and his rope act led to success in the Ziegfeld Follies.
He traveled worldwide as an entertainer and humorist and made over 71 films. He was the highest-paid Hollywood film star.
Will was also hugely popular in the mid-1930s for his leading political wit and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns.
Unfortunately, he lost his life in an airplane crash in northern Alaska in 1935.
On the other hand, William Wyatt Rogers III is in good health and plays for the Washington Huskies. He was an avid fan of the Ole Miss Rebels football team.
He holds Southeastern Conference (SEC) records for single season, career completions, and Mississippi State program records in nearly every major passing category.
Will committed to play college football at Mississippi State University and entered the transfer portal on November 24, 2023.
He announced his transfer to the Washington Huskies football team on December 15, 2023.
Will Rogers III And Will Rogers Aren’t Blood Related
Will Rogers III and Will Rogers have accomplished in their respective fields but left fans wondering if they share more than just a name.
However, their family relationship remains distinct and belong to different eras.
15Aug/1935: Will Rogers – American actor, humorist, and social commentator – is passenger with his friend Wiley Post, American aviator, when Post’s hybrid aircraft plunges into a lagoon in Alaska. Both men die instantly. Rogers is 55. pic.twitter.com/fRbM5ngKIy
— Hermine (@PetloverHermine) August 14, 2023
Will Rogers, the son of Clement V. (Clem) Rogers and Mary America Schrimsher, was born on November 4, 1879, near Oologah, Indian Territory.
Clement was a leader in the Cherokee Nation and a Confederate combat veteran of the American Civil War who fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862.
Mary was the sister of Martha Schrimsher Gulager, the paternal grandmother of actor and director Clu Gulager.
His parents considered themselves Cherokee and their house was known as the White House on the Verdigris River.
His mother was born into the Paint Clan, and her relatives had been expelled from Georgia under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Sadly, she passed away due to amoebic dysentery when Will was 10 years old.
He was the youngest of eight siblings, but his only three sisters, Sallie Clementine, Maude Ethel, and Mary, survived into adulthood.
Later, his father remarried after three years of her tragic demise.
Will Rogers is every @UW_Football fan tonight 😤💪#B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/VJMms4bIT0
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 6, 2024
On the other hand, 23 years old Will Rogers was born in Louisville, Mississippi, on August 19, 2001.
His father, Wyatt, attended the University of Mississippi, and his mother, Judy, attended the University of Alabama. They moved to Brandon, Mississippi, when Will was in seventh grade.
Bill Rogers, his paternal grandfather, also attended Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) and played school baseball with Archie Manning.
Wyatt was a football coach and coached Gardner Minshew, who mentored Will in his middle school. Their bond continued even after Gardner left Brandon to play college football.
Will also played under his father at Brandon High School and became the team’s starting quarterback as a sophomore.
Will Rogers Was The Father Of Four Children
The American vaudeville performer and humorous social commentator Will Rogers married Betty Blake on November 25, 1908. Betty was born in 1879 and passed away in 1944.
They had four children: Will Rogers Jr., Mary Amelia, James Blake, and Fred Stone.
L'actor Will Rogers jugant a la ferradura a la dècada de 1920.
— Pinícules & Flims (@FPenicules) September 25, 2023
Font: Col·lecció GGBain / Biblioteca del Congrés pic.twitter.com/ZrmY51t1WM
The Rogers family lived in New York and spent summers in Oklahoma.
Will Rogers Jr. played his father in two films and became a World War II hero. He was an American politician elected to Congress.
James Blake was a newspaperman and rancher, and Mary became a Broadway actress. Tragically, Fred Stone lost his life due to diphtheria at the age of two.
Will bought a 20-acre ranch near Claremore, Oklahoma, in 1911 and intended to use it as his retirement home.
Additional Information
- William Rogers was for the Cherokee leader Colonel William Penn Adair.
- He was a Democrat and supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
- Willian Rogers III battled with K.J. Costello in the offseason to become the Mississippi State team’s starting quarterback.
