Jack Roddick
Jack and Arlene Roddick have had a long and rich history with Shippensburg University. Jack transferred to Shippensburg in his sophomore year and became a member of the football and track teams. World War II intervened, and he served in the Army Air Corps before completing his degree in 1947. Even before he graduated, Jack was the football and track coach for the Swatara Township School District. Jack met his wife Arlene when he was working in the same district. She was a graduate of Shippensburg as well.
Harry Kriner, then President of Shippensburg State Teachers College, impressed by Jack's success at Swatara, hired Jack as head coach for Raider football and track. Jack coached football for nine years and track for 17, winning both championships in 1956-57. The SU Track Program honored Jack by adding his name to the long-running Shippensburg Invitational Track Meet. Jack had helped run it as a student, saw his Swatara Twp team win it, and then, with Athletic Director Tom Crist, directed it for years.
When the Franklin Science Building was erected in 1970, it included a planetarium, something Jack and then President Ralph Heiges had been lobbying for. Jack was appointed Director of the Dibert Planetarium, a position he held for many years.
Scholarships associated with Jack Roddick