Memorabilia: Rodger Ward Autographed Photo

Look what Santa brought me! Okay, well Santa didn’t bring it but it did come in December and it was sent by a generous person from the North P… er, Ohio. What is it? It’s an autographed picture of 1959 (and 1962) Indianapolis 500 winner Rodger Ward! It was a surprise addition to a package of many autographs I purchased for a very reasonable price from a member of TrackForum.

click for larger version

I’m really not a huge autograph collector. But back in May 2002, I stood in line outside a Kroger grocery store to get the autographs of some of the “Legends of Indy” and Rodger Ward was one of them. The line got very long, and was moving quite slowly. After standing in the sun for close to two hours, the organizers (not a very applicable term) abruptly cut the line off and told everyone standing there that they would have to leave. Oh, but in their defense they did offer everyone a discount on the hot dogs and soda they were selling.

Anyway, people (including me) were understandably upset. But rather than storm off and swear never to shop at Kroger again like some people did, I decided to just hang around and see what happened. Most of the drivers took off as soon as the last person went through the line, but two stayed to try to accomodate the people that had been left out. Tom Sneva and Rodger Ward.

So here’s Rodger Ward, more than 80 years old at the time, standing out in the afternoon sun trying to sign as many autographs and answer as many questions as he could. Organizers were telling him to get in the car and go, but he ignored them. As much as I wanted an autograph, I felt guilty being there. He could only write very slowly, and I’m sure his hands were hurting from so much writing. His autographs at that point looked like anyone could have written them. You could tell that he was very tired and I’m sure he would have preferred to go sit and rest somewhere. But he didn’t… he stayed and signed autographs for every person he could, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.

Unfortunately, Rodger Ward passed away in July 2004 at the age of 83. While I never knew him, was never formally introduced, and wasn’t even a “twinkle in my old man’s eye” when he achieved either of his Indianapolis 500 wins, I still felt a tiny connection to him through this one relatively insignificant event. So it was quite a welcome and unexpected surprise to receive a pristine autographed photo like this. It most certainly will find a place in a frame on the wall, and I will treasure it for years to come.