Griz Soccer’s biggest fan in all of Media
11/26/2025 5:43:00 PM | Soccer
A first-time visitor to Plank'd Fitness, the one in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, the one with the large neon sign that welcomes everyone entering its doors with a buzzing "It's Happy Here" greeting, might be surprised to see a guy working out in a maroon Griz Soccer t-shirt.
It's an odd coupling, between Walt Rogers, who'd never been to the state of Montana before June, and a college soccer program located more than 2,300 miles away, considering he has no direct ties to the Grizzlies, no niece playing midfield, no friend of the family playing forward.
Yet there he is, this devoted fan of all sports Philadelphia – and let's not ruin this by bringing up Sunday's game between the Eagles and Cowboys, when his team gave up a 21-0 lead; there is just no reason to go there – representing the team with a shirt that gets plenty of double takes at Plank'd.
When he is invariably asked Hey, what's up with your shirt? this father of a former college soccer player fills them in, how it's the Montana Griz, how it's the school located in Missoula, how he hiked to the M this past June, the iconic landmark that sits halfway up the mountain that butts up against campus.
Okay, but why is Walt Rogers wearing a Griz Soccer t-shirt around his hometown of Media, Pennsylvania, these days? Well, because he asked us for one. And how could we say no to such an intriguing story and request?
He was in western Montana in June, his first time in the state, this guy who retired in 2018 after 40-some years in the mortgage industry, his entire life spent living near Philadelphia, here to check out his son's new place outside of Hamilton, a getaway from his primary residence in Minneapolis.
"My expectations were exceeded and my expectations were moderately high," he said this week from Media, of his time in Missoula, in Hamilton, of his drive through Sun Valley on his way to Boise. "I was blown away driving down to Ketchum. It was snowing in June. That kind of caught us off guard."
He and Nancy have three children, two sons and a daughter who passed on any higher-level interest so she could pursue, in equal measure, both soccer and a mechanical engineering degree at Rochester Institute of Technology, a Division III school in New York.
She told her dad, I don't want to be owned and I want to get an education. "She said they ended up owning her at a Division III school, too," says Rogers. "You've got to lift at 6 a.m. regardless."
The three-year starter peaked as a senior in 2017, the goalkeeper earning first-team All-Liberty League and third-team United Soccer Coaches All-East Region honors after allowing just 10 goals in 19 starts for a team that would go 12-4-3.
Ever since, Walt Rogers has been keeping his eye out for soccer t-shirts from schools across the country.
When he was flying back to Philadelphia from Boise in June, when he finally had time to crack open the edition of the Montanan magazine he had picked up on his trip, he saw in the first few pages a brief on the Griz soccer program and how it had set a new attendance record of 1,973 against Ohio State.
Front and center in the accompanying photo was an ecstatic fan wearing the shirt Rogers just had to have, the latest garment he needed for his collection.
Unable to find what he wanted online, he went back to the Montanan and saw that University of Montana President Seth Bodnar was prominently featured in the opening pages, so he sat down and wrote an email to Bodnar, Griz soccer coach Chris Citowicki and the team's director of communications.
I wasn't sure where the best place to send this was so I figured the President could get this to the right place, he typed, before writing about his visit – I hiked "The M" (wow!!) – his daughter and how she played college soccer and how he liked to collect t-shirts. And could anyone at Montana help?
Citowicki, who wants to spread the fandom of his program to the far reaches of the earth, or at least as far as Media, Pennsylvania, jumped on it and Rogers was wearing his new t-shirt to Plank'd Fitness within a week of his initial email.
Because it's how he operated in his professional life, through the personal touch, through the process of putting ink to paper, Rogers not only emailed his thanks upon receiving the shirt, he also later sent a handwritten note, and by that time he was able to feel like he was part of something special.
Congrats to the women's soccer athletes and the coaching staff for becoming the Big Sky champions
Six months ago, the Montana soccer program wouldn't have had any traction in Media. Now it's got Walt Rogers to spread the news of the Griz to the good people of Plank'd Fitness, one member of the sweat set at a time, Rogers a disciple through the simple act of t-shirt diplomacy.
It's an odd coupling, between Walt Rogers, who'd never been to the state of Montana before June, and a college soccer program located more than 2,300 miles away, considering he has no direct ties to the Grizzlies, no niece playing midfield, no friend of the family playing forward.
Yet there he is, this devoted fan of all sports Philadelphia – and let's not ruin this by bringing up Sunday's game between the Eagles and Cowboys, when his team gave up a 21-0 lead; there is just no reason to go there – representing the team with a shirt that gets plenty of double takes at Plank'd.
When he is invariably asked Hey, what's up with your shirt? this father of a former college soccer player fills them in, how it's the Montana Griz, how it's the school located in Missoula, how he hiked to the M this past June, the iconic landmark that sits halfway up the mountain that butts up against campus.
Okay, but why is Walt Rogers wearing a Griz Soccer t-shirt around his hometown of Media, Pennsylvania, these days? Well, because he asked us for one. And how could we say no to such an intriguing story and request?
He was in western Montana in June, his first time in the state, this guy who retired in 2018 after 40-some years in the mortgage industry, his entire life spent living near Philadelphia, here to check out his son's new place outside of Hamilton, a getaway from his primary residence in Minneapolis.
"My expectations were exceeded and my expectations were moderately high," he said this week from Media, of his time in Missoula, in Hamilton, of his drive through Sun Valley on his way to Boise. "I was blown away driving down to Ketchum. It was snowing in June. That kind of caught us off guard."
He and Nancy have three children, two sons and a daughter who passed on any higher-level interest so she could pursue, in equal measure, both soccer and a mechanical engineering degree at Rochester Institute of Technology, a Division III school in New York.
She told her dad, I don't want to be owned and I want to get an education. "She said they ended up owning her at a Division III school, too," says Rogers. "You've got to lift at 6 a.m. regardless."
The three-year starter peaked as a senior in 2017, the goalkeeper earning first-team All-Liberty League and third-team United Soccer Coaches All-East Region honors after allowing just 10 goals in 19 starts for a team that would go 12-4-3.
Ever since, Walt Rogers has been keeping his eye out for soccer t-shirts from schools across the country.
When he was flying back to Philadelphia from Boise in June, when he finally had time to crack open the edition of the Montanan magazine he had picked up on his trip, he saw in the first few pages a brief on the Griz soccer program and how it had set a new attendance record of 1,973 against Ohio State.
Front and center in the accompanying photo was an ecstatic fan wearing the shirt Rogers just had to have, the latest garment he needed for his collection.
Unable to find what he wanted online, he went back to the Montanan and saw that University of Montana President Seth Bodnar was prominently featured in the opening pages, so he sat down and wrote an email to Bodnar, Griz soccer coach Chris Citowicki and the team's director of communications.
I wasn't sure where the best place to send this was so I figured the President could get this to the right place, he typed, before writing about his visit – I hiked "The M" (wow!!) – his daughter and how she played college soccer and how he liked to collect t-shirts. And could anyone at Montana help?
Citowicki, who wants to spread the fandom of his program to the far reaches of the earth, or at least as far as Media, Pennsylvania, jumped on it and Rogers was wearing his new t-shirt to Plank'd Fitness within a week of his initial email.
Because it's how he operated in his professional life, through the personal touch, through the process of putting ink to paper, Rogers not only emailed his thanks upon receiving the shirt, he also later sent a handwritten note, and by that time he was able to feel like he was part of something special.
Congrats to the women's soccer athletes and the coaching staff for becoming the Big Sky champions
Six months ago, the Montana soccer program wouldn't have had any traction in Media. Now it's got Walt Rogers to spread the news of the Griz to the good people of Plank'd Fitness, one member of the sweat set at a time, Rogers a disciple through the simple act of t-shirt diplomacy.
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