Friday, December 3, 2021

Danny Rogers


(From Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home)

Daniel Brian Rogers was born on March 24, 1969, in Panama City, Florida. He departed this life at his home in Springfield on November 28, 2021, bound for bigger and better things. 

Danny was preceded in death by his father, Harry Kay Rogers. 

He is survived by his son Brett Rogers, Brett’s mother Robin McDaniel, his mother Bonnie Jo Rogers, sisters Laura Langley and Lynne Click, brother Bruce Rogers and his wife Holly, brother David Rogers and wife Sally, as well as numerous cousins, nephews and nieces.








Danny was an exceptional athlete. He attended Parkview High School. He finally talked our mom into letting him play football his senior year and was named All-Conference defensive end. Baseball was the sport in which he truly excelled. 

After playing baseball for three years at Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, he was drafted into the Detroit Tigers organization and played in their minor league system for several years. When he finally returned to Springfield, he was active in softball leagues. He even gained the respect of inmates at the Federal Medical Center when he hit a moon shot that cleared the top of the building in right field. We are not sure that the inmates there had ever saluted a visiting player, before or since, but as he circled the bases that evening, they saluted him.

He was a proud member of the local union 2015. He worked as a glazier, installing commercial glass works. Danny loved the Ozarks, floating the rivers with family and friends and scouring riverbanks and fields for arrowheads and other stone artifacts. Danny was the man to call if anyone needed help with anything. He was never too busy to lend a hand. He was a gentle giant who I watched hit a baseball 500 feet in the February cold and who could lift a barn but would not step on a bug. His family and friends will always remember him as a gentle soul, and he will be dearly missed.

Brett was Danny’s proudest accomplishment, best pal and was always seen by his dad’s side, and it is through Brett that Danny will live on. Special thanks to his sister Laura and his loyal friend Ben King, who did so much to care for him as his health declined, to the Oncology Department physicians and staff at Mercy Hospital, to the Mercy Hospice staff, and to all his friends and co-workers who provided love and support to the end.

Danny’s life will be celebrated on December 12, 2021, at 2:00 at the Elks Lodge, 2223 E. Bennett Street in Springfield.

Go Cowboys, go Cards. You go, Danny boy. Rest in peace.

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