Hi Diddle Diddle - the Story of Fran Rogel

Many of you may have heard the nursery rhyme, “Hey Diddle Diddle.” What you may not know is that rhyme has a relation to the Pittsburgh Steelers. How it is synonymous with the Steelers is that the team once had a running back named Fran Rogel who was a running back with the team from 1950 to 1957 and his significance was that on the very first play of nearly ever game he started in, was a running play up the middle with Rogel carrying the ball.

That one play became known in the form of a cheer originated by Pittsburgh Press sportswriter Bob Drum who created the cheer which went like this:

“Hi-diddle-diddle, it’s Rogel up the middle”

Fans loved it and began chanting it at the start of every game. The head coach of the Steelers at the time was Walt Kiesling and while the Steelers opponents quickly caught on knowing that would be the first offensive play by Pittsburgh whenever they played them, Kiesling stuck to his guns and ran the play anyway. Drum would sit in the press box and sing the new cheer out loud. 

While Art Rooney Sr. stayed away from interfering what his head coaches wanted to do, the same old play to start the game caused him to approach Coach Kiesling and say, “Look Kies, I want you to try a pass on the first play of the game.” Kiesling responded with: “No, you don’t throw the ball on first down.”

Rooney got his wish the very next game and told Bob Drum as well as the remaining press corps to expect a pass play to open the game. Drum said to Rooney, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Rooney responded with “You just watch, I guarantee it.” Just like that, the Steelers quarterback at the time Jim Finks faked a handoff to Rogel and completed a pass to Goose McClaren who romped to an 80-yard touchdown. 

Incredibly, a rumor arose that Coach Kiesling intentionally told his offense that someone should jump offsides so he could have his ritual first running play of the game, reportedly just so he could avoid being proved wrong. Offsides was called, the play negated, and on the next play…it was Rogel up the middle. All Rogel got was a one-yard gain. 

I know of Fran Rogel and decided to write this column on him because how I know him is that he was dating my next-door neighbor when I was young and I had heard he was a past member of my favorite team, the Steelers. Of course, I grew up in Pittsburgh where Rogel was born on December 12, 1927, in the North Braddock area of the ‘Burgh. Rogel also had a second nickname, which was “Twinkle Toes.” He earned that moniker while playing in a semi-pro football league as a member of the Sarnia Golden Bears in 1959 and someone gave him that nickname based on his running style.