Franklin & Marshall College

Rothermel attended Franklin & Marshall on a scholarship forwhich he, in turn, served as a proctor at Franklin & MarshallAcademy. A member of the cross country and track and field teams,Rothermel was a superb student-athlete. On the cross countrycircuit, he ran with the best. In 1938, he was the team’s topfinisher in a meet against Pitt. He tied with F&M’s teamcaptain, Ed Roberts, as the Diplomats’ top finisher in meetsagainst West Chester, Haverford, Swarthmore and Temple. In 1939, hetied for first place with Roberts, in wins over Lafayette,Haverford, and Swarthmore, and in 1940, he again tied for firstwith Roberts for first place in dual meets against Temple and CCNY,as well as in a triangular meet with West Chester and Muhlenberg.All were team victories for F&M.

On the track, he won the two-mile and earned a second place finishin the event at the ECAC Championship meets during his career. Hewon the two-mile in a 1940 meet with Rutgers clocking aschool-record of 9:41 – a mark that stood for 30 years until1970. His nickname on the track team was “Sea Biscuit”.His teammate, George Howard, was “War Admiral” andRoberts was “Kayak II”.

Rothermel was Phi Beta Kappa, Blue Key Honor Society, A.A.A.S,Student Senate Treasurer, and Chemistry Lab Assistant. Aftergraduation, he worked at Corning Inc. for 35 years as a glasstechnologist.