Following graduation, Pershing - by now almost always called "Persh" -
continued working for the Daily News under C. V. "Jiggs" Burns, a well-known
sports journalist in the Cumberland area for several decades.
Many years later, a columnist, recalling Persh's post-graduate period in
Cumberland, commented: "...Cumberlanders his age still enjoy talking about his
spirited approach to everything he undertook. That included a flair for organizing and
leading. He was instrumental in helping formulate an independent basketball team
known as the Cumberland Dragons. Made up of players either finishing up their high-
school careers or recent graduates, the Dragons developed into a formidable
aggregation. In fact, they were a powerhouse and at one stretch won 31 straight
games. Basketball, no doubt about it, was his number one passion."10 In the fall of
1938, the News was taken over by the Times and a new staff was installed and Persh
left Cumberland to find employment elsewhere.
During World War II, Pershing worked in a defense industry, after which he
again took up his pursuit of sports journalism. He worked for the Dominion News of
Morgantown, W.Va.; the News-Herald, Suffolk, Va.; the Messenger, Athens, Ohio;
and the Courier-News, Plainfield, N.J. He became sports editor of the Evening
Record (became Record-Courier), Ravenna, Ohio in 1952. About 1959 he joined the
Indianapolis Times and a year later the Crescent-News, Defiance, Ohio.
In 1962, Persh returned to the sports editor position at the Record-Courier in
Ravenna. For the next 27 years, he and his small staff covered the totality of regional
professional, collegiate and high school sports. His regular column was entitled
"Rohrering Thru Sports." During his tenure, the Record-Courier won several sports
journalism awards. He retired from full-time work at the Record-Courier on January
1, 1989 but continued to cover bowling and other events.
Pershing married Janet Raymond, of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1951. Their son,
Thomas Paul, was born in 1959. At the time of her death in 1980, Janet Rohrer, PhD,
was a professor in the College of Education at Kent (Ohio) University.
In 1985, in a ceremony at Columbus, Ohio, Pershing was inducted into the
United Press International's Sportswriters Hall of Fame, an award established in 1983
to recognize long and meritorious service among Ohio sportswriters.
In August 1990, Pershing married Mary Steele Solitro, of Ravenna.
Thomas Rohrer received a PhD degree in music from Florida State University
in 1993. Later that year he was appointed assistant director of bands and assistant
19
10J. Suter Kegg, Pershing Rohrer Cited as Writer, in The Cumberland Sunday Times, July 14, 1985.
