J.Rogers Badgett,Sr.

J. Rogers Badgett, Sr. was born July 27, 1917 in Pettus, Arkansas to Russell and Mary Rheaetta Rogers Badgett. He graduated from Messick High School in Memphis, Tennessee. There he was a member of the Buntyn Presbyterian Church. After graduation, he attended the University of Tennessee. Rogers then came to Madisonville, Kentucky in 1938. He owned and operated Badgett Construction Company, performing various construction jobs in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Nebraska, Illinois, Kentucky, and Georgia. In 1943, Badgett Mine Stripping Corporation began mining bauxite in Missouri for the war effort. Then in 1944, Badgett Mine Stripping Corporation began strip mining coal in Kentucky and continued in the strip mining business in Hopkins and Muhlenberg County until 1976.

Rogers was widely known for the “Badgett Big Walk.” The “Big Walk” occured in 1955 when Rogers moved a 650 ton dragline and a 250 ton dragline across land and waterways from Earlington, Kentucky to the St. Lawrence Seaway in New York for a dredging project on the seaway. He was also involved with highway and bridge construction on the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida turnpikes and in Kuwait. He was a partner in port dredging in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and was also involved in oil and gas exploration locally and in Texas and Louisiana. Rogers leased and operated the Madisonville Municipal Airport for over 30 years and was a limited partner of the Boston Red Sox Baseball Team for eight years. For many years he owned Cadiz Motor Company, a Ford dealership in Kentucky. In Arkansas, Rogers was an investor in Lagrue Land & Irrigation Company, which grew into a 1285 acre farming-hunting spread along Lagrue Bayou in Prairie County, seven miles south of Hazen. He also became sole owner of Plaza West Office Building in Little Rock in 1978.

Rogers was an Eagle Scout, having joined the Boy Scouts of America in 1933. In 1991, he received a “Distinguished Eagle Scout” award, the second time this award was presented in Kentucky. He also received other recognitions: the Badgett Center for Educational Enhancement, Badgett Athletic Complex, Madisonville Community College, Madisonville-North Hopkins Hall of Fame, Lions Club “Man of the Year,” and Western Kentucky Coal Producers “Coal Miner of the Year.” Rogers passed away at the age of 87 on June 6, 2005.

His memory lives on, however, through the charitable endeavors of the J. Rogers Badgett, Sr. Foundation, which provides for various causes important to the Badgett family. The Roger Badgett, Sr. Foundation Graduate Fund was established in 2010. The fund serves to assist WKU-Owensboro students who are pursuing their master’s degrees in teacher education and are currently teaching in the Hancock County school system. Through this fund, Rogers’ memory is honored.