Will Rogers In 1947, a college football bowl game was named in his honor, but the event folded after the first year. The Academy of Western Artists, based in Gene Autry, Oklahoma, presents an annual Will Rogers Medallion award for excellence in western literature. The Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun is the name of an 80-foot observation tower on Cheyenne Mountain west of Colorado Springs, at the base of Pikes Peak near the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Rogers's California home, stables, and polo fields are preserved today for public enjoyment as Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades. His widow, Betty,
Will Rogers Institute Will Rogers Institute The Will Rogers Institute's mission is to perpetuate the memory of Will Rogers by promoting and engaging in medical research pertaining to cardiopulmonary diseases and educating the public on topics of health and fitness. It is named for actor and comedian Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash in 1935. The Institute supports research programs that study debilitating pulmonary disorders and provides pulmonary rehabilitation at academic and medical centers across the country and provides neonatal ventilators to needy hospitals so not one baby suffers or dies because of the lack of a proper ventilation system. For