The above license plate belonged to John Roller, affectionately known as "The Yellow Sweater Man", who was a decorated WWII veteran and model Hokie fan.  John gained his nickname by waving his yellow sweater behind the goal in Cassell Coliseum to distract opposing team players as they attempted free throws.  The following is a brief biography and explanation of the significance of the "yellow" sweater.

John Roller was the "Yellow Sweater Man" and was proud of that nickname.  But, few people know that he was a highly-decorated WWII tank commander.  He won three Silver Stars for gallantry in action and two Purple Hearts.  The Roanoke Times ran a feature story about him during the 50th anniversary of D-Day.

John Roller's grandfather was in the first graduating class ever at Tech.  His father graduated Tech sometime around 1910 and he finished in 1942.  While at "VPI", John was the sports editor of The Collegiate Times in 1941 and 1942 and was a horticulture major.  His youngest son Bob made it a fourth generation in 1983, along with his wife, Julie.  Another of their four children, Mary, attended Tech for three years before having to transfer after her husband took a job following his Tech graduation.

After the war, John and his wife, Fay, started a florist business in Pearisburg that grew to five shops in Virginia and West Virginia.  They were the company that sold the "mums" at every Homecoming football game from about 1950 to 1985.  He was a member of the Pearisburg Town Council for 37 years and was the Giles County chairman of the Red Cross for 35 years.  He donated 18 gallons of blood during his lifetime as he saw the importance of blood when he held the plasma bag for a wounded soldier as both were evacuated in a GI ambulance during the war.

He attended literally every Tech football and basketball game (home and away) for 40 years.  And we're talking about
a lot of "lean" years in terms of wins and losses.  You can bet that he would be there every night right now if he were alive even though our men's basketball team is struggling.  We could all learn something from his dedication to the Hokies.

Finally, the real story behind the yellow sweater.  At the 1980 Peach Bowl in Atlanta, when Tech played Miami in its first bowl game in 12 years, his children bought him a Peach Bowl sweater.  They didn't have a sweater with Tech on it or any  maroon or orange sweaters.  They were only yellow.  He loved that sweater and wore it often.  Obviously, he would take it to basketball games and it eventually became the sweater that he would swing to distract visiting free throw shooters.  He was quoted as saying that the sweater waving could possibly cause one missed free throw per game and we won our share of one-point games!

He died at Christmastime in 1995 -- a week before Tech won the Sugar Bowl.  Fay now lives in Alabama but still drives back to Virginia a few times each year (at age 80) to see some home football games in the Golden Hokie section.  She has had fun with her new vanity plate since she moved down to Alabama.  She has Alabama tags that read 4VA TECH.  That plate has turned more than a few heads since Tech's 38-7 win over 'Bama in Nashville!