Funeral is Wednesday for Carlisle Roddey, former Chester supervisor and Clemson fan

The funeral for the late Carlisle Roddey, longtime Chester County supervisor and Clemson fan, is set for Wednesday.

Roddey, 79, died Monday in a Charlotte hospital after a long illness without getting a chance to see Clemson win the national championship game. But people who knew him said that Roddey was “pulling for Clemson from up above.”

Friend and fellow Clemson fan Mike Lifsey said Monday, when he was heartbroken over Roddey’s death, that if Clemson won, he would attribute it to Carlisle pulling for the Tigers from heaven.

And that is what happened, with Clemson winning a thriller, 35 to 31 over Alabama.

Roddey’s funeral is at 3 pm Wednesday at Chester Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, with the family receiving friends from 1 to 3 p.m. at the church.

One woman on Facebook put it bluntly about the Clemson victory and Roddey’s love for the team with a picture of a Clemson Tiger: “This one was for him.”

Roddey was a legendary politician in Chester, but so much more. He was the announcer for Chester football games on radio for 46 years, started Chester’s rescue squad in 1964 and was the county’s first emergency services director in the early 1970s.

Roddey served as Chester County supervisor from 1974 until 1998, and then again from 2007 to 2015.

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 10:32 AM with the headline "Funeral is Wednesday for Carlisle Roddey, former Chester supervisor and Clemson fan."