Completed Event: Cross Country at NCAA Southeast Regional on November 14, 2025 , , 26th of 36
XC
Final
James Madison
at NCAA Southeast Regional
26th of 36
James Madison University | Official Athletics Site
Roan’s Ride – JMU AD Honors Father by Taking Equipment Truck to Marshall Away Game
11/10/2025 1:00:00 PM | Administration
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Matt Roan can recall his father returning to the family home in Dublin, Va. after days on the road as a long-haul trucker.
Pete Roan would be worn out from days of driving, but Matt was waiting, eager to pepper his dad with questions about the places he'd just been.
"Nothing's as nice as home," Matt Roan recalled his father telling him each time.
Pete Roan, now 70, retired from trucking in March 2020, after a massive stroke left him paralyzed on one side of his body.
Last week, Matt – the athletic director at James Madison – climbed aboard "Diesel Duke," the JMU football equipment truck, and took the nearly 300-mile ride to Huntington, West Virginia. The team was playing at Marshall and – with his family unable to attend the game – Matt saw the opportunity to take a ride in the rig, a way to both honor his father's career and the lesson it taught him.
"You sacrifice for your family. You work hard for anything in life," Matt said. "My dad is very blue collar. You're not better than anybody. Probably the thing I appreciate the most. No matter what you do, be best at it."
The Roans lived in a three-bedroom house on Riggs Street in Dublin when Matt was born. His father started working locally as a truck driver before moving to the long-haul work that would be his career for over 35 years.
Pete Roan drove for Coca-Cola, for Rollins hauling automotive parts for Ford Motorcraft, for Freightliner out of Statesville, N.C., and, most recently, Estes Express Lines out of Roanoke.
Matt's mother, Debbie, a licensed nurse, often worked two jobs, in part for the money and in part to pass time while her husband was on the road.
In 1997, Roan and his family moved to a new, larger house, but remained in Dublin, on Jewell Avenue, only a few hundred yards from the Riggs Street home. Community was always important to the Roans.
While his job kept Pete Roan away from a lot of Matt's youth sporting events, he came when he could, and even coached when his schedule allowed.
"Time away from home was hard," Matt Roan said.
Pete Roan didn't have the easiest job, but he had a clear vision as to why he did it.
"I think my dad enjoyed what it provided our family," Matt Roan said. "We had a comfortable lifestyle. Looking back now and recognizing the sacrifices that my parents were making. They never let us see it in the moment. You look at that now with a different lens than in the moment and appreciate it more."
There were even times, as a youngster, before he left for Hargrave Military Academy, that Matt Roan thought he might want to follow in his father's tread marks and become a truck driver himself.
"It was cool to me and he's always been my hero," Matt Roan said shortly before leaving for his ride to Marshall. "You're growing up and you're seeing your dad drive this massive machine and he's going to these different places. I always grew up with a fascination with what he did, but my parents always preached education and the opportunities it provided."
After Hargrave, Matt Roan spent a year at Virginia Tech, got his Bachelor's degree from Southern Utah in 2007, and went to law school at the University of Kentucky.
He moved into college athletics in 2011 at Kentucky, starting a career that saw him ascend to become an AD, first at Nicholls State in Louisiana, then Eastern Kentucky and now JMU.
Following Pete's stroke, Pete and Debbie moved to Richmond, Kentucky to be near Matt at EKU. Matt's sister and her family moved there, too. When Matt took the post at James Madison, Pete and Debbie moved back to Southwest Virginia, getting a house in Radford.
These days, with his physical condition continuing to decline, Pete Roan stays inside his home. The last college football game he attended came in December 2019. Matt, working at Nicholls, was an NCAA site representative on hand for an FCS playoff game.
He got his parents tickets so they could spend time together.
Fittingly, the game was at JMU, between the Dukes and Weber State.
All of that led to Matt Roan choosing to ride Diesel Duke to the Marshall game.
The truck departed around 6:45 a.m. Friday from Bridgeforth Stadium, then traveled to Charleston, West Virginia to unload gear at the team hotel. From there, it was on to Huntington. In all, the drive took just under six hours.
The trip reinforced Roan's appreciation for the behind-the-scenes effort of driver Travis Dunham and the Dukes' equipment crew.
"There are just so many people and so many things that go into, whether it's home or on the road, pulling these games off," Matt Roan said.
From climbing in the cab, to bouncing in his seat to hearing the truck's air brakes, the trip had a nostalgic feel for Matt Roan.
"I thought a lot about my old man," he said Friday, shortly after arriving. "You think about how much you appreciate the people who sacrificed for you to get where you are. For me, that's nobody more so than my parents. Even though he wasn't in the truck with me, he was in the truck with me."
On many of his father's final runs as a driver, he'd depart from Roanoke and drive to Harrisburg, Pa. nightly, trekking up Interstate 81.
Matt and Pete would talk on the phone, oftentimes as Pete drove past James Madison, and Pete would comment about Bridgeforth Stadium being lit up or the looming stature of the west side stands and scoreboard.
"His desire, my mom's desire, was always for Mallory, our kids, and me to come back home and do what we love at a place that we love," Matt Roan said. "He kind of kept me in touch with that dream."
Friday, Matt Roan climbed into Diesel Duke and spent the next four hours reconnecting with memories of his childhood, of his father's work and of the lessons that led him to where he is now.
Pete Roan would be worn out from days of driving, but Matt was waiting, eager to pepper his dad with questions about the places he'd just been.
"Nothing's as nice as home," Matt Roan recalled his father telling him each time.
Pete Roan, now 70, retired from trucking in March 2020, after a massive stroke left him paralyzed on one side of his body.
Last week, Matt – the athletic director at James Madison – climbed aboard "Diesel Duke," the JMU football equipment truck, and took the nearly 300-mile ride to Huntington, West Virginia. The team was playing at Marshall and – with his family unable to attend the game – Matt saw the opportunity to take a ride in the rig, a way to both honor his father's career and the lesson it taught him.
"You sacrifice for your family. You work hard for anything in life," Matt said. "My dad is very blue collar. You're not better than anybody. Probably the thing I appreciate the most. No matter what you do, be best at it."
The Roans lived in a three-bedroom house on Riggs Street in Dublin when Matt was born. His father started working locally as a truck driver before moving to the long-haul work that would be his career for over 35 years.
Pete Roan drove for Coca-Cola, for Rollins hauling automotive parts for Ford Motorcraft, for Freightliner out of Statesville, N.C., and, most recently, Estes Express Lines out of Roanoke.
Matt's mother, Debbie, a licensed nurse, often worked two jobs, in part for the money and in part to pass time while her husband was on the road.
In 1997, Roan and his family moved to a new, larger house, but remained in Dublin, on Jewell Avenue, only a few hundred yards from the Riggs Street home. Community was always important to the Roans.
While his job kept Pete Roan away from a lot of Matt's youth sporting events, he came when he could, and even coached when his schedule allowed.
"Time away from home was hard," Matt Roan said.
Pete Roan didn't have the easiest job, but he had a clear vision as to why he did it.
"I think my dad enjoyed what it provided our family," Matt Roan said. "We had a comfortable lifestyle. Looking back now and recognizing the sacrifices that my parents were making. They never let us see it in the moment. You look at that now with a different lens than in the moment and appreciate it more."
There were even times, as a youngster, before he left for Hargrave Military Academy, that Matt Roan thought he might want to follow in his father's tread marks and become a truck driver himself.
"It was cool to me and he's always been my hero," Matt Roan said shortly before leaving for his ride to Marshall. "You're growing up and you're seeing your dad drive this massive machine and he's going to these different places. I always grew up with a fascination with what he did, but my parents always preached education and the opportunities it provided."
After Hargrave, Matt Roan spent a year at Virginia Tech, got his Bachelor's degree from Southern Utah in 2007, and went to law school at the University of Kentucky.
He moved into college athletics in 2011 at Kentucky, starting a career that saw him ascend to become an AD, first at Nicholls State in Louisiana, then Eastern Kentucky and now JMU.
Following Pete's stroke, Pete and Debbie moved to Richmond, Kentucky to be near Matt at EKU. Matt's sister and her family moved there, too. When Matt took the post at James Madison, Pete and Debbie moved back to Southwest Virginia, getting a house in Radford.
These days, with his physical condition continuing to decline, Pete Roan stays inside his home. The last college football game he attended came in December 2019. Matt, working at Nicholls, was an NCAA site representative on hand for an FCS playoff game.
He got his parents tickets so they could spend time together.
Fittingly, the game was at JMU, between the Dukes and Weber State.
All of that led to Matt Roan choosing to ride Diesel Duke to the Marshall game.
The truck departed around 6:45 a.m. Friday from Bridgeforth Stadium, then traveled to Charleston, West Virginia to unload gear at the team hotel. From there, it was on to Huntington. In all, the drive took just under six hours.
The trip reinforced Roan's appreciation for the behind-the-scenes effort of driver Travis Dunham and the Dukes' equipment crew.
"There are just so many people and so many things that go into, whether it's home or on the road, pulling these games off," Matt Roan said.
From climbing in the cab, to bouncing in his seat to hearing the truck's air brakes, the trip had a nostalgic feel for Matt Roan.
"I thought a lot about my old man," he said Friday, shortly after arriving. "You think about how much you appreciate the people who sacrificed for you to get where you are. For me, that's nobody more so than my parents. Even though he wasn't in the truck with me, he was in the truck with me."
On many of his father's final runs as a driver, he'd depart from Roanoke and drive to Harrisburg, Pa. nightly, trekking up Interstate 81.
Matt and Pete would talk on the phone, oftentimes as Pete drove past James Madison, and Pete would comment about Bridgeforth Stadium being lit up or the looming stature of the west side stands and scoreboard.
"His desire, my mom's desire, was always for Mallory, our kids, and me to come back home and do what we love at a place that we love," Matt Roan said. "He kind of kept me in touch with that dream."
Friday, Matt Roan climbed into Diesel Duke and spent the next four hours reconnecting with memories of his childhood, of his father's work and of the lessons that led him to where he is now.
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