At the 1992 Florida Folk Festival Dale Crider hosted a tribute to Florida Folk legend Gamble Rogers. Many amazing Florida Folk musicians took the stage to honor Gamble's memory. The performers included Gabe Valla & Sam Pacetti (who were both 17 at the time), Southwind, Dennis Devine, Jeanie Fitchen, Ken Skeens, Don Grooms, Charlie Robertson, and Ken Crawford. Gamble's nephew Geoffrey Rogers read a very moving poem he wrote about Gamble; and Gamble's brother, Jack Rogers, tells the true childhood stories that were the inspiration for some of Gamble's greatest songs. James Gamble Rogers III was born Jan. 31, 1937 in Winter Park Florida. Dedicated to following in the footsteps of his father James Gamble Rogers II and his great-uncle James Gamble Rogers who were prominent architects, but in 1966, on his way to interview for a job at an architectural firm, he saw a notice that the Serendipity Singers were auditioning for another musician; he borrowed a guitar, tried out and won the job, which he kept less than a year, returning to Florida to hang out with Florida legends Will McLean, Jim Ballew and Paul Champion. By the 1970s he was a permanent fixture at the Florida Folk Festival, often the headliner famous for his hilarious onstage monologues depicting Cracker life in the imaginary Oklawaha County, everything backed up by Gamble’s incredible dexterity finger-picking the guitar. A self-described modern troubadour, he influenced such greats as Jimmy Buffett, David Bromberg and Jim Stafford. On October 10, 1991, while camping with his wife at Flagler Beach, near St. Augustine, he noticed a man in the surf having trouble. Compromised by his lifetime battle with spinal arthritis, he nevertheless jumped in to save the man, but both men died in the rescue attempt, devastating the entire Florida Folk Music family that worshipped him. To honor him, the area was renamed Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach. He was awarded the Kiwanis Award for bravery, the Carnegie Award for heroism and was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1998. He recorded six albums, all available on the non-profit Gamble Rogers Memorial Foundation, Inc.
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