Roark was a native of Altavista, Virginia. He attended Bethany College in West Virginia, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball, and graduated with the class of 1925.[1] He played catcher on the baseball team with pitcher Ed Wells, who went on to play Major League Baseball. Roarke resigned from his post at Washington & Jefferson in December 1940 to coach football at New Brighton, Pennsylvania's high school, where he had coached football and basketball from 1930 to 1935.[2] In his first stint at New Brighton, his football teams tallied a mark of 33–9–3.[3]
