What causes a misaligned rocker arm?

I was out in the garage tonight and wanted to try and locate the problem with my oil fouling on the #1 cylinder of my 68 327. Found the issue....the valve stem seal is toast...torn and riding up and down with the valve with no sign of a holder/retainer? So thats my oil fouling issue in the cylinder but the real surprise I got was the intake rocker right next to it is mis aligned to the left of the valve stem Wasn't centered on it like it should be. What causes this? Bent pushrod? So basically my #1 cyl is a cluster haha

 

Yes, bent push rod would be the most obvious reason. Pull it out and roll it across a flat surface to see if its bent.

 

A bad rocker arm and or ball can also cause this , the tip will wear crooked and eat the valve tip ,rocker and the side of the stud.Anytime you see a cocked rocker chances are the side of the rocker slot has worn a groove in the stud.

 

If you dont have guide plates and bolt in studs .Basically factory .I was talking to a buddy of mine and when heads were stood up they fell over and bend the end studs.I used late model rockers to fix my one that walked to the side.

 

its got the factory screw in studs but yea no guideplates. I'll have to yank the rocker arm off tonight and investigate further. I'd like to check out the push rod too and see what kind of shape thats in