http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1319971.html

I didnt see this posted anywhere and this is very sad news. i always enjoyed watching Rodney play and he's always been a stand up guy.

thoughts / prayers to him and his family through this tough time.

Quote :

"Rodney Rogers, a former Durham high school sports star with a legendary physique, could do just about anything on a basketball court or football field. Friends and family members are wondering now whether he'll ever walk again after an accident last week involving an all-terrain vehicle. The N.C. Highway Patrol said Rogers was four-wheeling in the woods in rural Vance County north of Raleigh when he fell off the vehicle. Dave Odom, Rogers' coach when Rogers was an All-America basketball player at Wake Forest University, said Wednesday that his former star is paralyzed from the shoulders down. Rogers, 37, was recently transferred from Duke Hospital to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. The center's mission is to help people who have experienced a catastrophic injury. "Say a prayer for Rodney and his family,'' Odom said. The injury has felled, at least for the moment, a man who is more than a famous former athlete. Rogers is an ambassador for Durham. He worked with his own hands to repair his hometown's streets. He used his fame to polish its reputation. He provided computers for its poor children, and at the time of the accident he was a volunteer girls' basketball coach at Rogers-Herr Middle School. "He is a Durham boy through and through," said Rogers' agent, James "Butch" Williams, a Durham lawyer."

12/4/2008 10:35:15 AM

That sucks.

12/4/2008 10:40:55 AM

i heard about this yesterday...horrible...one time i was riding a 4-wheeler and going across some planks, balancing on them, and i hit something wrong and slammed my leg into the plank...if i had been going faster it probably could've cut it off...i figured at that point that if I kept acting the fool or even owned a 4-wheeler I'd probably kill myself

good luck to rodney though hopefully he can regain some CNS mobility over time

12/4/2008 10:42:31 AM

holy shit, hes 37?? I thought he was like 27

12/4/2008 10:42:44 AM

Ban 4 wheelers, legalize pot

12/4/2008 10:44:47 AM

^^Really?? Feel like he's been out of the league forever. I was thinking he was closer to his early 40s.

12/4/2008 10:54:41 AM

I remember once for Denver he scored 9 points in less than 9 seconds at the end of a quarter once

3, steal, 3, steal, 3 in like 8.8

Always tried to duplicated that in my driveway

12/4/2008 11:52:23 AM

i lost one of my best friends because of a 4-wheeler wreck

awful news about rodney

12/4/2008 12:32:51 PM

First 360 dunk I saw in an actual live game , 92ish?

12/4/2008 12:33:57 PM

^Was at that game too. NCSU vs. Wake in Reynolds. 92 sounds about right.

^^^I remember that as well. Can't remember who he was playing for but they were down 8 to the Jazz with a few seconds to play. Rodney scored 9 in 8 seconds to take the lead. Then Stockton drove down and hit a 2 pointer at the buzzer to win. What a wasted effort.

12/4/2008 12:41:22 PM

I always like him as a player forever ago.

never knew he was from durham.

sucks man

12/4/2008 12:50:59 PM

When I was at the 2007 ACC Tournament in Tampa, I don't think I'd ever seen a person more excited to watch basketball. For those who don't remember, in the first round, Wake and Georgia Tech played in a 3-OT classic and Rodney was one of the only people left in the entire gym. It was basically empty and it was Rodney and one of his friends watching the game (Rodney's friend was asleep by the start of overtime), but the whole time Rodney was going crazy -- jumping up and down, hitting his friend, giving high fives to everyone around him as he sat almost on the court. Seemed to be a really, really personable guy. Had a lot of people that wanted to be around him it seemed, too.

12/4/2008 12:53:41 PM

^ I remember that game...wasn't there, but I sure as hell watched those OTs when the news wasn't on by 11:10.

Horrible news about Rogers, I really feel for his family. Four wheelers are way more dangerous than regular dirt bikes, as your body is in a vunerable position at all times.

12/4/2008 1:22:40 PM

he was the master of the 360 dunk

class act

12/4/2008 1:25:18 PM

Sucks when bad things happen to good people. Fuck that sucks.

12/4/2008 1:37:27 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCy8q2p5Jw

here's the clip

rip

12/4/2008 1:42:25 PM

rip? .. did he die?

12/4/2008 1:59:04 PM

no but he's paralyzed from the shoulders down

12/4/2008 2:40:54 PM

poor dude

a friend of mine was injured in a diving incident and is paralyzed. He went to the shephard center in atlanta as well, by far the best facility in the country for those types of injuries. While he may never walk again, they will work with him to get maximum usage/effort out of the muscles he does have.

12/4/2008 3:05:33 PM

Quote :

"^^Really?? Feel like he's been out of the league forever. I was thinking he was closer to his early 40s."

I didnt even really follow him in the NBA but it just doesnt seem like he was at Wake Forest 17-18 years ago, thats crazy

12/4/2008 3:07:59 PM

really hated to read this - loved watching the guy play for WFU

12/4/2008 3:45:22 PM

saw him on the team that beat laettner's undefeated duke team .. best game ever

had season tickets back then and was from greenville

not too many class acts in the nba, but he was one

12/4/2008 4:16:49 PM

Tough situation...Was a quality athlete and a Good Guy. Never met him, but heard good stories about the man from Butch Williams, his agent.

Will refrain from complete sig.
III

12/4/2008 4:43:22 PM

Quote :

"really hated to read this - loved watching the guy play for WFU"

A lot of people on TWW are not old enough to remember how good he was in college.

12/4/2008 5:28:13 PM

how does a guy who played 12 years in the league still have to work as a machine operator? was he that careless with his money?

sorry to hear about his condition though

12/4/2008 5:41:06 PM

Good question

According to Basketball-Reference he made around $27 million in the NBA

And according to the N&O article that you didn't read:

Quote :

""He is an outdoorsman, plain and simple," Williams said. "He hunts, motorcycles, rides horses. He loves big trucks." That love of big trucks led to his present job as a heavy equipment operator for the city of Durham's Public Works Department. Rogers "is financially set," Williams said, but he wanted demanding daily work. "Rodney isn't the type to sit around twiddling his thumbs. There aren't any jobs he considers too small for him," Williams said. "He started his own trucking company and was usually the lead driver. He'd be out there driving to the quarry at 3:30 in the morning.""

12/4/2008 5:47:38 PM

I doubt many people on tww followed WF sports when they were under 10. I have no clue who this guy is.

12/4/2008 8:53:12 PM

^ you have to be joking... of course I was 14... haha

12/4/2008 11:34:59 PM

horrible news... i grew up in winston-salem and he was playing for wake during the only game i ever went to. he used to light up some 3 pointers too.

12/4/2008 11:36:32 PM

Quote :

"I doubt many people on tww followed WF sports when they were under 10. I have no clue who this guy is."

hahah, well i mean you are roddy so this doesnt surprise me.
how can you be a fan of the acc and not know who Rodney Rogers is.

thats like saying who is Dennis Scott

12/5/2008 10:34:58 AM

Who is Dennis Scott?

12/5/2008 10:37:05 AM

Quote :

"thats like saying who is Dennis Scott"

roddy is scratching his head right now

12/5/2008 10:37:37 AM

furiously banging his fingers on his keyboard while searching google

12/5/2008 10:44:09 AM

Jesus Christ, roddy

12/5/2008 12:03:59 PM

he came to ravenscroft basketball camp one summer when I was there

he did some ridiculious dunks, i remember one he threw backwards between his legs off the ground off the backboard 360

he seemed to be a great guy, this is very sad news

12/5/2008 1:27:20 PM

sad news indeed. i remember watching him play once in highschool, hillside vs. orange high. he demolished OHS, then did the same to ACC teams the next year. what a shame.

12/5/2008 3:23:09 PM

4-wheelers look so safe, how in the world do so many people keep getting hurt riding them?

12/5/2008 3:53:34 PM

adrenaline

12/5/2008 3:56:41 PM

I saw him way back in like 90 or 91 for hillside, they played the conference finals at central. Rogers had two monster dunks that I remember. The first snapped a wire or cable up to the shot clock, his second knocked the clock off, it was unreal watching a high school kid do that.

12/5/2008 10:46:42 PM

Quote :

"He co-founded the Durham Eagles youth football team.[6]"

the durham eagles are -nasty- they wax raleigh youth teams constantly.

12/5/2008 10:59:09 PM