Donald Lavert Rogers (September 17, 1962 – June 27, 1986) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

player who was a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

(NFL) for two seasons during the mid-1980s. He played college football for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

, and was recognized as an All-American. Rogers played professionally for the NFL's

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

, but his career was cut short when he died of a heart attack caused by cocaine use in 1986.

Early years

Rogers was born in

Texarkana, Arkansas Texarkana is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Miller County, on the southwest border of the state. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 29,387. The city is located across the state line from its twin city ...

. He graduated from Norte Del Rio High School in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

in 1980, where he excelled in football, basketball and baseball, garnering All-City honors in all three sports. His brother Reggie Rogers also played in the NFL.

College career

Rogers attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, where he played for the Bruins. He was Co-Player of the Game in the

1983 Rose Bowl The 1983 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game, played on January 1, 1983. It was the 69th Rose Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the Michigan Wolverines by a score of 24–14, in a bowl rematch of a regular season game, also won by UCLA. ...

for the UCLA, along with quarterback

Tom Ramsey Tom Ramsey (born July 9, 1961) is a former professional American football quarterback, who played five seasons in the NFL for the New England Patriots and one season for the Indianapolis Colts. Earlier he played for the Los Angeles Express and ...

. He also tied a Rose Bowl record in the

1984 Rose Bowl The 1984 Rose Bowl game, played on Monday, January 2, was the 70th edition. The unranked UCLA Bruins upset the #4 Illinois Fighting Illini by a score of 45–9. Rick Neuheisel, UCLA quarterback, was named the Player of the Game.interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s from

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ameri ...

Jack Trudeau.

Professional career

Rogers was selected in the first round with the 18th pick of the

1984 NFL Draft The 1984 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 1–2, 1984, at the Omni Park Cent ...

by the

. He played two seasons with the Browns from 1984 to 1985.

Death

Rogers died of a heart attack caused by a cocaine overdose the day before his wedding.Kardiac kids: the story of the 1980 Cleveland Browns
By Jonathan Knight. Kent State University Press. p. 275 His death came only eight days after

Len Bias Leonard Kevin Bias (November 18, 1963June 19, 1986) was an American college basketball player who attended the University of Maryland. During his four years playing for Maryland, he was named a first-team All-American. Two days after being selec ...

, an

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

draft pick who also died of cocaine abuse, prompting a national discussion about the relationship between illegal drugs and athletes.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Don 1962 births 1986 deaths All-American college football players American football safeties Cleveland Browns players Cocaine-related deaths in California National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award winners People from Texarkana, Arkansas UCLA Bruins football players Players of American football from Arkansas Players of American football from Sacramento, California