Former NBA player and Wake Forest standout Rodney Rogers has died at the age of 54, the university announced.
The National Basketball Players Association said that Rogers died of natural causes linked to a spinal cord injury.
Rogers, who earned the nickname “Durham Bull,” spent 12 seasons in the NBA after his playing days with the Demon Deacons, and in 2008, he was paralyzed from the shoulders down after an accident on a dirt bike.
“Rodney Rogers transformed and accelerated the upward trajectory of Wake Forest University as well as Demon Deacons basketball from the moment he signed his letter of intent in the fall of 1989,” Wake Forest University vice president and director of athletics John Currie said in a statement.
Rogers arrived in Winston-Salem and made an immediate impact, winning ACC freshman of the year honors in 1991. He was named ACC Player of the Year and a first-team All-American in 1993, and the next year was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the ninth overall selection.
During his rookie season, Rogers had one of the most incredible sequences in NBA history. In a February game against the Utah Jazz, the Nuggets trailed the Jazz by eight points with 37 seconds left. Rogers then scored nine points, on three 3-point shots in less than nine seconds to put Denver up by one, but Jazz guard Jeff Malone hit the game-winning jumper to give Utah the 96-95 victory.
Rogers also played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers.
Rogers had his best season in 1999-2000 with the Suns, averaging 13.8 points and winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
“The last 17 years have been both challenging and profoundly blessed,” the NBPA statement said. “Through every moment, Rodney remained a light — positive, motivated, and full of the quiet strength that inspired everyone around him.”
He is survived by his wife, Faye; his children, daughter Roddreka, son Rodney Rogers II, daughter Rydeiahm, his mother, Estelle Spencer; and Eric Hipilito, embraced as a son by Rogers.
