Ex-Wake Forest, NBA player Rodney Rogers dies at 54 - ESPN

Former Wake Forest star and 12-year NBA player Rodney Rogers has died. He was 54.

The school announced Saturday that Rogers had died on Friday. Rogers — the No. 9 overall NBA draft pick in 1993 — had been paralyzed from the shoulders down since a dirt bike accident in November 2008. Rogers died of natural causes linked to his spinal cord injury, according to a statement from the National Basketball Players Association on behalf of Rogers' family.

«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.»

Rogers was the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year in 1991 and player of the year in 1993 whose No. 54 jersey was retired by the Demon Deacons. The burly 6-foot-7 forward with powerful athleticism earned the «Durham Bull» nickname during his prep career, then went on to score nearly 9,500 points in the NBA while being named league sixth man of the year in 2000.

Rogers' injury led to the establishment of a foundation bearing his name, with Rogers encouraging people with spinal cord injuries while promoting resilience and personal growth in the face of those challenges. The school honored him with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022 along with an honorary degree.

«Rodney is the strongest person I have ever met — physically and mentally — and his resilience was evident in the fight he showed every single day,» program great and former teammate Randolph Childress said in a statement released by the school. «I've said this before and I still mean it today: he was the best athlete ever to walk onto Wake Forest's campus. He meant so much to so