Former University of Washington football star Reggie Rogers died on Thursday morning at the age of 49. Medics were called to Rogers’ home in Seattle around 12:45 pm local time to see Rogers unresponsive.
Police officers were called and Rogers was declared dead at the scene from a suspected drug overdose, reports KIRO-7 . Rogers’ death was a sad ending to a once-promising career.
The US football star was an All-American and first-round NFL draft pick. Rogers was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1987, but experienced his first troubles with the law shortly after when he killed three teenagers in a DUI crash in 1988.
Rogers’ blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit and he ultimately spent one year in jail after he was found guilty of negligent homicide. The Lions dropped him during that time , notes The Seattle Times .
The former football player’s record included six DUI convictions and he was under investigation for domestic violence charges at the time of his incident stemming from an incident involving his wife earlier this month.
Reggie Rogers allegedly grabbed his wife by the collar of her bathrobe during a fight on October 7 and hit her over the head with a flashlight. He also threw the object at her when she left through the kitchen door. The 56-year-old woman ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911 on Rogers.
The man was arrested and charged in the incident. Rogers entered a not guilty plea to the charges and had a domestic violence pre-custody hearing scheduled for Monday. Rogers was the younger brother of Don Rogers, an All-American safety at UCLA and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year with the Cleveland Browns. Don died in 1986 at the age of 23 of a heart attack related to a cocaine overdose.
It isn’t clear what Reggie Rogers’ cause of death was.
