Former NFL player Reginald “Reggie” O’Keith Rogers, 49, was found dead on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013, in Seattle. A neighbor reported to the media that she overheard medics at the scene say he may have died of a heart attack. The former Washington Huskies All-American defensive lineman played four seasons in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions, who drafted him No. 7 overall in the 1987 draft. Spending only two seasons with the Lions, he was driving drunk when he killed three teens in 1988. After spending 16 months in prison, he joined the Buffalo Bills in 1991. His career ended after 15 games over a course of four seasons.
Rogers has been battling demons ever since. In 2011, he was sentenced to a year in jail for his sixth conviction on drunk driving charges. His brother, Don, who shared his brother’s athletic prowess — an All-American safety at UCLA and the Defensive Rookie of the Year with Cleveland in 1984 – died at age 23 a day before his wedding of an overdose that caused him to have a heart attack.
Rogers’ daughter, Regina, was an All-American basketball player at Washington in 2012.
He was arrested earlier this month for hitting his wife with a flashlight.
