BUY ON AMAZON: One Moment Changes Everything: The All-America Tragedy of Don Rogers
Don Rogers was a three-sport phenomenon who energized a forgotten corner of the world (North Sacramento). He could run, jump and tackle better than anyone in California. A role model to children, he became both an honor student and a consensus All- American football player for UCLA, where he dominated two Rose Bowls and was a favorite of fans and sportswriters alike. Rogers went on to become a first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns and was voted rookie of the year in 1984. Then it fell apart. Just one week after the overdose death of basketball star Len Bias, and only one day before his marriage to his college sweetheart, while in the upstairs bedroom of his mother’s home Rogers made the incomprehensible decision to use cocaine, and died just hours later. This All-American story is about a good man whose life transcended sports, and whose death continues to spur important debate about burden, love, addiction, responsibility, and what constitutes happiness in the material world.
Sean Harvey is a freelance writer and editor who battled Sacramento legends and future NFL stars Don and Reggie Rogers on the courts and fields of their rival high schools, before going on to coach their sister, Jackie, in summer basketball tournaments around Sacramento. Later, while Don and Reggie became college stars elsewhere on the West Coast, Harvey became a two-year varsity letterman wide receiver at San Jose State University. He spent five years working in New York, primarily as a manager for Authors and Artists Group, a Manhattan-based literary agency. Harvey resides in Berkeley, CA.
On [cocaine s] casualty list you’ll find the poor, the middle class, the rich and famous hundreds, even thousands, per year dead. Who has not felt the heartache of hearing the news of a friend or family member, someone who had so much to live for but is now gone forever? . . . Len Bias and Don Rogers, gifted athletes who had so much more to achieve, [were] only two of the most recent fatalities. . . . All those in the sports world should understand what a real force for good they could be.
Ronald Reagan – 40th President of the United States
If Don Rogers … could die a similar death as Len Bias just eight days later, you have to wonder how many people said, as Bias did, Well, it won t happen to me.
Michael Wilbon – The Washington Post
Don Rogers was the most natural and instinctive player I ve ever had in my 30 years of coaching; and his untimely death had a devastating impact on me. One Moment Changes Everything is an impressive and shocking chronicle of the life of Donnie Rogers.
MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER – Three-time NFL Head Coach of the Year
One Moment Changes Everything provides an honest peek into the lives of the Rogers family, an unmatched collection of can t-miss talent that seemed to create every possible edge to escape the inner-city traps that claimed their neighbors. Author Sean Harvey digs beyond the headlines and news clips and reveals exactly what went wrong.
CHRIS DE LUCA – Chicago Sun-Times
Displaying a rich knowledge of the California sports scene that launched Don Rogers and an astonishing eye for detail, Sean Harvey tells a story that was begging to be told for nearly two decades. Through every page, I was struck by his insight into how the cocaine 80s fueled the Rogers tragedy. When I learned years ago about his passing so soon after the death of Len Bias, I thought of him as foolish. Harvey explains how the arrogance of the time was epidemic among those with money and how the repercussions of Rogers death went far beyond anything I d imagined.
MIKE DECOURCY – The Sporting News
Don Rogers was as good as it gets. He was physical, explosive, athletic, and could influence a game like few players I have ever seen. His tragic death was a tremendous loss for all of us who admired him for the kind of person and player he was. His death brought home how fragile all of us are as human beings. I miss him, and I think about him everyday.
TERRY DONAHUE – former UCLA football coach and NFL general manager, and current football analyst
One Moment Changes Everything, an amazing debut for writer Sean D. Harvey, is a remarkable story that reassesses the ‘American Dream’ of superstardom and success. Documenting the complexities of one African-American family who produced three star athletes – but with tragic effects – this book reminds us how the forces of race and class are powerfully intertwined and inescapable in America.
DWIGHT A. MCBRIDE – Leon Forrest Professor and Chair of African-American Studies at Northwestern University
One Moment Changes Everything is about more than one family s tragedy. It is a snapshot of time and place during a turning point in American sports and culture. Sean Harvey does an excellent job of chronicling the sad events of the Rogers family, and an even better job of placing them in the proper social context.
TIM KEOWN – Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine –Quotes and Praise
One Moment Changes Everything offers a compelling microcosm of some of the best and worst aspects of American life: The recognition and rewards of applying natural talent; fidelity to family however flawed; spectator sports both spotlighting human achievement and seeking out weakness; the crucible of race, poverty, fame, drugs and depression; and the perpetual hope for redemption and renewal with each generation. –Ace Davis, The Orange And Brown Report