MOURNING ROGERS : Rev. Jackson Sees a Profound Lesson in the Cocaine Death of Football Star

The body of Don Rogers rested in an open casket on the floor of Arco Arena Thursday afternoon while his friends and family--more than 2,000 strong--mourned his death.

There were formal tributes from representatives of his school district and from politicians from his old Del Paso Heights neighborhood. There was a resolution from Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s office. There were words of praise from Terry Donahue, his coach at UCLA, and from Marty Schottenheimer, his coach with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. Paul Warfield also spoke on behalf of the Browns.

But no one dared to speak of the cause of death, of the cocaine that killed a healthy, happy 23-year-old man on the day before his wedding, until the Rev. Jesse Jackson came forward.

Jackson said: “The essence of Don Rogers was that he used his God-given talent to help his community, to show us how to achieve, how to win and how to lose. He is still teaching us profound lessons of life, even in his death.

“He is showing children that they must live, and possibly die, as a consequence of their own choices.

“He is showing us the importance of how to determine our real friends.

“He is teaching that even the greatest among us are not perfect and that all of us are just one step away from death.”

Jackson talked about the threat posed by Ku Klux Klan, but he said, “The KKK does not kill as many of our people as the drug pushers . . . who come disguised as friends . . . and who have full access to our inner circles.”

Jackson said that God has given up young men before to get our attention, and he used, as examples, Jesus Christ and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Don Rogers, he said, is another young man who was given up to “get the attention of a generation.” Jackson said, “God sometimes uses extraordinary ways to get our attention.”

Donahue touched upon the lesson of Rogers’ death, too. Standing on the black-shrouded stage, Donahue said: “We come from all parts of the country and all walks of life, but we have two things in common today. First, we all loved and respected Don Rogers a great deal. It is impossible to express in words the impact Don had on the UCLA family with his leadership, his character, his personality, his competitiveness.

“Our other common thread is our obligation to make sure that in some way, no matter how small or insignificant, we all do something to see that Don Rogers did not die in vain.”

In closing, Donahue said: “We have had some great individuals at the university, but in my 15 years, it would be hard to find a man that the entire UCLA community loved, respected and admired more than Don Rogers.”

Several of Rogers’ former UCLA teammates attended the funeral, including Ron Pitts, Duval Love, Mike Sherrard, Karl Morgan and Danny Andrews.

Kenny Easley, who was Rogers’ mentor at UCLA and who was scheduled to be in his wedding party last Saturday, was one of eight pallbearers. Other former UCLA players who served as pallbearers were Frank Cephous, Gene Mewborn and Kevin Nelson.

Most of the Browns’ players attended a memorial service in Cleveland earlier in the day, but J. D. Hill, Hanford Dixon and Chris Rockins were here to serve as pallbearers.

Rogers’ mother, Loretha, who suffered a heart attack Saturday, did not attend the funeral. She was still hospitalized.

His brother, Reggie, who plays football for the University of Washington, led the family to front-row seats, and there he spent most of the service comforting his younger sister, Jackie, who plays basketball for Oregon State. She became especially emotional during the singing of “The Greatest Love of All,” which was to have been sung at the wedding.

Rogers’ fiancee, Leslie Nelson, sat with Rogers’ brother and sister, helping to care for Rogers’ 4-year-old son, Donald, Jr. Friends said that Rogers’ son, by a high school sweetheart, had been raised by Rogers and Rogers’ mother.

Arco Arena is just a few minutes’ drive from the house that Rogers bought for his mother in a northern Sacramento suburb, the house where Rogers was stricken.

Photographers and television crews were barred from the services except for one cameraman who seemed to concentrate on taking pictures of Reverend Jackson.

When the recessional began, mourners paraded down to the floor to pass the casket and shake hands with the officiating minister, the Rev. E. Washington, and with Reverend Jackson. The casket was then taken out through the back of the arena and on to the cemetery.