Trophy Fails to Keep Rodgers From Jail Term

Johnny Rodgers, in a San Diego courtroom with his 1972 Heisman Trophy on a table next to him, was ordered Wednesday to serve six months in the county jail for threatening a television technician with a gun.

In announcing the sentence, Superior Court Judge Jack Levitt referred to the trophy.

“That trophy has been placed between Mr. Rodgers and the rest of society,” he said. “That is what Mr. Rodgers has ridden for a long time. He expects to be treated differently. As a society, maybe we’re somewhat to blame--we give respect and adulation to athletes.”

The judge also fined Rodgers $1,000, put him on probation for three years and ordered him to perform 100 hours of volunteer work and to submit to a psychological evaluation as well as alcohol and drug testing.

The defense indicated that the sentence will be appealed.

Rodgers, 35, won the Heisman at the University of Nebraska. He was arrested at his San Diego County home last Oct. 5 after chasing a cable television technician off his property.

The technician said that Rodgers had threatened to shoot him while he was on a utility pole disconnecting service to Rodgers’ home for nonpayment of a bill. Rodgers said that he had kept the weapon in his bathrobe pocket.

A Superior Court jury convicted Rodgers of assault with a firearm and being an ex-felon in possession of a weapon Jan. 28. The ex-felon charge stems from Rodgers’ 1971 conviction in Lancaster County, Neb., for a gas station robbery.