Catching Up With Jason Rogers

Jason Rogers

Current home: Las Vegas, Nevada
Current job: City Planner for City of Henderson, Nevada – ” Henderson is south of Las Vegas. If you think about it, it’s about a 15-minute trip to the strip.”
Family: Mother and father Randolph and LaVerne Rogers live in north Las Vegas. Getting married July 31 to Emily Slitz – Hoo teammate Jason Dowling will be his best man.
At Virginia: Men’s basketball, 1999-2003. Team tri-captain in 2002-03 as a senior; started the first game of his collegiate career against Maryland on Senior Night and finished with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a career-high 21 minutes in a win against the Terps; also started against Duke in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals and had 4 points, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 rebounds. In 2001-02, had a career-high 4 blocks against Grambling State. In 2002-03, Rogers was named to the ACC All-Academic team and received these team honors: Michael McCann Leadership Award, Mr. Consistency Award, and the Academic Achievement Award (co-recipient). Rogers received the team’s Best Attitude Award in 1999-2000, 2000-2001, and 2001-2002.
Nicknames: “They called me J-Rog. … It grew from just being players and the coaches saying that to other students saying that while walking around and even some faculty called me J-Rog. It grew like a virus over time.”
Best Virginia moment: “Obviously there was Senior Night – that ranks up there pretty high because that was just a special night. Also, graduating the Architecture School and being able to see the smile and happiness on my parents’ face.”
Least favorite Virginia moment: “I wouldn’t say I’ve had a bad moment at the University of Virginia. If I had to really dig down and think of a worst moment for my time at UVa, it would be my first year where we had gotten snubbed out of the NCAA Tournament when we were the three seed in the ACC with a 9-7 record.”
Favorite Charlottesville restaurant/hangout: The Italian Villa. “I loved the Villa. Great service, great people and a very nice, relaxed atmosphere. It’s more of a home atmosphere where people got to actually know who you were.”
Last time back on Grounds: Sept. 9, 2009 for the TCU football game.
Teammates you stay in touch with most: Jason Dowling, Travis Watson, Roger Mason Jr., Chris Williams, Jason Clark, Majestic Mapp. “I’ve stayed pretty close with most of the players that I played with.”

In August of 2000, the Virginia men’s basketball team embarked on a six-game European Tour. Sounds perfect for a student-athlete right? Take an end of the summer vacation to Europe to play a little basketball, relax, and have a good time overseas. Jason Rogers, a University of Virginia sophomore at the time, saw it as much more than that.

Rogers saw the trip as an opportunity. One that he wanted to make sure to take advantage of beyond playing a little basketball – something he did that well on the tour, posting a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds against TSV Breitengussbach in Germany for example. Viewing the trip as more than that, however, changed Rogers’ path in life thanks to a different kind of tour in Belgium.

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