Report: Former NBA star paralyzed

RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Former Wake Forest and NBA star Rodney Rogers has been left paralyzed following an all-terrain vehicle accident, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

His college coach, Dave Odom, Wednesday told The News and Observer newspaper in Raleigh, N.C., that Rogers is paralyzed from the shoulders down following last week's accident.

The newspaper said a North Carolina Highway Patrol report said Rogers was riding in the woods in rural Vance County, N.C., when he fell off the vehicle.

The Durham, N.C., native recently was transferred from Duke Hospital in Durham to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which specializes in rehabilitation for people with catastrophic injuries.

"Say a prayer for Rodney and his family," Odom said.

He was "an outdoorsman, plain and simple," Rogers' agent and lawyer, James "Butch" Williams said. "He hunts, motorcycles, rides horses."

The 6-foot, 6-inch Rogers starred in both football and basketball in high school and, after a stellar career at Wake Forest, had a 12-year NBA career and won the league's sixth man award in 1999-2000.