Jimmy Rogers: Father of British Basketball.
What role did the Northeast play in this inspirational coach and community leader's life?
Image courtesy of Brixton Topcats
Jimmy Rogers
In Wales on the 17th December 1939, Jimmy Aggrey Rogers was born to a Black American merchant seaman and a Welsh Barbadian dancer. He would, sadly, know neither.
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Rogers was brought up in an orphanage in Newcastle (the exact one is unknown at time of writing). He describes the experience as one of ‘survival’. Why he was homed so far away from Wales is not known. The war may have played its part. At age 13, he went to live with Brenda and Tom in a County Durham mining town (maddingly this too is not mentioned in the sources used) where he stayed until he was15. At this age, he joined the army as a ‘boy’ soldier. He was never welcomed back to his foster home.
In North East England, he was introduced to basketball at school. He describes his school as a ‘selective comprehensive.' The playground was on the roof of the school(!) One teacher, with an interest in Basketball, introduced Rogers and a small group of students to it. Rogers would practice all night in gyms. He decided to run to and from school, a distance of ten miles.
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This ignited a love of the sport which would drive him to be a fitness instructor in the army, a professional Basketball player in West Germany and he represented Britain in the 1968 Olympics! He would later be an inspirational coach in Liverpool’s Toxteth area and then in the Brixton area of London.
What else was happening in 1939?
In 1939, as Britain celebrated its first Christmas during World War Two, Britain was also wrestling with its colonial offers of help.
The need for help, in a place with many racist attitudes, led to confusion. Offers from colonial nations and subjects were rejected at a time when Britain was bracing for the full horrors of the war.
Mural in Brixton railway arch, London
Artist - Dreph
Drepth Mural of Jimmy Rogers in Brixton. Photo taken by Loco Steve. Licence CC2.0
The Unlikely Coach
In Liverpool, Rogers brought basketball and his resilience and support to an area that had become isolated by racism. Despite his background, he coached the Liverpool Police Basketball team. This was a surprising role. He was a Black man, coaching a team from a police force that used its power to persecute people from the Toxteth area!
In Trouble?
Shortly after leaving the coaching job, Rogers was arrested for possession of drugs but acquitted at court.
Topcats
Rogers worked for the Ford Halewood plant and the Merseyside Community Relations Council (MCRC) before moving to Brixon in London. There, he helped to set up the first London ladies basketball team and then the team that would become the Brixton Topcats - named by Rogers with a non violent name, but after the cartoon character, Topcat who was always getting the better of Officer Dibble!
Over to You!
Rogers was an inspirational coach having helped countless young people. Sadly, Rogers died in 2018. The Guardian obituary, that called him the ‘Father of British Basketball’ quoted him - ‘Having a winning attitude. It’s not about winning the game of basketball, it’s about winning the game of life.’
What did Jimmy Rogers do that made him a winner of life?
List those things and see if they can inspire you!
To Know More go to these sites;
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'We can be anything that we wanted to be': Remembering Jimmy Rogers
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