Jimmy Rogers, Brixton Topcats Founding Father Passes Away

Jimmy Rogers at the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic 2016 - Image Credit: Abdul Kassim

Brixton Topcats founder Jimmy Rogers passed away on Monday morning at the age of 78 after a six-month battle with cancer.

One of the founding fathers of the club in 1984, Rogers is responsible for an extensive list of British basketball talents including two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng, former WNBA player Andrea Congreaves, current BBL MVP Justin Robinson, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Eric Boateng, Ogo Adegboye, the Baker twins, Andrew Bailey and many more, but most importantly provided an outlet for thousands of inner-city youth with a club that became a cornerstone of the local community in South London.

A legend in the truest sense of the word, Rogers was not only responsible for producing great basketball players with the Topcats, but numerous other professionals who beat the odds; doctors, lawyers, academics, journalists, teachers and more, who all credit the club for their success.

The basketball club is arguably the most famous in England, with a trophy cabinet and alumni list to rival any team in the country.

A statement on the Brixton Topcats’ instagram page said:

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the loss of Coach Jimmy Rogers. Jimmy passed away this morning surrounded by a friend and family members, after a 6 month battle with cancer.

“Jimmy’s work and commitment to his community is unmatched. A father figure, coach, mentor and guide to innumerable people, Jimmy had the purest heart of gold. Jimmy was a man that sacrificed, served, gave in immeasurable ways to his community in and outside of Brixton Topcats where he created a home away from home for hundreds and hundreds players. 👑

“Jimmy’s legacy, influence and work will live on forever. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts, prayers, love and support are with his family and his friends at this difficult time.

“Rest in perfect peace 🌹❤️”

Rogers was born on 17th December 1939 in Wales but grew up in an orphanage in Newcastle upon Tyne. The only black child in the area, his first introduction to basketball was in 1952 at school in Newcastle, and he fell in love with it immediately.

Rebellious in nature, Rogers was forced to join the boy’s army at 15 years old. He was eventually stationed in Germany, where he played for the British Army team – who became the first British team to compete in Europe – and professional side VFL Osnabruck. Stationed in Germany for 7 years, he was a Physical Training Instructor for the regiment, allowing him to spend hours every day honing his game. In Germany was the first time he was exposed to proper coaching of the game, under the tutelage of a Turk.

By his late teens Jimmy had discovered Liverpool whilst on leave and felt a natural affinity with its predominantly indigenous black community

On his return to the UK in 1966 at 27 years old he moved to Liverpool, played for the Liverpool YMCA, where he got into coaching. Along with being player-coach of the Liverpool Police (where he led them to a National Championship in 1970/71), he began with the youth in Toxteth, a rough, predominantly black area – known by its postcode of Liverpool 8 – which was his first foray into teaching the game to others, whilst working at Ford Motor Company.

Rogers quickly built up a reputation, soon receiving visits from the government’s Community Relations Office for his work – ultimately being offered a job.

Not only was he getting youths off the street but also experiencing success on the court; by 1969 beating the police side which were previously the top squad in the area. It was not long before his group of Toxteth youths – known as Liverpool ATAC – became known as the best team in Liverpool.

Frustrated by a lack of coaching expertise in the UK, but also seeing a number of talented basketball minds exit the game for a variety of reasons, Jimmy refused to quit on it, saying it added to his stubbornness to remain involved.

After a period of unemployment, Rogers saw a position advertised with the Brixton Young Families Housing Association in 1980. He applied, and got the job, moving to Shannon Grove in Brixton, where he lived until his passing.

At the point of his relocation to the Capital, to his surprise, he says there were no inner city kids playing basketball at any type of level anywhere in London.

Approached by Crystal Palace when he arrived, he joined the coaching staff as Assistant Coach but says he immediately questioned why there were no young black players. Whilst at Crystal Palace, he began coaching a group of young players from the surrounding areas, such as Brixton, Deptford and Lewisham. Eventually getting access to a gym at Dick Sheppard School on Tulse Hill Road in 1981, it would become the early formations of a Brixton basketball programme.

After he claims almost 2 years of chasing at Crystal Palace, the club began to recruit black players; the likes of Steve Bucknall, Joel Moore and Joe White were a part of the team, but Jimmy was shocked by what he felt were racist attitudes he saw towards the players.*

*NOTE: With regards to the racism accusations above, this was Jimmy’s opinion (taken from more than one interview over the years) and is not being stated as fact. We have since spoken to multiple people close to the Crystal Palace programme at the time, who refute there was racism within the club.

Unpleased with management, and with his own programme flourishing, Jimmy soon broke off to formally do his own thing in 1984. Along with Courtnay Griffiths – at the time a young barrister, commencing his successful career where he became a prominent QC, the New Educational and Recreation Association, known as New Era, was formed with the objective of using basketball to “advance the education of young persons resident in Brixton (and surrounding areas) through providing programmes for physical recreation, so as to develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacity, that they may grow to full maturity as individuals, and as members of society, and that their lives may be improved”.

Aiming to have teams in Brixton playing at the highest level and wanting to challenge the negative myths and attitudes that existed toward Brixton, New Era was officially constituted and came into existence.

Brixton basketball club, named the Topcats after a cartoon about a group of mischievous alley cats that would have regular runs in with the local policeman, was officially born in 1984, and in 1985 on completion of Brixton Recreation Centre moved into a new home, where it remains to this day.

By the late ’80s, the club had become a pillar of the Brixton community, with hundreds showing up just to watch practice and even more for games. With the Baker twins – Ronnie and Stedroy – along with Andrew Bailey, the club soon got a notoriety as a powerhouse with local talent.

But it was about far more than basketball. Jimmy’s philosophy was ‘winning the game of life, not the game of basketball’. Discipline, work ethic and respect were all instilled; for the first five seasons of the club, anybody who got a technical would be suspended for six games.

A hoops purist, Rogers has attended the NCAA Final Four in the US every year since 1984.

Asked what he wants his legacy to be by Hoopsfix in an interview from last year, he said:

“That this clubs maintains and sustains going forward some kids coming in here knowing that they’ve got an opportunity to learn something about basketball and the game of life.

“Having a winning attitude. It’s not about winning the game of basketball, it’s about winning the game of life,” Rogers added, paying tribute to two of his coaching idols in John Chaney and John Thompson.

“That is our philosophy, that is our philosophy,” he reiterated.

Jimmy Rogers was a regular supporter of Hoopsfix and of the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic that happened in Brixton, helping us out on numerous occasions whenever we needed it, we remain forever grateful. He will be greatly missed and we send our thoughts and condolences to his friends and family.

R.I.P.

Tributes from across the basketball community have been flooding in for Jimmy; former players, opponents, and colleagues alike, as clubs across London this weekend at all levels are being asked to honour Rogers with a one-minute applause or silence before the start of each game.

Here are a selection of tributes:

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix