Rozier recovering from wounds
Police uncertain about gunman, facts surrounding night of shooting
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ROZIER from page 1'
South Jersey rival of Rozier in high
school and a teammate at Nebraska.
Fryar overcame some problems in his
own life, recently became a minister
and has visited Rozier several times
since the shooting.
“Mike’s a good guy who has good
morals,” Fryar said. “His mother and
father raised him right. I know Mike is
where he is because he wants to be
home, be around his family, the neigh
borhood, his old friends, and you can’t
blame him for that.”
One of the first people to call
Rozier in the hospital die day after the
shooting was Nebraska Coach Tom
Osborne, who guided Rozier through
his years with the Comhuskers and has
stayed close to him.
“I love Coach Osborne,” Rozier
said. “If he had a kidney problem and
wanted a kidney, I’d give him mine.
That’s how much I think of him.”
Rozier, though bandaged and in
pain, looks only slightly softer than the
days when he ran, as a 5-10, 198
pounder senior, for a Nebraska-record
2,148 yards — which currently ranks
third in NCAA history behind Barry
Sanders’ 2,628 in for Oklahoma State
in 1988 and Marcus Allen’s 2,342 for
Southern Cal in 1981 —and scored a
then-NCAA record 29 touchdowns.
That ranks second all-time behind
Sanders’ 37.
Rozier never let his Heisman sta
tus change him or distance him from
his old friends, and he still plans to
show up for the Heisman announce
ment Dec. 14 at the Downtown Ath
letic Club in New York.
The trophy and his talent brought
him a $3 million contract as the No. 1
draft choice of Pittsburgh in the USFL
in 1984, $200,000 the following year
with Jacksonville of the same league,
and a four-year deal reportedly worth
$1.4 million with Houston in the NFL
later in 1985. Placed on waivers by the
Oilers in 1990, he finished his career
after three seasons with Atlanta, quit
ting in part because of a knee injury
and in part because he lost interest in
football.
In seven NFL seasons, Rozier had
modest success with 1,159 carries for
4,462 yards and 30 touchdowns. He
also caught 90 passes for 715 yards.
The story of the fast, wild shooting
two weeks ago makes no more sense
than many of the 27 homicides in
Camden so far this year, a statistic the
police boast is about half of last year’s
total.
Rozier and Merrill, the way they tell
it, were driving around in Rozier’s red
1989 Mercedes, a car virtually every
one in Camden knows. Red chrome,
red carpeting, every inch meticulously
maintained.
rirst tney stop to see some mends,
then they go to a little store that one of
Rozier’s six brothers opened. It’s late,
and Rozier is there to make sure no
body messes with his brother when he
picks up the money. Then they drive
around a little more and see a couple
of guys they know, who holler for them
to pull over and talk.
“I pull Over, no problem,” Rozier
said. “I do that all the time.”
Soon, a man they know from the
neighborhood, but identified to police
only as “Lou,” comes along acting
drunk and obnoxious.
“He was drunk. He was in my face,”
Rozier said. “I know him, and I know
how he is. It wasn’t like he was trying
to threaten me. Bart was just saying to
back off.”
Rozier and Merrill think the situa
tion is over, but about 30 minutes later
Lou returns — with a gun under his
coat.
“He never said anything. He prob
ably was too drunk to say anything,”
Merrill said. “He didn't walk up to
Mike. He walked up behindme. Thai
after he shot me in the back, Mike,
being my friend and everything, he
thought he’d better try and shoot
Mike.”
The story Rozier and Merrill tell
sound unconvincing to the police, who
are still investigating the case.
“They said this guy just pulled out
a gun for no apparent reason,” Lt. Joe
Richardson said. “I mean, if you and I
are drinking, I don’t just pull out a gun
for no apparent reason and shoot you
three times or four times. There’s usu
ally a reason.”
Richardson is also suspicious of
Rozier’s and Merrill’s “limited coop
eration” with officers investigating the
shooting.
“I think Bart wants to get the guy
that shot him, and shoot him himself,”
Richardson said.
“Well, put it like this,” Merrill said
in response to police worries of retali
ation. “I’m not out to shoot nobody
myself because I got daughters to raise
and this guy’s not worth me leaving my
children. I’m a very well respected guy
with a lot of brothers, and that’s be
cause I’m straight up.”
There’s also a different version of
what happened, according to Martin
Sartin, who grew up admiring Rozier,
played running back at Long Beach
State and had a brief NFL career with
the Los Angeles Raiders and San Di
ego Chargers.
“Mike was a role model for me,”
said Sartin, now a middle school
teacher and family service counselor.
“I have mixed feelings about him
at this point. Instead of turning to the
people who could help him, he turned
to the streets and the corruption of it,
from drugs to drinking to poor selec
tion of friends.”
aaran, however, admits he never
saw Rozier buy drugs or use drugs. No
drugs were found at the site of the
shooting. Nor has Rozier ever been
arrested for buying or using drugs,
though he acknowledges trying vari
ous drugs while playing in the pros.
“1 tried cocaine before, smoked
weed before,” Rozier said. “There’s
nothing out there that I don’t know the
effect of.”
Rozier says he dealt with all that
and put it behind him, voluntarily go
ing for alcohol counseling when he
played for Houston and rehabilitation
for drugs another time as a pro.
He shrugs off Sartin’s comments
and similar rumors as nothing more
than fantasies rooted in jealousy and
ignorance.
“Whether you’re going good or
bad, people want to think bad things
about you,” Rozier said, has tone less
bitter than wearily resigned. “It makes
no difference what they think about me.
I know what I’m doing, and people
with me know what I’m doing.
“I take care of my responsibilities,
take care of my kids, take care of Mom
and Dad.
“I don’t have any cash flow like I
had before, but I ain’t broke, and I ain’t
poor and I ain’t homeless.”
Rozier, who has never been mar
ried but has two 7-year-olds in Texas,
said the shooting has given him a new
urgency about life and deepened ^is
religious beliefs.
Perhaps strangely for a man who
once was the best running back in col
lege, he has no interest in coaching,
going to games or even watching them
on television.
“To be honest with you, I never
wanted to play football,” he said. “I
wanted to be a trash man. Carry trash.
When I was young they weren’t mak
ing much money. They’re making good
money now. I still want to be‘a trash
man. People say it’s not safe. I wouldn’t
mind it. I’m not scared to work. I did
hard work all my life. Yard work, con
struction, I did it all.”
ror an ms apatny toward tootoau,
Rozier doesn’t diminish the signifi
cance of the trophy in his life. Nor does
he shy away from the award ceremony,
thougfa he showed up at the black-tie
affair a couple of years ago in a leather
jacket and stretched out on his back
near the bar.
"It’s an elite club that got the
Heisman,” Rozier said. “I feel proud
to be a part of that club because there’s
some great guys up there with me. I’ve
been to the last three and I’m going this
year. Why not? fll be healthy. They’ll
send a limousine. I’ll sit in the backseat.
No problem.
By that time, the cast on his right
hand should be off, the staples in his
belly* gone. He likes to move around,
go where he wants, when he wants. Up
to New York, out to Nebraska, down
to Dallas, Houston or Atlanta.
But nowhere for too long, and al
ways right back to Camden.
DN FILE PHOTO
FORMER NU running back Mike Rozier celebrates one of his 52 career
touchdowns for the Comhuskers.
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