Jimmy Rogers Dies at Age 63

Jimmy Rogers of Winter Haven, a oneof-a-kind professional fisherman, retired television show host and heart transplant survivor, died unexpectedly Friday at James A. Haley Veteran's Hospital in Tampa. He was 63.

A native of Shelbyville, Ind., Rogers underwent heart transplant surgery Nov. 3, 1990, at Tampa General Hospital after congestive heart failure nearly claimed his life.

His heart was weakened by heart attacks in May and July, and he was being treated for heart vessel disease at the veteran's hospital this week.

Rogers also escaped a brush with death in 1989 in a boating collision in the Everglades, where he loved to fish for snook.

"I remember having a lot of good times fishing with him down in the Everglades," said Andy Bean of Lakeland, a longtime friend and fishing buddy.

"And I remember the heart transplant, and all of a sudden, he was out of the hospital, doing a TV show and traveling around the world again," added Bean, a professional golfer.

Rogers was a master angler who fished for a wide variety of sport fish around the world, from Alaska to Australia.

His favorite place to fish was the back country of the Everglades out of Chokoloskee, and he knew every inch of the Ten Thousand Islands.

"I know when we fished down in the Everglades, we didn't go on just a normal fishing trip," Bean said. "We went out in the boat an hour and a half before daylight, and ran for an hour before it was daylight. Then we started fishing at daylight and we fished till after dark. The only time you stopped with him was when you went to another spot, and that's when you ate a sandwich."

Rogers was well-known locally and across the Southeast as a professional bass tournament competitor in the late 1970s.

He twice qualified for the Bass Master Classic, the biggest event in professional bass fishing.

He launched his own television show, "Jimmy Rogers Fishing Adventures," in 1980. The show was aired in markets across the nation, including stints with Channel 38 and Pax TV in the Tampa Bay area, during its 20-year run.

Despite the celebrity Rogers enjoyed as a TV show host, he became even more wellknown in 1990 when he received a new heart.

Rogers was recently inducted into the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame.

Since 2000, Rogers worked as a charter fishing captain, taking guided trips to the Everglades and lower Tampa Bay.

Rogers is survived by his wife of 41 years, Rachel, who lives in Winter Haven with the couple's daughter Robin and their grandaughter, Kailey.

Other survivors include his mother, Mary Staley of Shelbyville, Ind.; daughters Benita Jessup, Shelbyville, and Tammy Helm of Lakeland; brothers, Richard Dale Rogers, Rowlett, Texas, and Lawrence "Doug" Rogers, Lakeland; and sisters, Ellen Waltz, Shelbyville, Geraldine Forkner, Morristown, Ind., and Linda Isgrigg of Flat Rock, Ind.; three grandsons; two granddaughters; and one great-granddaughter.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Del Milligan can be reached at del.milligan@theledger.com or 863-802-7555.