Detroit City FC captain Josh Rogers (Michigan State) walked out onto an empty field at Cass Tech. All the fans had filed out, and only a few staff remained at the high school stadium on a blazing hot night in metro Detroit.
Rogers had just played his final regular season game for the club he has been with since the 2012 beginning. As the four-year captain, and a sturdy defenseman, Rogers knows what it means to play for DCFC better than anybody else. He’s seen the club grow and flourish from its inauguration.
But as the 2015 season has come to an end, so has our captain’s tenure.
In Madison, Wisconsin, after the playoff loss to Cleveland, head coach Ben Pirmann spoke.
“For some of you older, non-college guys, you understand and know what it’s like to deal with big losses.”
A feeling that unfortunately became custom during the postseason throughout Rogers’ four-year term. In the clubs’ first season, DCFC reached the conference semifinal, the next year the final and last year it did not qualify. Having yet to make the national playoffs, this year seemed so perfect. In Rogers’ last go, he would have the opportunity to lead the team out of the Midwest and into the national conversation.
Though in a flurry of scrambling substitutions late in the match, Rogers exited the regional semifinal against. An unnoticed, anticlimactic change to bring on offensive reinforcements was not the end he would’ve wanted, but it could never tarnish his eminent career.
He holds the club record for both minutes and games played, he’s notched a combined seven goals in his last two seasons and he carries the club’s first MVP award. But it was never just his statistics and prizes that made him the player, and person, that Le Rouge supporters admired him for.
Rogers was their commander in chief.
He’s the kind of guy that collects all the balls after practice, picks up other players’ leftover scraps on the bus and ensures that the each and every player, staff member and fan recognizes what it means to be a part of this club. Rogers celebrates his teammates’ accomplishments and sings with supporters during the post-game Tetris. He’ll invite you to sit with him at lunch, get to know you, and you’ll forget you’re talking to the most coveted defender in DCFC’s history.
He’s a leader and role model for those who have known him over the years, and he quickly becomes one for those who meet him.
A fitting end to such a heralded career is hard to find, but back on that hot night in Detroit just two weeks ago, Rogers knelt down on the center circle, and he kissed the center spot.
A solitary, peaceful moment of closure for City’s captain. There are no drums, no smoke, no chants. Just Rogers and the field. The air is still uncomfortably hot, but Cass Tech has calmed down, and Rogers bids it goodnight.
When it reawakens, when Detroit City FC returns in the summer of 2016, Josh Rogers won’t be on the pitch. Maybe he’ll be in the stands or maybe he’ll be on the sidelines, but his presence will be missed.
As the years progress DCFC will grow, and new names and faces will flow in and out as a new captain takes the reigns. But no matter what the future brings, Rogers will always be the anchor that held this ship in place.
He’s doing what many have done before him, and what many will do in the future, but for all of them, it is always the most difficult choice.
Rogers is hanging up his boots. Here’s to the captain.
