Raevyn Rogers recalls, as if it were yesterday, when she would head outside to play with her friends in the Hiram Clarke community in southwest Houston.
Children growing up in the close-knit neighborhood, south of NRG Park and north of the Sam Houston Tollway, seemingly had nary a care in the world.
“Our street was like a community,” Rogers said in an interview with the 5 Corners District. “Every family knew each other and looked out for one another. We were like one big family.”
This summer, many residents of the neighborhood and the rest of the 5 Corners District community watched on TV as one of their own, Rogers, won a bronze medal in the 800 meters run at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in a startling, ending burst of speed that made her the fourth fastest woman in U.S. history in the event.
For Rogers, the Aug. 3 achievement was the icing on the cake to help celebrate the birthday that day of her mother, Rhonda Hunt.
“I thank (God) for letting Raevyn be safe and coming across that line, with her bringing home some ‘hardware’ for her mother for a happy birthday. I’m just happy. I’m overjoyed — full of joy, just full of joy right now,” Hunt told Click2Houston that day.
Houston Council Member Martha Castex-Tatum recalled the heart-stopping race during a recent City Council meeting.
“I was at home watching the final race and I was like, ‘C’mon, Raevyn!’,” said Castex-Tatum, who represents the District K community that includes Hiram Clarke. “She was in the middle of the pack and then she turned on a jet that was out of this world and passed up those contenders to bring home third place. I was yelling, ‘She did it! She did it.’ ”
Turner, Rogers, Castex-Tatum
In honor of the achievement, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed Sept. 28 as “Raevyn Rogers Day” in the city of Houston as Rogers stood next to him during a City Council meeting.
To millions of viewers around the world, Rogers’ lightning fast stride on the track may have seemed effortless, but it resulted from decades of determination, hard work and commitment.
Hunt said she made sure her daughter participated in a wealth of activities as a child, including ballet and T-ball. When she was 5, Rogers was enrolled in the Wings Track Club of Houston, one of the nation’s leading track and field organizations.
The experience was an eye-opener for Rogers, who until then had enjoyed the fun and games of her extracurricular activities.
“I hated it,” said Rogers, 26. “I never had to run twice around the track before.”
In her first year with the track club, Rogers would often hold hands with other runners when the going got tough.
“I used to cry,” she said.
But she never gave up and never stopped running. She praised the Wings Track Club for being the foundation of her athletic career.
Rogers attended The Kinkaid School in Houston, where she competed for the Falcons. She earned a bronze medal in the 800 at the World Youth Championships in 2013, where she also ran on a medley relay that took gold. She still holds individual school records in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,600m. She graduated in 2014.
Rogers’ next stop was the University of Oregon, where she was a six-time NCAA Division I champion and ten-time All-American, winning three consecutive outdoor 800m and Pac-12 Conference titles. She also won the 2017 Women’s Bowerman Award, the highest accolade given to the year’s best student-athlete in American collegiate track and field.
Rogers, who lives in Oregon, said she visits Houston every chance she gets and plans to eventually move back home.
“I plan to give back to the community by making athletics more accessible to inner-city kids,” she said. “Maybe I’ll open up an athletic facility. That’s my dream.”
