Hit-and-run victim's father speaks on son's legacy

    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) -- Alexander Rozos has always been an active person.

"He was a walk-on athlete for any sport," said his dad, Michael. "You could put a golf club, baseball bat, anything in his hands. [Alex's] younger brother, Evan, idolized him. He regards any fitness advice that comes from Alex as athletic gospel."

That activity and athleticism led him to play hockey at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. That is where things started to slow down for Alex.

“His junior year, that’s when substance issues became an issue,” Rozos said.

Not long after, Alex overdosed.

That’s when I thought my son’s either going to rehab successfully or he’s not going to live to be 30,” his dad said. “There’s nothing worse than being down at Mission Hospital, watching your kid be shot up, passed out, thinking if this is it. The doctor said the only reason he survived was because he’s a physical specimen. Alex went to rehab and beat his addiction. He focused his life on fitness, becoming a personal trainer and working with the Asheville Recovery Center.

With this new look on life, he wanted to share it. That’s what led Rozos to write his self-improvement book "How to Leave an Impact on the World, Made Simple."

“He just wanted to convey his message of what he’s like so that when people talk to him, they can have the book,” Michael said. “People who met him could say that’s the guy I met. He wasn’t really looking for a career in authorship. He legitimately walked around feeling like he could walk around curing people’s type 2 diabetes.”

With his past behind him, Alex had a plan for his future.

“He was preparing to do the military,” Michael said. “He wanted to go in September. He said: 'I want to save up for a house, get married, have kids, and go in the military for 20 years and it’s going to be great.'”

Along with telling his dad about his plans for his future, Alex reflected:

Dad, I’ve got my fitness dialed in right now. I’ve got my training dialed in. I’m ready to do anything in the military. I can’t wait to spend my summer in Asheville, but if I died an hour from now, I wouldn’t have wasted a second. The next day after that conversation, Alex was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike on Swannanoa River Road.

“The first few days, I was just in the yard wailing for him,” Michael said. “That last 45 minutes with him in front of Cultivate [Climbing] down on Amboy Road was the best 45 minutes of my life. If there was anything I regret not telling him up until that point, I said in that moment."

Michael’s takeaway from the loss of his son is to do what Alex would do: help people.

It could start with improving safety for cyclists.

“The minute you leave your driveway, you’re on our public roads system in Asheville and it’s utterly terrible,” he said. “I spent three years in the Army. I spent one year in the Special Forces Unit. I felt safer there than I did on Swannanoa River Road. Obviously, drivers can make a big difference, but they can’t make 100% of the difference. You’re driving down Swannanoa River Road, and the curbs are not far apart, and foot of room on each tire. Somebody’s going to get killed.”

The first sentence of Alex’s novel is now words to not only eulogize him, but for his dad to live by.

Today is the only day,” the novel reads. “There is no such thing as tomorrow. This very moment is the only moment we’re guaranteed to change the world.

“He really believed he could save the world," Michael said. "He knew. He knew I was so proud.”