The Most Tragic Figure in Sport in U.S. History

DirtyDog48 · February 21, 2005 12:56PM

Who would you nominate for this dubious achievement? What is his or her tragic story?

Off the top of my head, I was thinking Syracuse running back Ernie Davis......but the monumental waste of the Len Bias tragedy keeps tapping me on the shoulder too.

Davis' leukemia was an act of God....Bias, on the other hand, died of a cocaine overdose the very night he was drafted by the NBA's Boston Celtics.......although I'm not a big hoops fan, I can remember feeling that I'd been punched in the stomach when I heard the details of the Bias story.

VoteThurmanIn · February 21, 2005 1:01PM

Need you ask?

joestalin · February 21, 2005 1:12PM

Reggie Lewis, while maybe not the most tragic sports figure, was supposed to be the next great in a line of great Celtics. Boston has
never recovered after his death

Kevin

SDSportsFan · February 21, 2005 1:20PM

Well, if you're going to vote for Ernie Davis, you also have to consider Brian Piccolo.

Steve

DirtyHarry · February 21, 2005 1:25PM

Thurman Munson. American Pie.

Vintagegolfcollector · February 21, 2005 1:27PM

Back in the '80s I was a huge Celtics fan. The Bias overdose definitely tops my list of tragic sporting stories. I've often wondered what that team would have been like with Bias aboard. Who knows how much longer Bird may have played too and how many championships would have been added.

Peter

stevek · February 21, 2005 2:03PM

Jerome Brown - Eagles - was very tragic

Who knows what was the "most tragic?"

DirtyDog48 · February 21, 2005 2:08PM

<< Who knows what was the "most tragic?" >>

True, obviously a very personal and subjective choice to make......that's why excercises such as this one are so interesting.........you can also recall a tragic event in the world of sports.....I'm always morbidly fascinated by the airplane tragedy of 1961 that claimed the lives of the entire US figure skating team......I can still remember the headlines in the NY Times that morning.

VoteThurmanIn · February 21, 2005 2:22PM

There was also the Gold Medalist Russian Figure Skating (Pairs) champion who died in 1995 at age 28:

Olympic Skater Sergei Grinkov Dies at 28

Technically you could say US because both he and his wife lived near Hartford, CT and I think they had become American citizens.

The family moved to the United States and settled in Simsbury, Conn., where neighbors included fellow Olympic gold medalists Oksana Baiul and Viktor Petrenko.

Axtell · February 21, 2005 3:15PM

(Showing a bit of Buccaneer bias) but Ricky Bell. Not so much that he was a great running back (he was, and led the Bucs to their first playoff birth), but because he was what a MAN should be on and off the field.

"Bell's football career had been cut short after he was diagnosed with dermatomyositis, an inflammation of the skin and muscles. The once-strapping physical specimen lost drastic amounts of weight and sometimes woke up at night, screaming in pain.

Bell Jr. remembers days of trying to massage his father's muscles, working his tiny hands until they ached, anything to relieve the hurt. One day, his father started crying. "

Great Article on Bell

He meant so much to so many, and his death at 29. I find these types of things much more tragic than someone who takes their life through drugs or something else at their own hands.

Cubfan · February 21, 2005 9:16PM

Darryl Strawberry - Such talent killed by addiction.

Bo Jackson - Who knows what he could have attained without the hip injury.

Brian48 · February 21, 2005 11:10PM

I've no sympathy for people like Strawberry or Len Bias who essentially screwed up and pissed away their futures. I don't consider it to be a tragedy for anyone other than the fans and team who invested the time and resources on these people. Great athletes like Munson, Campenella, Maurice Stokes, Brian Picolo, etc.. whose careers where cut short due to events out of their control would be more of my idea of a tragedy.

Wondo · February 21, 2005 11:20PM

The list goes on of athletes cut don in their prime:

Ross Youngs
Ray Chapman
Lou Gehrig
Ken Hubbs

I tend to go with the Figure Skating tragedy or the Evansville Indiana basketball deaths.

dude · February 21, 2005 11:25PM

Without a doubt it has to be Roberto Clemente. He died while serving on a humanitarian mission trip to help people in desperate need.

wlf3 · February 21, 2005 11:48PM

can't recall the year... but the plane crash that took 1/2 the Marshall football team's lives.

1420sports · February 21, 2005 11:54PM

Without a doubt it has to be Roberto Clemente. He died while serving on a humanitarian mission trip to help people in desperate need.

Couldn't agree more.

Wondo · February 22, 2005 12:05AM

Just off the top of our heads, we have come up with way too many.

Onlypsahockey · February 22, 2005 1:55AM

Terry sawchuk!

Onlypsahockey · February 22, 2005 1:56AM

Normand Leveille

Brian48 · February 22, 2005 3:41AM

<< Normand Leveille >>

Ya know, I was specifically thinking about him also, but I didn't remember how to spell his last name. He could have been the most dominant Bruin since Orr.

easttexascardsandgames · February 22, 2005 5:21AM

There are so many that it is hard to put a finger on one.

Clemente
Munson
J.R. Richard

All come to mind right off...

Len Bias is a great one.

It is just hard to say who.

Cubfan · February 22, 2005 5:56AM

Im not familiar with the hockey tragedies. I thought Terry Sawchuck played for a long time. What happened to him?

Axtell · February 22, 2005 6:18AM

Anyone who takes their career (and/or life) into their own hands and throws it away at drugs or some other self-inflicted issue is not a tragedy...rather, I would never consider Darryl or Len Bias or anyone else who threw away their lives at the hands of drugs a 'tragedy'. Tragedy is something unavoidable, not thinking you are invincible.

JrMacdaddy · February 22, 2005 6:57AM

Pelle Lindbergh

Bobby Orr and his knees
Mike Bossy and his back

JrMacdaddy · February 22, 2005 7:00AM

<< I thought Terry Sawchuck played for a long time. What happened to him? >>

He played three more seasons with Los Angeles, Detroit and the New York Rangers before being injured in a fight with teammate Ron Stewart as the two quarreled about cleaning up their rental house. In the brawl, Sawchuk suffered severe internal injuries, and died a few days later at the age of 40. Stewart was later cleared of any wrongdoing in the accident.

DaBeef · February 22, 2005 7:44AM

Korey Stringers loss was very tough to take...

iamthegreatcornholio · February 22, 2005 7:47AM

Clemente - He died while trying to help other people - I always thought it was eerie that he had exactly 3000 hits.

Brian

easttexascardsandgames · February 22, 2005 2:00PM

Dennis Byrd, is another one I just thought of.

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson could also fit into this category, his career was ruined for something he has never been proven to have been a part of.

Axtell · February 22, 2005 2:51PM

<< 

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson could also fit into this category, his career was ruined for something he has never been proven to have been a part of. >>

He admitted to taking money. He's guilty, i don't care what his stats were in the series. He accepted money to affect the outcome of the series.

He should never have any part of the HoF, and I find his story about as tragic as Len Bias' or Darryl Strawberry's.

easttexascardsandgames · February 22, 2005 10:06PM

Yes he took the money, but many feel he was decieved on what it was for and never did anything in the series to show he helped throw the game. You gotta remember we are talking about a player that was about as bright as the bat he used.

Axtell · February 23, 2005 1:09AM

<< Yes he took the money, but many feel he was decieved on what it was for and never did anything in the series to show he helped throw the game. You gotta remember we are talking about a player that was about as bright as the bat he used. >>

How hard of a concept is it to grasp? I don't care how dense he was, someone gives you money and says 'throw the game', you are guilty in my book.

He took the money. GUILTY.

robstar · February 23, 2005 8:21AM

Who among us would sacrifice a lucrative sports career and all that comes with it.

Pat Tillman American Hero.

Rob....

coinkat · February 23, 2005 10:46AM

There are many and I would like to mention someone well deserving but mostlikely has been long forgotten by many. His name is Nile Kinnick and he will always be recognized in Iowa City for his outstanding season as a HB at the University of Iowa for which he was awarded the Heisman Trophy in 1939. Unfortunately, he was one of the early casualties in WWII. He gave his life for his country.

frankhardy · February 23, 2005 12:18PM

I would have to agree with Darryl Strawberry and add Dwight Gooden to the list. Two "should've been" Hall of Famers that ruined their own lives.

There is no telling how legendary Bo Jackson would be if he had not gotten injured.

jamesy · February 24, 2005 1:56AM

Orenthal James Simpson

xbaggypants · February 24, 2005 3:45AM

Derrick Thomas

DirtyDog48 · February 24, 2005 5:40AM

You could make a case for another KC Chief - Joe Delaney.

TimeMachine · February 25, 2005 4:01PM

Is everyone forgetting the Oklahoma State basketball team's plane crash a few years back? Taken out in the primes of their young lives.
Sad indeed.

Lothar52 · March 1, 2005 1:18AM

Ken Griffey Jr.'s RC'S!!!!

Mac53 · March 2, 2005 4:50AM

<< How hard of a concept is it to grasp? I don't care how dense he was, someone gives you money and says 'throw the game', you are guilty in my book. >>

Ax, you are right on. That is why refuse to consider Field of Dreams as a top sports movie, because it tried to make Jackson look heroic. Jackson had the talent to be the best ever. He had the ability to screw up the game and still keep his BA high by poking meaningless hits. While today's complaints about steroid use are valid, nothing undermines the baseball like gambling by the participants. Jackson and his co-conspirators nearly destroyed baseball, and only Babe Ruth was able to bring it back. And this is why Rose should be kept out of the HOF as well.

On the list of tragic heroes:
Landon Turner, Indiana U. power forward on 1981 championship team, paralyzed in a traffic accident a few months later.

mr3holesinone · March 2, 2005 10:06AM

Golfer Payne Stewart's death a few years ago was tragic.

Lou Gehrig's illness cut short a Hall of Fame career. It's possible that Lou could have gotten close to having as many homers has Wille Mays ended up with. That would have put him in second place for a long, long time until Hank Aaron surpassed him.

Clemente and Munson's deaths, team plane crashes, malformed heart valves---these are tragedies.

Athletes overdosing or addictions leading to poor performances aren't something I can feel sorry for. A Darryl Kile dying or Strawberry/Gooden/Howe/Bonds/Giambi drug usages are things I consider sad but not tragic--they did it to themselves. I mention Bonds and Giambi because I feel that their steroid use is bad for the game and it's sad they had to use drugs to achieve their records.

goudeygold · March 2, 2005 10:24AM

I say Mike Tyson. Top of the world and legendary by 20, now a bad joke abused by the sports relentless managers and extortionists. Not to mention the rapes, him being dumb as a rock, eating ears, threatening to eat children, tattooing his face, etc... His fall will haunt boxing for a looooooong time to come.

GG

mintluster · March 4, 2005 11:32AM

Tyson or Bonds...take you pick....

Gemmy10 · March 4, 2005 2:25PM

I am surprised that no one mentioned Payne Stewart.

The Most Tragic Figure in Sport in U.S. History

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