Besides Dale Earnhardt, what other sports legends died while on top?

[Vinnie Virginslayer]

Roberto Clemente, Thurman Munson and Rikidozan are about the only ones I can think of.

The purpose of this exercise is not to compare NASCAR to baseball or other sports, by the way. This is assuming stock car racing is a sport and I think if it were, no one would doubt Earnhardt was a legend in that sport.

[dropzone]

Jimmy Clark, Jochen Rindt, and Ayrton Senna come quickly to mind in auto racing, but so many have died while at the top of their game in that it hardly counts. Knute Rockne in football coaching.

[Ell]

1958, we witness the wreckage of the infamous Manchester United plane crash in Munich. The team was coming back from a successful European Cup quarter-final match in Yugoslavia. While the manager Matt Busby survived, seven of the United players known as the “Busby Babes” were killed immediately, a few were killed shortly after, and most never played again. The United team included Edwards, Barry, Coleman, Violet, Taylor, and Gregg. This United team might have been the greatest club team of all-time. In any case, the “Busby Babes” were arguably the best team that Britain has ever produced.

[Falcon]

Payne Stewart.

[Montfort]

Roberto Clemente.

Thurmon Munson.

Pelle Lindberg.

:(

[Palmyra]

Originally posted by Falcon
Payne Stewart.

FWIW, I swear the flag was at half-mast for a month after he died [I attend his alma mater; he was class of '70something].

[Revedge]

Around 1960, give or take a few years, a plane with almost the entire US figure skating team crashed on approach to Paris. They were the current world champions and had a young woman who was considered head and shoulders above the rest of the world. It wasn't until Peggy Fleming that the US regained the prominance in that sport that it had enjoyed.

[King Rat]

Terry Sawchuk.

Lenny Bias.

The 11 Israeli Olympic athletes at Munich.

Jim Fixx.

[Gozu Tashoya]

Derrick Thomas. The Chiefs defense hasn't been the same since. :(

[Farmer]

O.J. Simpson

[Sofa King]

Greg Moore was our latest, greatest sports loss, in my opinion, no offense to The Intimidator. Senna, of course. The crippling injuries of Danny Ongaias, Nikki Lauda, and Jim "shape 'em to fit a steering wheel" Hurtubrise give us evidence that nothing short of death itself will deter some racers from returning to the fold.

[meek]

A great Canadian, Gilles Villeneuve.
Kansas City Chief football player, Derrick Thomas.
R.I.P. Dale.
:(

[meek]

Ooops, I missed KK mentioning Derrick Thomas...

And though he was retired, Walter Payton was still on top in my books.

[Coldfire]

Formula One drivers:
Besides the drivers already mentioned, I'd add Piers Courage, Jo Siffert, Pedro Rodriguez, Peter Revson, Tom Pryce, Carlos Pace, Ronnie Petterson... and that's just the gruesome Seventies - a terribly unsafe age for Formula One.
Progressing to the Eighties, names like Patrick Depailler, Harald Ertl, Gilles Villeneuve (had to mention him again. Can't leave HIM off. Adieu, Gilles.), Ricardo Paletti, Michael Winkelhock, Stefan Bellof, and Elio de Angelis come to mind.
They're all in chronological order, not in order of importance. Since Elio in 1986, only Ronald Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna have died while racing in F1, both on that horrible weekend in Monza, 1994. The sport is a lot safer these days. Let's hope it stays that way.

In 1989, a Surinam Airways DC-8 crashed near Zanderij Airport (http://planecrashinfo.com/1989.htm) (Paramaribo), killing 20 Dutch soccer players of Surinam descent. It was a hard blow to football in the Netherlands.

[Vinnie Virginslayer]

Payne Stewart, Terry Sawchuck, and Senna are all good examples of sports legends that met an untimely demise.

Actually, O.J. Simpson is alive and well, unless that was a joke.

To the list of legends I submit:

Howie Morenz. Before there was a "Rocket" or a "Flower", Morenz was the biggest Montreal Canadien hockey player before his untimely death from complications surrounding a a head injury in 1937.

Frank Gotch. Considered by historians to be the premier American werestler of the early 20th century. Was still active when he died of illness around 1916.


Here's more names, some possibly legendary, some not but tragic nontheless:


Oklahoma State University basketball team

U.S. Boxing Team (plane crash in Poland)

University of Evansville Basketball team (sometime in the 1950s, plane crash)

AC Milan soccer team (plane crash, 1950ish)

Jerome Brown (Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro, killed w/son in car crash)

I don't have the guys name, but there was a Soviet hockey player that died in a car crash in the early 80s who was considered at the time to be the greatest player in the world. Also, there was a bullfighter who held the record for the most kills when he was gored to death by a bull many years ago.

[kunilou]

Knute Rockne

Bob Bassold (St. Louis Blues)

The Marshall University football team (plane crash)

Let's not forget Lou Gehrig and Brian Piccolo, careers that were ended by fatal illness.

[racinchikki]

I was gonna say Greg Moore, but Sofa King already did. (I agree with your "greatest loss" comment, by the way. Earnhardt made his mark for 21 years. Greg hardly got a chance to leave his.)

[Gazoo]

Drazen Petrovich. Hank Gathers.

[Sylkyn]

Davey Allison

[Spoke]

Well, he didn't die, but J.R. Richard suffered a blood clot and then a stroke which ended his career at a time when he was one of the most feared pitchers in baseball.

[RealityChuck]

Lou Gehrig

Donald Campbell (whild going for a world water speed record, his boat, the Bluebird, crashed and disintegrated. They never found the body.)

Ed Delahanty (the defending AL batting champ, and hitting .333 when he died after getting drunk and falling over Niagara Falls).

[Duke]

O. G. "Collie" Smith, cricketer for Jamaica/West Indies, who died in a car crash while on tour in England. At the time, many considered him to be as good a batsman as his teammate Garry Sobers (who ironically was also in the car Smith was in). Sobers went on to be one of the three best batsmen of all time.

[trose]

Does Nelson Rockefeller count? ;)

[Lord Derfel]

Vladimir Konstantinov - he wasn't killed, but he suffered brain damage, and will never walk again after a limo accident a few days after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup.

Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka, Brent Ruff - members of the WHL (junior hockey) Swift Current Broncos (http://www.scbroncos.com/) who were killed in a bus crash en route to a game. Ruff was the brother of current Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. Who knows what might have happened to their careers - on the bus were future NHL'ers Joe Sakic and Sheldon Kennedy.

[Lord Derfel]

Bill Barilko - Scored the Stanley Cup winning goal for the Leafs in 1951. That summer, his plane crashed in north Ontario. He was immortalized in the Tragically Hip song, 50 Mission Cap.

[ElwoodCuse]

Bill Masterson, hockey player. Died of head injuries suffered in a game. I'm 99% sure he wasn't wearing a helmet. The Masterson Award is named after him, given annually to the player best displaying perserverance. Tony Granato won this once after coming back from brain surgery to play again.

[ElwoodCuse]

Oh, and let us not forget Tim Horton, Maple Leafs defenseman who was killed in a car crash. The donut chain is named after him.

[Revedge]

Also George Gipp "The Gipper" died of pnumonia (I think) while still one of the great college football players at Notre Dame.

[stuyguy]

Hard to believe that someone [cough, cough] hasn't already submitted this one:

Ruffian

[Templeton]

Kurt Bevacqua

[Ruffian]

Originally posted by stuyguy
Hard to believe that someone [cough, cough] hasn't already submitted this one:

Ruffian

Hey, some of us are sick, just got in a car accident, and are having their bridal shower this weekend. We're in a new dimension of busy-ness.

That said...I'll add other pertinent equines to the list:

Landaluce (filly; succumbed to illness)
Go For Wand (filly; broke down in the ugliest way I've ever seen)
Swale (colt; died from illness not long after his Kentucky Derby and Belmont wins)
Phar Lap (colt; died from illness)

And non-equines...to return to the car-racing scene:
Scott Brayton
He was a long-time friend of the family; my dad used to work pit crew for him; we went to his wedding. He died five years ago, after securing the Pole for the Indy 500, in what should have been a routine test drive around the track.

[beakerxf]

Not sure if this will count, but I seem to recall that Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson had his career prematurely ended by expsoure to Mustard Gas in WWI. It was eventually a fatal condition.

Also, what was the basketball player's name that died of a heart attack while in practice. If I recall correctly his death was rumored (erroneously) to be cocaine related.

[Drain Bead]

Ruffian, were any of those horses the one that broke its leg in the Breeder's Cup sprint about 10 years ago? I still consider that to be the ugliest sports injury I've ever seen, and I watch football on a religious basis.

[Sauron]

beakerxf, I think the basketball player you're talking about was Len Bias.

Re: the OP, Rocky Marciano was the only heavyweight boxer to ever go undefeated in his career, IIRC. Seems that he died in a plane crash, but I could be wrong.

[The Red Menace]

If I'm not to be mistaken didn't track star Florence Joyner ("Flojo") die at an early age of few years back? Or am I mistaking her for somebody else entirely?

[Vinnie Virginslayer]

More good names, though I don't consider horses athletes. However, to quibble would be in direct conflict with my OP.

Lou Gehrig and Christy Matthewson are good names.

I think the Gipper was made legendary by his death rather than dying as a legend, but a good addition too.

I'll also add the non-legendary Bo Diaz.

So far, I'd say that true legends that died while on top (or at least while active or contracted a deadly illness that caused them to leave the sport and pass on shortly afterward)) were:

<B>DALE EARNHARDT
ROBERTO CLEMENTE
RIKIDOZAN
LOU GEHRIG
CHRISTY MATHEWSON
PAYNE STEWART
TERRY SAWCHUCK
HOWIE MORENZ
FRANK GOTCH
O.G. SMITH
SWALE
FLORENCE JOYNER

Any more condidates? What about soccer players and boxers?

[beakerxf]

Originally posted by Sauron
beakerxf, I think the basketball player you're talking about was Len Bias.


I managed to remember his first name. I think it was Reggie (Lewis?). I think he was a Celtic.

[Ruffian]

Originally posted by Drain Bead
Ruffian, were any of those horses the one that broke its leg in the Breeder's Cup sprint about 10 years ago? I still consider that to be the ugliest sports injury I've ever seen, and I watch football on a religious basis.

Yes and no. Breeder's Cup, yes, Sprint, no. Go For Wand broke down in the 1990 Breeder's Cup Distaff while engaged in a heated near match-race with Bayakoa, her leg shattering maybe 100 yards from the wire. It was so severe that she actually did a forward roll. Her leg was just dangling afterwards--literally the only thing holding it on afterwards was the skin. NBC cut to commercial, and when they came back, the filly was dead. Sports Illustrated had the great taste ( :rolleyes: ) to do a frame-by-frame photo spread of her break down, in addition to several shots of her hobbling about on three legs--and even one of her receiving the lethal injection.

Interestingly enough, there was an equine fatality--two, actually--in the BC Sprint that same day. On the far turn, Mr. Nickerson had a heart attack and kind of leaped into the air in a death lunge. Shaker Knit, who was behind him, was unable to avoid the fallen horse and tripped over him. He landed on his back, breaking it and instantly paralyzing him. He was put down.

1990 was an ugly, ugly year for racing. I seriously couldn't stomach the sport for several years after that.

There is another horse that broke down in the BC Sprint, however...Mr. Brooks broke down in the same place--far turn entering the stretch--in the 1992 running of the event. As both this and the other Sprint fatalities occurred on the vision-obscurring far turn, I'm wondering if you're remembering Go For Wand's gruesome demise. Which of these strikes a chord?

Vinnie, if I may say so, Ruffian belongs up there with Swale as the top two of the five horses mentioned. She was a blistering freak of nature, and died during a break down in a match race with that year's Derby winner. In her lifetime (prior to the fateful match race, of course), she never lost, nor was she ever even headed. She set track records like they had been set by fat shetland ponies, and European publications placed her in the top 10 horses of the past century--nearly a dozen places ahead of Man O War.

Just my thoughts. ;)

[imthjckaz]

Originally posted by beakerxf
Originally posted by Sauron
beakerxf, I think the basketball player you're talking about was Len Bias.


I managed to remember his first name. I think it was Reggie (Lewis?). I think he was a Celtic.

Yes, it was Boston Celtic Reggie Lewis.

The OP suggests "while they were on top". I think this means that, who was at or near their prime when death came.
By that criteria, this is my list.

Thurman Munson, an all-star catcher.
Reggie Lewis, an NBA rising star.
Hank Gathers, an NCAA All american and certain lottery pick in the NBA draft.
Payne Stewart, just won his second US Open.
Greg Moore, a top Indy car driver.
Len Bias, U of Maryland All american and the second overall pick in the NBA draft, by the Celtics.
Derrick Thomas, perrenial Pro Bowl linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs.
NASCAR's Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki were rising stars, Adam Petty was but 19 years old with much potential.

And 7 time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhart, who was at the top for all of 21 years in Winston Cup, finishing second in the points just last year.

They all died too soon, and all had a good chance to continue to be at the top of their game.

There are others,but I'm not a follower of horse racing and don't know hockey all that well.

[Protesilaus]

Ray Chapman (http://web4.sportsline.com/u/baseball/bol/ballplayers/C/Chapman_Ray.html) of the Cleveland Indians would probably have made the Hall of Fame if he didn't die (at least in Bill James's opinion). Chapman died in 1920 as a result of being hit in the head by a pitch.

[Coldfire]

FloJo (http://www.channel2000.com/news/stories/news-980921-163942.html) died in 1998, but had retired from athletics nine years before her death.

Vinnie, do you consider F1 drivers to be the same as horses? ;)
I don't expect anyone to know all the names I listed in my previous post, but I honestly believe that at least Gilles Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna should be in that cumulitative list of yours if Dale Earnhardt is. MHO, of course.

[Vinnie Virginslayer]

Originally posted by Coldfire
FloJo (http://www.channel2000.com/news/stories/news-980921-163942.html) died in 1998, but had retired from athletics nine years before her death.

Vinnie, do you consider F1 drivers to be the same as horses? ;)
I don't expect anyone to know all the names I listed in my previous post, but I honestly believe that at least Gilles Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna should be in that cumulitative list of yours if Dale Earnhardt is. MHO, of course.

I didn't realize FloJo retired. Okay, off the list. If you say that Villeneuve is a true legend in F1, I'll defer to you and put him on the list. I think Senna was already on.

Originally posted by imthjckaz
Originally posted by beakerxf
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sauron
beakerxf, I think the basketball player you're talking about was Len Bias.


The OP suggests "while they were on top". I think this means that, who was at or near their prime when death came.
By that criteria, this is my list.

Thurman Munson, an all-star catcher.
Reggie Lewis, an NBA rising star.
Hank Gathers, an NCAA All american and certain lottery pick in the NBA draft.
Payne Stewart, just won his second US Open.
Greg Moore, a top Indy car driver.
Len Bias, U of Maryland All american and the second overall pick in the NBA draft, by the Celtics.
Derrick Thomas, perrenial Pro Bowl linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs.
NASCAR's Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki were rising stars, Adam Petty was but 19 years old with much potential.


They all died too soon, and all had a good chance to continue to be at the top of their game.


With all due respect to the great athletes listed above, what I really meant were athletes that were already legends when they died, not athletes who were cut short by death before they had a chance to prove something or were great players.

Of that list, Munson and MAYBE Davey Allison belong. Though I wonder if Munson would have been considered a legend if he did not die too early . . .

I guess the criteria should be, "Even if they did not die while at the peak of their careers, would they still have been legendary?".


Ray Chapman is a good name, but cannot go on the list. "Would have been in the HOF if he did not die" does not cut it, not that Chapman was not a great athlete.

[Drain Bead]

The injury sounds remarkably similar to Go For Wand's, but I'm relatively sure it wasn't a filly, and the injury occurred about halfway through the race. It was the left foreleg, and the injury occurred between the knee (dunno if that's a precise term) and the hoof, right in the middle of that long bone. It basically created a new joint, and the horse kept going for a few strides while its leg bent in a way that no leg should ever bend. As I recall, the coverage (ABC?) showed the injury occurring several times. The poor commentators were nearly in tears. It was horrible.

[Randy]

Prefontaine

At this late hour, I can't seem to come up with the Olympic Runners first name. (Steve?)

[Ruffian]

I'm guessing what you're remembering is Mr. Brooks' breakdown, although I don't really know for sure as I didn't see that particular incident (I rather ignored the sport after the 1990 Breeder's Cup mess, until around 1995).

If it's a broken leg, it has to be either Go For Wand or Mr. Brooks. GFW shattered her ankle/fetlock joint, not her cannon bone (the long bone you're describing), but it was indeed the left front leg. She ran on it a little more after breaking it, too, before falling as the leg simply wasn't there after a few strides. (They estimate she broke her leg 14 strides before she fell.) Mr. Brooks also fell after his breakdown.

It's actually not one of the ugliest things I've ever seen...I saw a two-year-old break both of his knees while leading on a far turn, causing a disastrous pile-up behind him that resulted in two more horses suffering fatal injuries. Bleh.

[iampunha]

Originally posted by Randy
Prefontaine

At this late hour, I can't seem to come up with the Olympic Runners first name. (Steve?)

I think it's Steve Prefontaine (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0119937), as in the movie starring Jared Leto (Jordan Catalano from "My So-Called Life").

There's also a (I think) defensive lineman who was killed in a driving accident (the other driver was drunk) who had been drafted by the Indianapolis Colts. Phenomenal player/athlete/person/man. His fiancée wrote a letter to SI talking about the crash.

And how about that soccer player who was murdered after he accidentally shot into his own goal in the (I think) 1994 World Cup?

[imthjckaz]

Nice link, punha, but I think this (http://home.att.net/~gkrishna/running/pre/) one tells more on the life of Steve Prefontaine.

Vinnie V, I am sorry if I misunderstood your op, but I did forget one person, Roberto Clemente, who died while being a legend of the game. He died a few months after collecting his 3000th hit, on a humanitarian mission flight to earth quake stricken Nicaragua.

[The Great Zamboni]

Why is there only one mention of the 1973 (was it '73?) Marshall University Team that died in that plane crash? They deserve it.

We all miss you Dale :(

[justinh]

Do you actually have to be on top of your sport or just on top?

what about that soccer team that crashed in the Andes mountains then ate each other? they might not have been at the top of their sport but they were close to the top of the world.


Derrick Thomas was close to the top of the "fathering children by different women without marriage or financially supporting them" club.