FloJo 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.
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*Originally posted by imthjckaz *
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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.
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.
Prefontaine
At this late hour, I can’t seem to come up with the Olympic Runners first name. (Steve?)
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.
I think it’s Steve Prefontaine, 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?
Nice link, punha, but I think this 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.
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 
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.