The Greatest Athletes To Die Young

Submitted by podizz on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:44
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  1. Lou Gehrig, baseball (37, his disease)
  2. Babe Didrikson, golf, basketball, track and field (45, cancer)
  3. Reggie White, football (43, cardiac arrhythmia)
  4. Walter Payton, football (45, cancer)
  5. Roberto Clemente, baseball (38, plane crash)
  6. Rocky Marciano, boxing (45, plane crash)
  7. Terry Sawchuk, hockey (40, pulmonary embolism)
  8. Josh Gibson, baseball (35, stroke)
  9. Howie Morenz, hockey (34, complications of a broken leg)
  10. Pete Maravich, basketball (40, heart failure)
  11. Kirby Puckett, baseball (45, stroke)
  12. Thurman Munson, baseball (32, plane crash)
  13. Florence Griffith Joyner, track and field (38, epilepsy)
  14. Dražen Petrovic, basketball (28, car accident)
  15. Mike Webster, football (50, unreleased)
  16. Mel Ott, baseball (49, car accident)
  17. Derrick Thomas, football (33, blood clot that resulted from a car accident)
  18. Payne Stewart, golf (42, plane crash)
  19. Garrincha, soccer (49, cirrhosis of the liver)
  20. Valeri Kharlamov, hockey (33, car accident)
  21. Ernie Davis, football (23, leukemia)
  22. Maurice Stokes, basketball (36, heart attack after 12-year coma)
  23. Arthur Ashe, tennis (49, AIDS-related pneumonia)
  24. Arky Vaughn, baseball (40, drowning)
  25. Gil Hodges, baseball (47, heart attack)
  26. Charlie Gardiner, hockey (29, brain hemorrhage)
  27. Nellie Fox, baseball (47, skin cancer)
  28. Steve Prefontaine, track (24, car accident)
  29. The Owen Family (Guy, Maribel Vincent, Maribel, and Laurence), figure skating (Maribel Vincent and her two daughters died in a plane crash, Guy succumbed to a perforated ulcer at 38)
  30. Valentino Mazzola, soccer (30, plane crash-the Superga air disaster)
  31. Sonny Liston, boxing (38, undetermined)
  32. Gaetano Scirea, soccer (36, car accident)
  33. Duncan Edwards, soccer (21, plane crash-the Munich air disaster that claimed 23 passengers including seven other Man U players)
  34. Reggie Lewis, basketball (27, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)
  35. Emlen Tunnell, football (50, heart attack)
  36. Marcel Cerdan, boxing (33, plane crash)
  37. Gus Johnson, basketball (48, brain cancer)
  38. Len Bias, basketball (22, cocaine overdose)
  39. Tony Lazzeri, baseball (42, fall caused by possible heart attack or seizure)
  40. Goose Tatum, basketball (45, seizure)
  41. Tim Horton, hockey (44, drunk driving accident)
  42. Steve McNair, football (36, murdered)
  43. Abebe Bikila, long distance runner (41, cerebral hemorrhage related to a car accident that had left him a parapalegic four years earlier)
  44. Andy Irons, surfing (32, drug overdose)
  45. Maureen Connolly Brinker, tennis (34, cancer)
  46. Willie Galimore, football (29, car accident)
  47. Ken Caminiti, baseball (41, drug overdose)
  48. Lillian Board, track and field (22, colorectal cancer)
  49. Alexei Cherepanov (19,hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)
  50. Sergei Grinkov, figure skating (28, heart attack)
  51. Hank Gathers, basketball (23, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)
  52. Hack Wilson, baseball (48, hemorrhaging as a result of a fall)
  53. Andrés Escobar, soccer (27, murdered)
  54. Sean Taylor, football (24, murdered)
  55. Craig Kelly, snowboarding (36, avalanche)
  56. Al Blozis, football and shotput (26, killed in action, WWII)
  57. Len Ford, football (46, coronary failure)
  58. Jerome Brown, football (27, car accident)
  59. Miklós Fehér, soccer (24, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)
  60. Gillis Grafström, figure skating (44, blood poisoning)
  61. Karine Ruby, snowboarding (31, climbing accident)
  62. Ulrike Maier, alpine skiing (26, sustained a broken neck during a World Cup race)
  63. Brian Piccolo, football (26, cancer)
  64. Harry Agganis, football, baseball (26, pneumonia)
  65. Felix Endrich, bobsledding (31, sustained a broken neck during a World Championship bobsledding race)
  66. Eugene Lipscomb, football (31 drug overdose)
  67. Ricky Bell, football (29, heart failure)
  68. Marc-Vivien Foé, soccer (28, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy)
  69. Pat Tillman, football (27, killed in action, Afghanistan)
  70. Neil Johnston, basketball (49, heart attack)
  71. Darryl Kile, baseball (33, heart attack)
  72. Sándor Kocsis, soccer (49, possible suicide)
  73. Max Baer, boxing (50, heart attack)
  74. Bill Hewitt, football (37, car crash)
  75. Henry Jordan, football (42, heart attack)
  76. Tony Lema, golf (32, plane crash)
  77. Babe Siebert, hockey (35, drowning)
  78. Joe Delaney, football (24, died trying to save three children from drowning)
  79. Yossef Romano, weighlifting (32, killed in Munich Olympic massacre)
  80. Krešimir Ćosić, basketball (46, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma)
  81. Stanley Ketchel, boxing (24, murdered)
  82. Russell Mockbridge, cycling (30, car crash)
  83. Jim Tyrer, football (41, committed suicide after shooting his wife)
  84. Jack McCracken, basketball (46)
  85. Robert Gruenig, basketball (45)
  86. Eric Show, baseball (37, drug overdose) Padres all time wins leader
  87. Marco Pantani, cycling (34, cocaine overdose)
  88. Nick Adenhart, baseball (22, killed by a drunk driver)
  89. Vladimir Smirnov, fencing (28, fencing accident)
  90. David Duerson, football (50, suicide)
  91. Korey Stringer, football (27, complications related to heat stroke)
  92. Dick Buek, alpine skiing (27, plane crash) National Ski Hall Of Famer
  93. Endre Kabos, fencing (37, died fighting in the Hungarian Underground after 6 months at a forced labor camp) 3-time gold medal Hungarian fencer and member of the International Jewish Hall of Fame.
  94. Attila Petschauer, fencing (38, murdered in concentration camp) 2-time gold medal Hungarian fencer
  95. *
  96. Janusz Kusociński, Olympic runner (33, executed by the Gestapo during the German occupation of Poland)
  97. Vernon Forrest, boxing (38, murdered)
  98. Arturo Gatti, boxing (37, murdered)
  99. Chuck Hughes, football (28, heart attack) only NFL player to die on the field during a game.
  100. Gaines Adams, football (26, cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart)
  101. Malik Sealy, basketball (30, killed by a drunk driver)
  102. Wendell Ladner, basketball (26, plane crash)
  103. Don Wilson (27, carbon monoxide poisoning)
  104. Larry Bethea , football (28, suicide after committing two armed robberies)
  105. Natalia Lavrova, gymnastics (25, car accident)
  106. Andre Waters, football (44, suicide)
  107. Brian Spencer, hockey (38, murdered in cocaine deal)
  108. David Berger
  109. Andre Spitzer, fencing (27, killed in the Munich Olympic massacre)
  110. Ricky Berry, basketball (26, suicide)
  111. Frank Buncom, football 29
  112. Bobby McDermott, basketball 49
  113. Bob Moose, baseball (29, car accident)
  114. Brandon Burlsworth, football (22, car accident)
  115. Darrent Demarcus Williams, football (24, murdered)
  116. Bison Dele, basketball (33, disappeared at sea; possible murdered by brother)
  117. Cory Lidle, baseball (34, plane crash)
  118. Mack Lee Hill, football (25, died while undergoing knee surgery)
  119. Stone Johnson, football, Olympic sprinter (23, fractured neck vertebra)
  120. Luz Long, long-jumper (30, killed in action, WWII)
  121. Steve Bechler, baseball (23, heart stroke related to ephedra use)
  122. Kevin Duckworth, basketball (44, heart failure)
  123. Donnie Moore, baseball (35, suicide)
  124. Lyman Bostock (27, murdered)
  125. Joe Kennedy, baseball (28, hypertensive heart disease)
  126. Chris Henry (26, fell out of moving truck)
  127. Alan Wiggins, baseball (32, AIDS)
  128. J.V. Cain, football (28, congenital heart failure)
  129. Robert Traylor, basketball
  130. Ricky Berry, basketball (24, suicide)
  131. Jason Collier, basketball
  132. Christie Mathewson*, baseball (45, tuberculosis)
  133. Georges Vézina* (39, tuberculosis)
  134. Ed Delahanty* (35, plundged off Niagra Falls)
  135. King Kelly*, baseball (36, pneumonia)
  136. Addie Joss*, baseball (31, tuberculous meningitis)
  137. Hobie Baker* (26, plane crash)
  138. George Gipp*, football (25, pneumonia)
  139. Young Tom Morris*, golf (24, heart attack)
  140. Suzanne Lenglen*, tennis (39, pernicious anemia)
  141. Scotty Davidson*, hockey (24, killed in action, WWI)
  142. George Freeth*, surfing (35, flu)
  143. George Richardson*, hockey (29, killed in action, WWI)
  144. Ross Youngs* (30, Bright's disease)
  145. Urban Shocker*
  146. Jose Mendez*
  147. Cristobal Torriente*
  148. Eddie Gerard* (47)
  149. Rube Waddell* (37)
  150. Andy Cooper*, baseball (43, heart attack)
  151. Frank Chance*, baseball (48)
  152. Buck Ewing* (47)
  153. Frank McGee*
  154. Hod Stuart*
  155. Tommy Phillips*
  156. Joe Gans*
  157. Harry Greb*
  158. Mickey MacKay*
  159. Stanley Ketchel*
  160. Terry McGovern*
  161. Joe Hall*
  162. Jack Darragh*
  163. Ray Chapman*
Author Comments: 

http://definitivedose.com

Jackie Robinson, Catfish Hunter at 53; Lee Roy Selmon at 56; Bobby Moore sat 51

not counting professional wrestlers or race car drivers

*=born before 1900

dashforcover12/09/2008

Brian Piccolo(October 31, 1943 – June 16, 1970) was a professional football player for the Chicago Bears for 4 years. Died at 26 of cancer. Well noted in the films Brian's Song (1971 and 2001)

podizz12/09/2008

thanks...