Whats the Most shocking sports death of all time?

Question

I'm gonna say Reggie White, it was so surel when he died

reggie white was only retired for a couple years, his death is almost the equivelent of if MJ died 4 years after his retirement. Reggie White was the best DE of all time, and even though he was out of his prime, the death shocked the NFL world. If Micheal Jordan died, it would shock the NBA world (and a little more) but hes also out of his prime. And jeeze the whole marshall team died in a crash, never herd of that one but thats awful.

Answer 1

Very interesting and thought provoking question.

For me one of the most poignant sporting deaths was that of Marc-Vivien Foe, the Cameronian footballer who collapsed while representing his country at the Confederations cup in 2003

What I noticed as an Irish person is that many of the incidences are from American sports, and that I was not aware of many of them, I will now be looking them up on the net do find out more.

again as an irish person I would like to tell of an incident in Irish sport. It occured a number of years ago, 1997 I think.
The sport in question was gaelic Football.
For those of you who not know the sport it is similar to American Football or Australian Football

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StcMJkQ80ns

here is a short clip of the sport from youtube, significantly it is probably less physical than the other forms of football and it also has a Goalkeeper like Soccer.

Anyways back to the incident,it was during the second half of minor(under 18) championship final, it was held before the senior(adult) final so there was a large crowd in attendance(circa 30,000). A long ball was kicked in on of the players chased after it, Paul Mcgirr, a seventeen yearold schoolkid, the ball bounced between him and the opposing goalkeeper, they both rushed to get it Paul won the race and flicked the ball over the Goalkeepers head to score what was the winning goal, the crowd erupted he had won the game for his team, however in scoring the goal Paul has collided with Goalkeeper and lay on the ground, this was not a cause for great concern, it ws after all a contact sport a people often received knocks,, Paul believed to have been concused was brought to hospital, the biggest concern for him at the time that he was going to miss the teams celebrations. It was announced later that night that Paul had died as a result of a punctured lung sustained in the the challenge with Goalkeeper.

I think this qualifies as one of if not the most shocking sporting death for a number of reasons.

1. The young age of the player involved
2. The fact that it occured on the sporting field
3. The fact that Goalkeeeper involved in the incident, despite the challenge being totally accidental having to live with this for the rest of his life.

Tyrone the team he played for, accepted the cup thay had won, retired in the number 12 jersey he wore, and continued playing their remaining matches, which culminated in them qualifying for the All- Ireland final which unfortunately they lost.
In 2003 a Tyrone senior team with many of Pauls team-mates from 97 won a senior All-Ireland for the first time in the counties history, the win was dedicated to Pauls memory.

Unfortunately the group of players were to encounter further grief when Tyrones senior captain Cormac Mcanallen was found dead a victim of SADS in March 2004 .

Answer 2

I'd have to say the crash that killed formula-1 driver Aryton Senna, his car veared off a turn and hit a retaining wall at approx. 180 miles an hour head on. The splat and total devistation of him and his car was probably the most gruesome crash I have ever seen.

Answer 3

when the marshall football team's plane crashed..

or even more recently when that college baseball team's bus went off the overpass and 5 of them died.

or when members of oklahoma state's basketball team and staff dies in a small plane crash (within the past 5 years)..

i just think it's devastating when an entire team is affected...


but if you're saying one, individual death, i'd have to go with roberto clemente dying in a plane crash, due to how popular he was and how highly skilled he was as a baseball player...

Answer 4

Reggie White? Not even close man. Once you are retired anything is possible. The shocking deaths are those that come in an athlete's prime.

Len Bias and Reggie Lewis are better choices.

Answer 5

Duk Koo Kim--Because of his deat in the ring fights were shortened from 15 rounds to 12.

Answer 6

I am going to say Dale Earnhardt. He died in the biggest race of the year. The effects of it are still be felt today.

Answer 7

Chicago Cubs... every season, without fail.

Answer 8

OJ's wife

Answer 9

Len Bias he was a beast but he overdosed so it hurt him