Gone Too Soon
It’s always upsetting when someone is taken from us in the prime of their life, yet there’s something even more shocking when it’s an athlete at the top of their game.
They’re our society’s symbols of strength, skill, and perseverance—but sadly, these athletes were gone far too soon. 
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente’s story is one of the most heartbreaking in sports history. This MLB star reached his 3,000th career hit in his final regular season game in 1972. Later that year, Nicaragua was struck by a brutal earthquake. Clemente immediately made plans to fly there and help out. Sadly, his plane crashed, and there were no survivors.
Now, Clemente is the namesake of an award given by the MLB annually to the player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual's contribution to his team”.
Jay Publishing, Wikimedia Commons
Ernie Davis
As a college football player, Ernie Davis was the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. A promising career in the NFL awaited him, but sadly, Davis was diagnosed with leukemia and succumbed to the disease at the age of 23, in 1963, having never played a professional game.
Unknown Artist, Wikimedia Commons
Len Bias
Len Bias was on the fast track to become the NBA’s next big star in the 1980s. His career as a college player was filled with awards and milestones, leading to him getting drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1986.
Sadly, two days after he was drafted, he died from an accidental overdose at the age of 23.
The Washington Post, Getty Images
Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman had a $3.6 million offer from the St Louis Cardinals, but following the September 11 attacks, he decided to leave it all behind and join the US Army. During his tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, what he saw shocked him. He had begun to record his thoughts on an invasion he saw as “illegal” when he died in an ambush—or so the Army claimed.
When Tillman’s family pushed for an investigation, they uncovered the Army’s lie. Tillman hadn’t died in battle. He’d been the victim of so-called “friendly fire”. After the incident, members of Tillman’s unit burned his uniform, body armor, and notebook, which contained his thoughts on the War in Afghanistan.
Officials congratulated themselves on their lies before they were uncovered. It was an egregious cover-up meant to not only deceive his family, but also the entire country.
Lyman Bostock
Lyman Bostock was an MLB player with the Twins and, in his final season, the Angels. One day, after a game in Chicago, Bostock visited family and old friends. There, he got into a car with his uncle, a friend, and her houseguest. Sadly, he ended up in the middle of a domestic dispute with that houseguest’s husband, who shot Bostock while aiming for his estranged wife.
Though the woman survived, Bostock sadly succumbed to his injuries. He was 27 years old.
Reggie Lewis
With Larry Bird in his final season, Reggie Lewis was THE star on the 1992-1993 Boston Celtics. Then, one day during a practice, Lewis suddenly collapsed and died instantly. The cause was found to be cardiac arrest. Lewis was just 27 years old.
Lou Gehrig
Baseball legend Lou Gehrig played a record-breaking 2,130 consecutive games before his batting average started slipping. He voluntarily benched himself, missing his first game in 14 years. Soon after, he was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), popularly known for many years as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Officials waived the waiting period to have Gehrig enter into the Hall of Fame, and he lived to see his induction before passing on at the age of 37 in 1941.
Pacific & Atlantic Photos, Wikimedia Commons
Kobe Bryant
For many years, it was difficult to imagine the Lakers, let alone the NBA, without the presence of Kobe Bryant, who’d been a fixture on the team from 1996-2016. Following his retirement, Bryant and his daughter sadly lost their lives in a helicopter crash in 2020.
Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Brian Piccolo
Brian Piccolo played with the Chicago Bears for five years before receiving a devastating cancer diagnosis. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 26 in 1970. His friendship with teammate Gale Sayers and final days were chronicled in the tearjerker TV movie Brian’s Song, where he was played by James Caan.
Chicago Bears, Wikimedia Commons
Hank Gathers
Another college basketball star who seemed destined for fame in the NBA, Gathers was diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat heart condition when he collapsed on the court in his senior year.
He’d recently changed his medication dosages in hope of fewer side effects that would affect his game—but while playing against the University of Portland in March of 1990, he collapsed on the court mere moments after slamming home an emphatic alley-oop. Sadly, he passed on soon after at the age of 23.
PhillyPartTwo, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Don Wilson
Don Wilson was a Houston Astro for all nine years of his career, pitching two no-hitters and making it to the All-Star team in 1971. Sadly, when Wilson was just 29, he left his car running in his garage and succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning—along with his five-year-old son, who was sleeping in the bedroom above the garage.
The next season, the Astros retired his number.
Derrick Thomas
It’s like a scene out of a nightmare. Derrick Thomas was a nine-time Pro Bowler during his NFL career—but in 2000, he found himself behind the wheel during a brutal snowstorm. Thomas was going over 70 miles per hour when he got into the accident that paralyzed him from the chest down.
Thomas succumbed to complications from the accident a few weeks later, at the age of 33.
Sean Taylor
Sean Taylor was a strong presence in the NFL, but sadly wound up in the middle of a burglary gone wrong at his home in 2007, where one of the intruders shot him in the leg. The blood loss was too severe and Taylor passed on at the age of 24. All five intruders were later caught and convicted.
Jerome Brown
As defensive linemen for the Eagles, Jerome Brown and teammate Reggie White were unstoppable. Sadly, Brown and his 12-year-old nephew perished in a car crash in 1992 when Brown was just 27 years old.
George Gojkovich, Getty Images
Thurman Munson
Thurman Munson was a one-time AL MVP and captain of the Yankees at the time he died in 1979. Munson had learned to fly in order to spend more time with his family, but was in an accident while practicing landings that took his life. He was 32.
U.S. National Archives, Picryl
Chris Henry
Chris Henry’s career in the NFL was sadly marked by a variety of personal troubles, including problems with the authorities. One night, following a domestic dispute with his fiancée, Henry fell off the back of a truck she was driving and incurred fatal head trauma. He was 26.
After his passing, an autopsy revealed he’d been suffering from CTE—which was perhaps a potential cause for his personal problems.
Malik Sealy
Malik Sealy was an NBA mainstay in the 90s, playing through eight professional seasons. Sadly, he became the victim of a drunk driver in the year 2000, passing away at the age of 30. Following his death, Kevin Garnett wore Sealy’s No 2 in honor of his friend.
Tim Richmond
Tim Richmond was one of the best drivers—and most charming competitors—in NASCAR when he died in 1989 at the age of 34. He’d been diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, but continued to drive through 1987, before succumbing to the disease.
Ted Van Pelt, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Dale Earnhardt
Tim Richmond’s one-time NASCAR competitor, Dale Earnhardt, was one of the most recognizable figures in racing at the time of his death in 2001 at the age of 49. Earnhardt died in what, at first seemed to be a minor crash at the Daytona 500, and the shocking tragedy led to widespread safety reform in NASCAR.
Darryl Moran, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Korey Stringer
Stringer was left tackle for the Vikings for many years—but during a training camp practice in 2001, he passed out, suffering from heat stroke. He died the next day at the age of 27. Sadly, his death was entirely preventable, and the University of Connecticut has since worked to prevent similar incidents through their Korey Stringer Institute.
George Gojkovich, Getty Images
Pelle Lindbergh
The NHL goalie and recipient of the Vezina Trophy in 1985 perished later that year in a car accident. An investigation found that Lindbergh’s BAC was nearly twice the legal limit. He was 26 years old.
Darryl Kile
On a beautiful June day in 2002, as the Cardinals prepared to play against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the team noticed their all-star pitcher, Darryl Kile, was missing. When someone went to investigate, they found his body in his hotel room. The game was canceled, with announcers saying that there’d been a tragedy in the Cardinals’ family.
The truth soon came out: Kile had passed on from coronary disease at the age of 33.
The Sporting News, Getty Images
Drazen Petrovic
A star in the EuroLeague before moving to the NBA, Petrovic had just begun to establish himself when he perished in a car accident on Germany's Autobahn at the age of 28 in 1993.
Steve Lipofsky, Wikimedia Commons
Cory Lidle
Cory Lidle was a starting pitcher with a solid career when he died at the age of 34 in 2006. Lidle was flying a small private airplane around New York City when he crashed into an apartment building in Manhattan's Upper East Side. He and his flight instructor didn’t survive, while 26 others were injured.
Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bobby Phills
Phills spent a solid nine seasons in the NBA, playing for the Cavs and the Hornets. Sadly, partway through the 1999-2000 season, Phills died in a car crash at the age of 30.
It later came out that Phills had been following his teammate David Wesley in his Porsche, and the two had been driving aggressively and erractically.
Darrent Williams
Williams was a promising young cornerback for the Broncos when he got caught in a drive-by shooting outside a nightclub during a 2007 New Years’ Eve celebration. He was just 24 years old.
Salvador Sanchez
The legendary featherweight boxer died in 1982 at the age of 23 in a car accident in Mexico.
José Fernández
Fernández had a few strong seasons in the MLB before he died in a boat crash along with two others in 2016. He was 24 years old.
Arturo Pardavila, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Oscar Taveras
Taveras was a promising new player for the St. Louis Cardinals, debuting in 2014. Then, during the offseason, Taveras got behind the wheel while inebriated and crashed his car in the Dominican Republic, ending his own life as well as that of his girlfriend. He was 22.
Johnmaxmena2, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Steve Prefontaine
Prefontaine was a track star who won gold at the 1971 Pan American Games. He was training for the 1976 Montreal Olympics when he was involved in the car accident in Oregon that took his life. He was 24.
Larry Sharkey, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Yordano Ventura
Ventura of the Kansas City Royals was an incredible pitcher and beloved hothead before he died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic in 2017 at the age of 25.
Arturo Pardavila, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Edwin Jackson
Edwin Jackson was a comeback kid: He’d been cut from the Arizona Cardinals before the regular season, but came back in 2016 to play the regular season with the Indianapolis Colts. While on reserve, he was involved in a horrific accident after he began to feel ill in an Uber. Jackson asked the driver to pull over.
Both got out alongside the highway and were subsequently hit by a pickup truck driven by someone under the influence. Jackson and the driver both succumbed to their injuries at the scene. He was 26.
Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Dan Snyder
Dan Snyder of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers had played just 49 games in his professional career before dying in a brutal car crash in 2003 at the age of 25. The Ferrari 360 that Snyder was a passenger in hit a pillar with such force that the whole vehicle was shorn in half.
The most tragic part? The car had been driven by his friend, all-star teammate Dany Heatley.
Getty Images Sport, Getty Images
Antonio Puerta
Antonio Puerta of Spain was a beloved (European) football star, but in 2007, he collapsed on the pitch and passed on three days later. The cause was found to be heart disease. He was 22 years old.
Ainara Pedroso, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Nick Adenhart
After suffering an injury that derailed his career, Adenhart made it through surgery and recovered just in time to start the 2009 season. Later that night, he was the victim of a drunk driver. He was just 22 years old.
Brady Withers, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bobby East
East was a phenom in motorsports, competing from the time he was a teenager. He had a successful career in NASCAR, but at the age of 37, was involved in an altercation at a gas station and was stabbed. He succumbed to his injuries soon after in hospital.
Bruce Alan Bennett, Shutterstock
Dwayne Haskins
With Ohio State, quarterback Dwayne Haskins set the Big Ten single-season records for passing yards and passing touchdowns before entering the NFL in 2019.
By 2022, he was the backup quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers before his untimely death in 2022 at the age of 24, following a car accident.
AlexanderJonesi, CC BY-SA 2.0 Wikimedia Commons
Owen Hart
Owen Hart was a WWF wrestler and a member of the prolific Hart wrestling family. He died in front of thousands of fans during a botched stunt at a WWF Over the Edge event in 1999, falling from the rafters after an equipment malfunction. He was 34.
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