OT: Who was the unluckiest athlete in memory?

[KingLando]

So, yes, Len Bias did make a choice that lead to him being "unlucky" but there's tons of NBA players (and people in general) that used cocaine and lived until there 60s (Michael Ray Richardson, Mitchell Wiggins, John Drew, etc) so there's definitely some bad luck involved even if self-inflicted.

My top 5 list
Sean Taylor
Monica Seles
Jerome Brown
Bobby Hurley
Reggie Lewis

 

[LionJim]

So, yes, Len Bias did make a choice that lead to him being "unlucky" but there's tons of NBA players (and people in general) that used cocaine and lived until there 60s (Michael Ray Richardson, Mitchell Wiggins, John Drew, etc) so there's definitely some bad luck involved even if self-inflicted.

My top 5 list
Sean Taylor
Monica Seles
Jerome Brown
Bobby Hurley
Reggie Lewis

Maurice Stokes was very very good before he got sick. Maybe not Ernie Davis good but definitely up there with the best in the NBA.

 

[KingLando]

Maurice Stokes was very very good before he got sick. Maybe not Ernie Davis good but definitely up there with the best in the NBA.

Before my time...but know a little about him as he was a local guy

 

[Indian rocks rich]

I bounced around a lot of names. Bo Jackson, Maravich, KiJana, Greg Oden, and others, but I can't think of anyone who got a worse deal than she did:

Jim Kelly or Fran Tarkington would qualify to be on the list

 

[Phils rug]

Lou Gehrig?

 

[1995PSUGrad]

Unlucky for sure but at least she had a career - 9 GS wins (in only three years) before the incident. I’d say someone like Andy Roddick who had the misfortune to play at the same time as Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic. Guess that goes for all men’s players for a twenty year period or so…any other twenty year stretch and he wins half a dozen GS’s.

I don't think "not being good enough to beat the other guys" qualifies as unlucky.

 

[Nitt1300]

any racehorse that breaks a leg, actually

 

[1995PSUGrad]

Lou Gehrig?

He did say in his retirement speech that he was the luckiest man alive, though.

 

[Midnighter]

I don't think "not being good enough to beat the other guys" qualifies as unlucky.

Sure it does.

 

[Yogiman71]

The Agony of Defeat skied dude from the ole wide world of sports iykyk

 

[LionJim]

The Agony of Defeat skied dude from the ole wide world of sports iykyk

Somehow I doubt that when he was flailing through the air he was thinking to himself that he was gaining immortality.

 

[KingLando]

Stan Wawrinka might be the best example ever of someone who just fell into the worst era to play. In any other era that man wins a dozen or more slams.

 

[Shep]

Monica married a billionaire after she finished playing. Unlucky athlete yes, unlucky life I’d say no.

 

[NittPicker]

The Agony of Defeat skied dude from the ole wide world of sports iykyk

Vinko Bogataj. I heard after his ski jumping career ended, he went back home to Slovenia to live his regular life. It wasn't until years later that he learned he was famous in the USA because of the Wide World of Sports clip. Famous, yet very few people knew is name other than being "the agony of defeat" guy.

 

[op2]

Gabe Rivera.

He was driving drunk when his accident occurred. But maybe you could say he was unlucky in the sense that he came along before the big push for people to stop driving drunk, otherwise maybe he'd have known enough not to drive drunk. (Although a lot of people that came along later drove drunk anyway.)

 

[KingLando]

Monica married a billionaire after she finished playing. Unlucky athlete yes, unlucky life I’d say no.

Ummm--that's a "weird" marriage though--he's like 3 decades older than her and I think he's on his 5th marriage or something
But hopefully there's no prenup and she'll get a billion or two.

 

[manatree]

He was driving drunk when his accident occurred. But maybe you could say he was unlucky in the sense that he came along before the big push for people to stop driving drunk, otherwise maybe he'd have known enough not to drive drunk. (Although a lot of people that came along later drove drunk anyway.)

Yeah he was very unlucky that alcohol drifted down from the sky like a gentle fog and covered him until he absorbed enough through his skin to become inebriated.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Yeah he was very unlucky that alcohol drifted down from the sky like a gentle fog and covered him until he absorbed enough through his skin to become inebriated.

Alcohol then....bling now.

 

[fairgambit]

 

[PhillyBillyReprise]

Kenny Hobbs

 

[Shepdogg]

Mitch Wild Thing Williams.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Tonya Gilooly.

 

[olelion]

I didn’t realize that he was from Aliquippa.

And Ernie Davis from Uniontown

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Richie Allen from Wampum.

 

[RochLion]

I bounced around a lot of names. Bo Jackson, Maravich, KiJana, Greg Oden, and others, but I can't think of anyone who got a worse deal than she did:

This reminded me of another female tennis player who was attacked with a knife. Back in 2016 Petra Kvitova was had fingers on her left (playing) hand cut by a man posing as a utility work in her apartment in the Czech Republic. She was able to recover and come back and be pretty competitive on the tour. I still remember her 2019 Aussie Open final against Osaka as epic. In that sense she's actually pretty lucky. Could have been much worse.

Tennis Star Petra Kvitova Badly Injured By Knife-Wielding Attacker | NPR Illinois

 

[Lil Nicky Scarfo]

Dan Jansen falling several times while trying to win gold in his sister’s memory - until he finally struck gold

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Henry "rootin'" Tuten.

 

[Moogy]

I bounced around a lot of names. Bo Jackson, Maravich, KiJana, Greg Oden, and others, but I can't think of anyone who got a worse deal than she did:

She got stabbed in the back, recovered and won a Grand Slam title before marrying a sugar daddy billionaire 32 years her senior.

Compare to someone like Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash trying to help victims of a natural disaster. The end.

 

[Connorpozlee]

Me. I have the weight to be an NFL tight end but am only 5’8. So damn unlucky.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Carson Long.

 

[MtNittany]

Carson Long.

You misspelled Wide.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

John "grabbed my ankle" Congemi.

 

[Shepdogg]

I think my post on Mitch Wild Thing Williams got buried due to the lateness of the post.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Joe Teepis.

 

[MtNittany]

As far as Roberto Clemente, I think he was in his late 30's when the tragedy occurred. He had his prime, and it was a great prime.

I was thinking more athletically - athletes who, through no fault of their own - never got to their prime, or even got started (like Oden and KiJana).

 

[Nitt1300]

Kim Duk-koo

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Chimpbo Covert.

 

[s1uggo72]

in about 2 weeks 11/14 you will read about 75 unlucky people when they flew the Marshall U football team plane into the side of the mountain

 

[NEPA Lion]

Kijana, most football fans had that feeling that injury was a career ender.
Multi purpose stadiums sucked. Maybe the old AFL, Raiders, Jets, Chargers were ok.

 

[Efejle]

Probably anyone playing football for Penn State: Half the ******* team is injured
.