Athletes who died too soon (Part 1)
Over the years, there have been many athletes who passed away too early. Either they were at the top of their game or their death came as a complete surprise to everyone involved, including family, teammates and fans. The following are a few of them, in no specific order.
On January 8, 2011, a mass shooting took place near Tucson, Arizona. The intended target was a district court judge but the assailant then started firing at random people in the crowd. Five people died at the scene while a sixth, Christina-Taylor Green, was pronounced dead when paramedics took her to the hospital. Even though Green wasn’t an athlete herself, the nine year old girl, who was born on the day of the World Trade Center attacks, was the daughter of John Green, who is a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Christina was also the granddaughter of Dallas Green, former major league manager. He was the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies when they won their first World Series back in 1980. Christina wanted to become the first female in major league baseball when she grew up.
The next person on our list of athletes lost too soon is one who has a holiday named after him in Hawaii. February 13 is “Andy Irons Day” since Andy Irons is the only surfer to have won a title at every location on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) calendar. He has won 20 elite tour victories, two Rip Curl Pro Search titles, three Quicksilver Pro France titles and three world champion titles.
He earned about $1.5 million over his ten year career before his untimely death on November 2, 2010. According to the ASP, "he had reportedly been battling with dengue fever, a viral disease." However, some viral specialists were suspicious of this because dying from dengue fever is very rare.
The cause of death would have been made clear in toxicology reports but his wife asked for a temporary injunction on the release of those records. After he died, a World Championship Tour event was postponed and competitors held a “paddle out” service in Irons’ memory. A newspaper in Hawaii reported that his death could have been caused by an overdose of methadone, which would have been a deadly combination with his previously diagnosed sleep apnea.
A memorial service in Kauai was attended by thousands wishing to pay their respects. Irons’ son was born just over one month after he died, on the opening day of the Pipeline Masters in Memory of Andy Irons, held on December 8, 2010. He was 32 years old.
Next is Antonio Pettigrew, an Olympic gold medal sprinter, who died at the age of 42 in North Carolina. Pettigrew won the 400 meter gold medal and the 4x400 meter relay silver medal at the 1991 World Championships. In Sydney’s Summer Olympics in 2000, Pettigrew won the gold medal in the 4x400 but was later disqualified.
Almost eight years after winning the medal, Trevor Graham was being tried for giving the athletes he trained performance enhancing drugs and Pettigrew was named as one of them.
To see what happened to Pettigrew, who else died when they were at their peak and whose death came as a surprise to everyone involved, check out the next article.
Continued in Part 2…
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