Athletes who died too soon (Part 2)
This is the second part of a series of articles discussing shocking and tragic deaths in the world of general sports.
He admitted that he had used drugs to increase his performance and testified against Graham at his trial. Pettigrew willingly returned the medals that he won while being trained by Graham, including the 2000 gold medal and three other medals from Athens in 1997, Seville in 1999 and Edmonton in 2001.
The rest of the United States of America team members that won the 4x400 relay in 2000 were also stripped of their medals. Even though Pettigrew had already retired from the track, he was given a two year athletics ban.
On August 10, 2010, Pettigrew was found in the back seat of his vehicle, dead. The car was locked and there were also sleeping pills recovered from the vehicle by police. An autopsy report said that committed suicide by overdosing on those sleeping pills. At the time of his death, he was a coach at the University of North Carolina.
Erica Blasberg was a golfer who played on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour. She played on the boys’ golf team in high school and won a medal at the 2000 U.S. Girls’ Junior as an amateur. She was the country’s number one college player as a freshman at the University of Arizona.
She was also named an All American golfer two years in a row, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Freshman of the Year and won the Golfists Cup for having the lowest stroke average in the NCAA. She was considered as one of the most photogenic players in the LPGA with Puma signing her to wear and endorse their brand of clothing.
Blasberg was found in her home in Henderson, Nevada, dead, on May 9, 2010. In an interview, her father Mel Blasberg said, “At first glance it looks like she might have taken her own life, but at second glance, something is very, very strange about it. We're waiting for the police to make an investigation." It seemed like a suicide because she had a plastic bag over her head.
Her caddy for the next golf tournament received a text message from Blasberg saying that she was not going to play in the tournament. The caddy, Missy Pederson, then replied to her message with one of her own, asking if she was all right, but never received a reply. Blasberg’s agent said that at the time of her death, her bags were already packed for the trip.
The police identified her doctor, Dr. Thomas Hess, as a primary suspect and executed a search warrant for the premises that Hess occupied mostly his home and office. They found Xanax, anti-anxiety medication, a sample of Hess’s handwriting and plastic garbage bags.
They also confiscated a GPS unit, two video cameras, a cellular phone and two computers from his home and a computer and white trash bags from his office. A television news station reported that the white trash bag seized from Hess’s office and home was similar to those found near Blasberg’s body.
To see exactly what happened to Blasberg, 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 3…
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