Shocking and tragic deaths of sportsman (Part 4)
This is a continuation of a series of articles discussing shocking and tragic deaths of sportsmen.
In April of 2007, Josh Hancock was killed in an accident when his SUV collided with a flat bed truck. When he rear ended the truck, he was intoxicated at nearly twice the legal limit in Missouri.
Hancock was a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and was the second team member to die in five years, after pitcher Darryl Kile died in 2002 of a heart attack in his hotel room. As if driving drunk wasn’t bad enough, Hancock was also texting on his cell
phone and not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
Police also found marijuana and a pipe in his car, although there were no drugs in his system. For some odd reason, Hancock’s family filed a lawsuit against the tow truck company, tow truck driver, the restaurant he was coming from, and the driver of the
vehicle that the tow truck was assisting. The lawsuit was then dropped in July of 2007. Hancock was 29 years old.
While in a club in Denver, Colorado, Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams’ teammate, Brandon Marshall, got into an argument with another group of people, who are suspected to be Crips gang members. Williams was in “The Shelter” nightclub on New Years
Eve of 2007, celebrating the birthday of Kenyon Martin, a player of the Denver Nuggets NBA team.
Williams and his teammates then left the club and got into a rented Hummer H2 limousine. Another vehicle pulled up beside the limo and opened fire on it. Williams received a single gunshot to his neck, which killed him instantly. He was 24 years old.
A few days after the New York Yankees’ hopes of the World Series perished, pitcher Cory Lidle also perished in a plane crash in New York City. On October 11, 2006, Lidle was piloting his personal plane, a Cirrus SR20, around New York City with co-pilot and
flight instructor, Tyler Stanger.
They initially took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and then circled the Statue of Liberty twice. They then flew up the East River, when radar contact was lost when the plane reached the 59th Street Bridge.
It is unknown whether Lidle or Stanger was piloting the plane, but due to pilot error, the plane crashed into the Belaire Apartments on New York Ave. 21 people were injured due o the accident, and Lidle was the third Yankee to die as a result of a crash
in their own plane. Jim Hardin and Thurman Munson are the others. He was 34 years old.
When he retired from the NFL in 1998, Reggie White was the all time leader in sacks. The Hall of Famer was diagnosed with sleep apnea and cardiac and pulmonary disease. On December 26, 2004, he was rushed to a hospital near his home in Cornelius, North Carolina.
He was pronounced dead, having suffered from a cardiac arrhythmia. His previous conditions contributed to his death.
The “Minister of Defense,” as he was commonly known as, was honored by his previous teams after his death. The University of Tennessee, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Green Bay Packers retired his number, becoming the first player in NFL history who’s number
was retired my multiple teams.
He was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and was called the greatest player that the Eagles ever had by ESPN. He was 43 years old when he died.
Deaths of other sportsmen will be discussed in the next article.
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