Name: 30 Horribly Tragic Sports Deaths
Uploaded: 2026-01-18T16:59:32.000Z
Duration: 25 min 50 s
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This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements that I've ever personally had to make.

But after the accident and turned forward to the end of the Daytona 500, welcome to Watchmojo.

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And today we're looking at 30 truly tragic deaths that happened in the world of sports.

We'll only be looking at incidents that occurred during or as a direct result of competition on the field, in the ring or on the track.

May 1994 is a big date for all of us because we lost one of the greatest, Levander Johnson.

The risk that boxers take each and every time they step into the ring is something that many fans take for granted.

Johnson's part, he says, well, the guy has to come at me.

This should be easy because he doesn't exactly protect his head.

I should be able to land my jab and my right hand over the top.

The former IBF lightweight champion Levander Johnson took on Jesus chavez in his first title defense.

After being stopped in the 11th round following a heavy barrage of shots, Johnson left the ring on his own two feet.

However, when he made it backstage, tragedy struck.

Yeah, the fight should have been stopped much, much sooner.

He collapsed in his locker room, losing consciousness.

Emergency surgery for brain swelling could only do so much, and

after a few days in a coma, the decision was made to pull the plug.

It was a death that sent a tremor through the sport of boxing.

Kenny Irwin Jr Auto Racing in the late 1990s, Kenny Irwin was a promising rising talent in the world of nascar.

A former rookie of the year in both the Craftsman Truck and Winston Cup Series.

We started racing and at age 16, Kenny come to me and he said, dad, I want to do this for a living.

He said, I want to make this my profession.

In his brief career, despite never hitting the top spot, he had finished in the top 10 on 12 different occasions.

Unfortunately, his life was brought to a very sudden end during a practice and at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he collided with a barrier head on, flipping the car before sliding across the track.

Medical experts agree that he was likely killed instantly by the impact, ending his career and life just as it was truly getting started again.

That was the worst day I've ever gone through in my professional career, bar none.

Antonio Puerta, Soccer the unfortunate truth about sports is that sometimes it takes an unexpected death for health precautions to be taken.

Not that Anyone expected the 22 year old Antonio Puerta to be unknowingly suffering from serious heart problems.

Proper cardiac screening likely would have caught it, but

in 2007, he collapsed on the field during a game against Getafe.

Though he did regain consciousness and walked off the pitch, he later suffered another cardiac arrest in the dressing room.

Several more would follow before he eventually passed away.

In the days that followed, his death truly shook Spanish football to its core.

Jim Clark Auto Racing during his heyday in Formula 1, it was clear that Jim Clark was destined for greatness in the highly competitive arena of motorsport.

Only once in a while does a real driving genius emerge from the pack.

He already had two championships under his belt and had achieved more pole positions than any other driver.

The risks of high speed motorsports are well understood by those who decide to take part, though.

In the fifth lap of the first heat of a 1968 Formula Two in West Germany, Clark veered off the track and collided with the tree.

The damage was severe, with Clark suffering a broken neck and fractured skull.

He would pass away on the way to the hospital at the age of just 32 years old.

Reggie Lewis Basketball by the time his sixth and final year in the NBA came around, he Reggie Lewis had spent all of that time as a member of the Boston Celtics.

He even earned All Star honors in his second to last season.

Yeah, it's always sad when someone dies young because there's a whole group of people that's going to miss out on him, miss out on the highlight clips and all the attention and you know, I imagine there's a whole bunch of kids, track athletes that go to the Reggie Lewis center and have no idea who Reggie Lewis is.

His final pro appearance for the Celtics would see him collapse on the court before briefly regaining his composure.

He was told by doctors that he had a career ending heart condition, but

after receiving a second opinion, he decided to attempt to train for the 1994 season.

Just three months later, Lewis suffered a sudden cardiac death during a preseason practice, dying almost immediately at the age of 27.

Reggie Lewis Knight Boston Garden March 22, 1995 Number 35 has now joined those of other Celtic legends raised above the Garden parquet.

Frankie Campbell Boxing the level of health precautions in boxing during the first half of the 20th century was truly a far cry from what it is now.

There was great rivalry with Max coming from the East Bay and Frankie from San Francisco.

The fight was in the San Francisco ballpark and Frankie was holding his own for the early rounds.

Unfortunately, when commissions take a learn from your mistakes approach, people like Frankie Campbell end up paying the price.

Tasked with taking on the legend Max Baer, King Campbell had some early success that just ended up annoying his opponent.

Baer was out for blood and by the fifth round he was battering Campbell mercilessly.

Eventually, the clearly beaten Campbell was only being kept upright by the ropes, but the damage was done.

The ref should have stopped it earlier, but he was made to take excessive damage.

Doctors would reveal that his brain had literally been knocked loose from its connective tissue which ultimately killed him.

Dan Weldon Motor Racing the truly Horrific death of 33 year old IndyCar driver Dan Weldon came during the season ending Izod IndyCar World Champ at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It was a collision as big and fiery as we have ever seen on live television in a sports arena.

In the middle of the race, he was involved in a multi car collision, becoming airborne before colliding with a catch fence post.

Though medics rushed to the scene, he was declared dead on arrival and the race was understandably abandoned.

He was the first contestant to die in an IndyCar competition in five years.

Though an inquiry was launched into the exact cause of his death, no single abnormality was pointed out.

Sometimes I feel no time has passed at all because you have moments you're kind of in and out of grief and I have two boys that need me and you get up and you just keep going.

Chuck Hughes Football in the final moments of a 1971 showdown between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears, wide receiver Chuck Hughes collapsed unexpectedly.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes died of a heart condition in the fourth quarter on the field in week six of the 1971 season.

After his involvement in a play that had just finished, he suffered a heart attack in the middle of the game and fell to the ground after attempts to revive him failed.

He became the first and to this day only NFL player to die on field in the middle of a game.

The Lions retired the number 85 jersey in his honor.

He had a history of heart disease in his family, but

it had clearly been overlooked during his mandatory medicals.

Hughes is the only player to die on the field in an NFL game, and

while his death sparked medical advancement within the league, Sharon remembers Chuck for the man she met back at Texas Western College.

Jules Bianchi Auto Racing Even world class drivers can fall victim to the elements and human error.

In 2014, the 25 year old Jules Bianchi completely lost control of his vehicle during a Japanese Grand Prix race.

Formula One lost a much loved member of the paddock when Jules bianchi passed away nine months after his accident in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, he crashed directly into a recovery vehicle, suffering a brain injury that would eventually prove fatal.

He was placed into a coma after emergency surgery, but passed away nine months later.

He was the first Formula One driver to be killed due to racing injuries since the legendary ayrton senna in 1994.

An inquiry was launched and a halo like cockpit protection device was installed in all Formula One cars.

Designed specifically to protect drivers against head trauma, it is the strongest part of the car, yet it weighs only 7 kilos.

Marc Vivian Foet Football Cameroonian footballer Marc Vivian Foet was best known for his stint with Manchester City in the Premier League as well as his performances with his national side.

But just after half time he collapsed in the middle of the pitch.

When he fell over in the center circle, we didn't realize that it was something that important.

We thought it was some sort of fatigue that caused his collapse.

During the second half of a 2003 Confederations cup game between Cameroon and Colombia, foe suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Despite the frantic attempts by medical staff to revive him, he died on the field as a result of a previously undiagnosed heart condition.

This tragedy had an immediate effect on world football, calling many medical protocols into question and once we'd lost him, we were completely without any strength to carry on.

But as we thought about it, about what a competitor he was, about the desire he always had to win, we decided that we should play the final for him as a memorial to him.

Thankfully, it did lead to improvements all across the board for all FIFA adjacent tournaments from that point onwards.

Albert Ibusi Bujungo Albert Ibusi Bujungo got his professional start playing for soccer clubs in his hometown of Douala, Cameroon.

In 2013, he moved to Algeria after being signed by JS Caballi, a club based in Tizi Uzul.

On August 23, 2014, Bujugu met a tragic end following his team's loss to the visiting USM Alger.

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30 Horribly Tragic Sports Deaths

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