For every athlete or Hollywood unknown that is able to escape obscurity and reach the professional level in their respective careers, as time goes on, their predecessors that served as influential figures eventually reach a conclusion. Their families mourn them and to a certain extent, so do their fans. And yet, despite their physical presence not being around, their death is able to transform into a collective set of memories; an embodiment of a legacy that transcends generations.
As the new year of 2020 has arrived, we will poignantly look back over the past 10 years and examine some of the lives that were lost in the sports world. Some died young, while others were able to live a long life, but to honor them for the influence their legacies, struggles, and achievements had on fans and peers, here is a list of 16 athletes that have died in the past decade.
15 Bubba Smith
Like many athletes over the years, Bubba Smith was able to transition into acting upon retiring. Notwithstanding his TV and movie career probably not turning out the way he expected, the Police Academy trilogy is still considered timeless, and Smith undoubtedly served as a major contributor in helping the Baltimore Colts win their very first Super Bowl. However, at age 66, Smith was found dead by his caretaker as a result of acute drug intoxication and other conditions.
14 Gary Speed
Gary Speed might have been a talented soccer player and manager but he can also be remembered as a family man who quietly struggled with mental health. Just a few hours after recording BBC's Football Focus, his body was discovered in his garage. Still traumatized by the event to this day, in WalesOnline's serialized version of his widow's book, Unspoken, Louise Speed revealed that they used to exchange letters with one another often as teens, but in retrospect, one of them stood out the most: Speed mentioned being "depressed" and "wanting to go to sleep and never wake up."
13 Fab Melo
Upon being drafted by Danny Ainge, former Celtic, Fab Melo, may have only been in the NBA for a single year, but his cause of death can be viewed as a bit bizarre. While living back home with his mother and two sisters in Brazil, Melo was found dead in his bed at only 26-years-old. Multiple reports suggest that he may have suffered a heart attack in his sleep.
12 Jose Fernandez
The former Miami Marlin was with two of his friends when they instantly passed in a boat crash.
Just being into his fourth season and showing glimpses of a promising career with making 2 All-Star teams, according to the Miami Herald. Intoxication did play a role in the situation.
11 Patrick Day
Though boxing can be an entertaining sport to watch, the significant injuries fighters sustain can turn into a matter of life or death in only a matter of seconds. In Patrick Day's case, he became another upcoming prospect who died too young. Just four days after his fight with Charles Conwell, Day, 26, passed away as a result of a traumatic brain injury he suffered that night.
10 Orlando Woolridge
Orlando Woolridge is mostly recognized for his Chicago Bulls tenure. He served as Michael Jordan's high scoring sidekick prior to Scottie Pippen's arrival, but after being traded, he slowly saw his production decline as he bounced around from team to team. Years later, after retiring, at age 52, he was placed under hospice care and passed away a couple of days later due to a chronic health condition.
9 Manute Bol
Only half an inch shorter than the tallest NBA player of all time, in Gheorghe Mureșan, Sudanese native, Manute Bol, is most known for his stints with the Washington Wizards and the Golden State Warriors during the 80s. However, he sadly was never able to witness his son, Bol Bol, get his name called by Adam Silver on draft night as Manute Bol would go on to die from kidney failure at the age of 47, just 9 years earlier.
8 Anthony Mason
Whenever you think of Pat Riley's scrappy Knicks from the 90s, it's pretty hard not to include Anthony Mason in that group. For all of the versatility and guard skills Power Forwards have in today's NBA, one can say that Mason was a little ahead of his time. Mason would go on to have a solid 13-year NBA career but unfortunately, he ended up dying from congestive heart failure in 2015.
7 Cheick Tiote
It's an absolute privilege to be able to do something you love as a living, but to also have to spend your last moments on earth at a job instead of being with your family can be considered melancholic. These events are literally what transpired for 30-year-old, Cheick Tiote. While he was training in China with his new team, the Chinese second-tier side Beijing Enterprises, he collapsed and died shortly after from a suspected heart attack.
6 Jerome Kersey
Jerome Kersey was a favorite in Portland during the Clyde Drexler era not only amongst the fans but coaches as well. Jerome Kersey's hustle and hard-nosed defense was the standard that every coach wanted out of his Small Forward during the 80s and 90s. The beloved Blazer died at age 52 when a blood clot broke loose from his left calf and traveled to his lungs, which caused pulmonary thromboembolism.
5 Junior Seau
Junior Seau was inadvertently the player responsible for the NFL investigating deeper into the CTE dilemma that was slowly turning into an epidemic. After sadly committing gunshot suicide, the following year, his family decided to become public about his brain injury in order to allow others to understand "the insidiousness of the disease and how it can ruin lives." Months later, the Sea family successfully reached a settlement with the NFL to help other families impacted by CTE.
4 Moses Malone
After being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, Moses Malone's memorable quote of "fo, fo, fo," was probably cited by basketball analysts more than a hundred times. The rebounding machine managed to make 13 All-Star teams and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001 but 14 years later, he died as a result of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
3 Joe Frazier
One of the best when it came to the "Bob and Weave" technique, Philadelphia native, Joe Frazier, meant significantly to his hometown. In fact, in Slyvester Stallone's third Rocky film, Stallone revealed that he was planning on casting him as Clubber Lang (Mr. T's part). But after getting 6 stitches, he soon realized that he was in over his head. On November 7th, 2011, the boxing legend died from liver cancer at the age of 67.
2 Kobe Bryant
On January 26, 2020, 9 victims were killed in a helicopter crash, two of which included Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant. Despite having such a bright future in his post-basketball career with storytelling, Bryant tragically had his life cut short at just 41-years-old.
1 Muhammad Ali
Other than being one of the first athletes to get involved in social justice—especially due to the time period—Muhammad Ali is often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. After achieving a remarkable 56 and 5 record (one of the losses included him coming out of retirement), he battled Parkinson's disease for 32 years and died from septic shock at 74.