Athletes put their body on the line to entertain their fans, and sometimes they tragically give their lives too
As a member of the legendary Hart wrestling family, Canadian wrestler Owen Hart was among the most popular WWE stars of the 90s
In May 1999, he was set to appear as his alter ego, the Blue Blazer, at the Over the Edge Pay-Per-View event held at Kemper Arena in Kansas City
The plan called for Hart to be slowly lowered into the ring from the rafters with the use of a wire system
But that's not what happened. The rigging malfunctioned and Owen plunged some 80 feet into the ring
WWE announcer Jim Ross told the silenced crowd that the fall was not a scripted moment or a stunt
TV viewers didn't see the fall as the broadcast had cut to a highlight reel before his grand entrance
Barely 34 years old, Hart died within minutes after his lungs filled with blood due to a severed aorta
He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital that same night. He was such a beloved guy
Yeah. Legit. Didn't have an enemy in the world. Sam Okoraji left his native Nigeria for Europe to study for his doctorate
but he wound up playing professional soccer. After suiting up for various European teams in the 80s
Okoraji returned home to join the Nigerian national team in 1988, and a year later found himself playing in a World Cup qualifier against Angola
Okwaraji would never take the pitch in the 1990 World Cup, however. Deep into the second half of the qualifier, a referee ejected an Angolan player
While the Angolans circled around the official in protest, Okwaraji collapsed to the ground a few feet away
His teammates rushed over to him, but there was nothing anybody could do. He was already dead According to an autopsy the 25 player had died suddenly of an enlarged heart made all the worse due to high blood pressure Nigeria won the game
but were eliminated from World Cup contention not long after. The Giro d'Italia is among Europe's many multi-stage, multi-day bicycle races that send
elite riders on a tour across the beautiful countryside. Belgian racer Vauter Veylon to
the Team Leopard Trek, had won stages at the similar Tour of Spain in 2008 and at the Giro
d'Italia in 2010 before competing in that race's 2011 edition. During the third stage
Veylon wound down the steep, twisty road to the descent from the Paso del Boco. About 20 miles
from the finish, he lost control and crashed. Some witnesses say he hit a wall. At any rate
he landed hard on his face and bled profusely upon impact. Due to the urgency of his injuries
emergency workers rushed to the fallen rider where he lay on the road
Veylant was discovered unconscious with a fracture at the base of his skull
and his heart had stopped. Adrenaline and atropine injections along with other actions were unsuccessful
Veylant died at the age of 26. Outside of the United States, the dominant type of motorsport is Formula One
with its lucrative Grand Prix races held on specially built tracks and on public roads
Ayrton Senna was one of the best Formula One drivers ever. In just 10 years in the sport, he won 41 races, including the Monaco Grand Prix six times
Senna's home nation of Brazil even held him up as a hero and a national treasure
By being a racing driver, you are under risk all the time
On May 1st, 1994, Senna competed in a race in the Imola circuit in Italy
driving his Williams Renault car. Suddenly when dealing with a left corner at a necessarily high speed his car suddenly jerked to the right That led Senna to instantly hit a wall nearly head The cause of the accident
was due to trouble with the steering column, after Senna had asked his team to modify it before the
race. Not long after, Senna died as a result of the crash, as debris had pierced his helmet and
caused several skull fractures. The tragedy was mourned by the people of Brazil as Senna's funeral
was broadcast on live TV, and the government declared a three-day period of mourning for the
34-year-old racer. After an uneventful freshman year at USC, basketball phenom Hank Gathers
transferred to the smaller Loyola Marymount University, where he became a school legend
In his junior year, he averaged 32.7 points per game and 13.7 rebounds per game. Gathers' senior
year was pretty spectacular too, with an average of 29 points per game and 10.8 rebounds per game
At the time of his passing, he was the 11th leading scorer in college ball history and likely had a stellar NBA career in front of him
Invincible guy as a player. He also quietly suffered from heart problems and was prescribed medication for an irregular heartbeat
That didn't stop him from playing in the 1990 West Coast Conference Tournament
After a slam dunk that put LMU up 25-13, Gathers collapsed to the floor and couldn't right himself
Then he stopped breathing. A few hours later, the 23-year-old Gathers was pronounced dead
According to an autopsy, he died due to a diseased, inflamed, and scarred muscle in his heart
Drag racing is much more than Fast and Furious movies. These fuel-guzzling vehicles and the people who love them compete on the funny car circuit
in which the Kalita family was royalty. Back in the 50s and 60s Connie Kalita bounty hunter cars dominated the sport and his son Scott took up the business too The younger Kalita made a name for himself winning two straight Top Fuel titles in 1994 and 1995
This was a guy who knew on every level how a hot rod worked, and yet he still lost his life to an unthinkable freak accident in June 2008
During the Lucas Oil NHRA Supernational Racing event in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey
Kalita's car experienced what a police report called a catastrophic mechanical failure that
led to an explosion of fuel. That shot Kalita and his vehicle down the track to the finish line at
slightly over 300 miles per hour in under a second. Kalita died at the age of 46
Lane Frost was a champion of the rodeo and an early one at that. A national high school finalist
in the early 1980s, Frost turned pro and won multiple major events, including the 1987
national finals rodeo overall title and many championships on the circuit. He could even
emerge victorious in rides with bulls few others could handle. Frost was a star competitor in the
Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo event held on July 30th, 1989. In PBR bull riding, a perfect score
is 100. That day, Frost scored a remarkable 85 points on the bull known as Taking Care of Business
Immediately after the historic ride in front of a crowd of at least 10,000 rodeo fans
the bull attacked Frost, striking the athlete in the back with its horn
Not only did the strike immediately fracture several of Frost's ribs, but a rib then severed a significant blood vessel
Frost didn't have a pulse when he was rushed out of the arena and was reported dead upon arrival to Memorial Hospital
He was 25 years old