The 11 Wildest And Most Tragic On-Field Sports Deaths In History

Ray died after being beaned in the head with a pitched baseball. He was a shortstop for the Cleveland baseball team. His team was playing the New York Yankees on August 16, 1920, when Ray stepped up to the mound and was hit in the head by Carl Mays' pitch. During that era, pitchers would typically dirty the baseball with spit, soil, and tobacco juice, making the ball's movement erratic and hard to see. Reports claim that the sound of the ball hitting Ray's head was so loud, the pitcher thought the ball had hit the bat. The umpire immediately noticed that Chapman was bleeding from his ear, and alerted the nearest physician. After being helped off the mound, Chapman's reported last words were,  "I'm all right; tell Mays not to worry... Ring....Katie's ring," before collapsing unconscious. He was taken to the hospital, where he never awoke and died the following day from brain swelling caused by a skull fracture. His death caused the MLB to replace dirty balls and ban spitballs, but batting helmets weren't made mandatory until the 1970s. 

On January 13, 1968, Bill, who was with the Minnesota North Stars, was playing against the Oakland Seals. As he advanced the puck, he was accidentally tripped up by one defender while being checked by another, and was propelled to the ground, with the back of his head hitting the ice. At the time, hockey players did not wear helmets. "It sounded like a baseball bat hitting a ball," his teammate André Boudrias stated. Bill was knocked out cold, and was taken to the hospital, where he died two days later after never regaining consciousness. 

Chuck was a 28-year-old wide receiver for the Detroit Lions. On October 24, 1971, he unexpectedly collapsed at the end of the fourth quarter in a match against the Chicago Bears. Medical staff carted him from the field and tried to resuscitate him, with no luck. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy showed that Chuck had atherosclerotic heart disease and died of a heart attack. Doctors claim that the disease restricted 70% of the blood flow to Chuck's heart. 

In August of 1930, Frankie was fighting future heavyweight champion Max Baer in San Fransico. In the second round, after knocking Max down (some accounts say Max slipped), Frankie retreated to the ropes with his back to his opponent, assuming that he was taking a while to get up. An enraged Max then attacked Frankie from behind, landing strikes to the back of his head. It's reported that Frankie said to his coach when returning to his corner, "I feel as though something in my head had cracked." Three rounds later, Max beat Frankie into submission with a flurry of heavy blows to the head that knocked the latter unconscious. Doctors at the fight tried to resuscitate Frankie with no luck, so he was taken to the hospital, where he died. Doctors at the time claimed his brain had been knocked so hard that it had separated from the connective tissue in his skull.

Although this incident did not occur during the game, it took place shortly after one and is considered the deadliest sports story in American history. On November 14, 1970, a plane carrying a majority of the Marshall University football team was killed after the jet clipped some trees and crashed into a nearby hill in West Virginia. The team was returning from an away game. 75 people in total were killed, including 37 players, several coaches, staff members, boosters, both pilots, two flight attendants, and the charter coordinator. This tragedy occurred about a month after the Wichita State University football team plane crash, which killed 31 people.

Senna was a legendary Formula 1 racer. Before the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, another racer, Roland Ratzenberger was killed in a crash during a qualifying session. Senna reportedly brought the Austrian flag with him for his race, in honor of Ratzenberger. However, Senna himself would die after crashing during the race. While completing the seventh lap, Senna crashed at high speed and was airlifted to a hospital. Doctors say he had fatal skull fractures, brain injuries, and a ruptured temporal artery.

On May 23, 1999, at WWF's Over the Edge event, Owen was performing a stunt in which he was harnessed and lowered into the wrestling ring from the rafters for a match against The Godfather. The harness malfunctioned, causing him to fall nearly 80 feet chest-first to his death in front of a shocked crowd; however, pay-per-view subscribers were spared from seeing the fall. Owen was transported to the hospital, where he died due to internal bleeding from blunt force trauma.

I will always remember this one. Earnhardt Sr. was in the final lap of the Daytona 500 in February of 2001 when his car was lightly hit by Sterlin Marlin's vehicle, which sent Earnhardt Sr.'s car off course. As he tried to correct his vehicle, Earnhardt Sr. was hit a second time by Ken Schrader, whose vehicle dragged Earnhardt Sr.'s car before it went crashing into a wall. The fatal crash was broadcast live with over 17 million viewers. Earnhardt Sr. died from a basilar skull fracture, and was the fourth NASCAR driver killed in this way within an eight-month span. 

On 25 August 2007, the talented soccer player collapsed on the field during a game against Getafe. Puerta regained consciousness and was able to walk, with assistance, to the locker rooms. Once there, he collapsed again and was resuscitated by doctors before being taken to the hospital. He died three days later of complications connected to a terminal hereditary heart disease known as arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy that caused him to have multiple cardiac arrests during the soccer match.

Nodar, a 21-year-old Olympic luge athlete, was competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was in the final turn for a practice run when he flipped after reaching nearly 90 mph and was thrown from the track, slamming into a steel post. "He was immediately attended to by emergency crews who tried to revive him at the scene, performing CPR and mouth-to-mouth," NPR's Howard Berkes reported. "He was rushed to the hospital, and he was later pronounced dead."

Adam was an NHL player who later chose to play overseas in a European league. On October 28, 2023, during a game against the Sheffield Steelers, Adam's throat was sliced open after a collision with opposing player Matt Petgrave. Matt had collided with another player, sending his left foot, in skate, upwards in a freak accident. After the injury, Adam tried to skate back to the bench but collapsed before he made it. He was later transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.