All-time favorite athlete whose career was cut short?

Robert Edwards. The guy had a very nice rookie season, then the beach football incident ...

Neely.

Gord Kluzak (No. 1 pick in 1982) never had healthy knees.

 

The weirdest one would have been (and still could be considered) that of Marcus Allen due to the unknown conflict with Al Davis.

Allen lost about 3-5 years of his true prime while Davis refused to allow Allen to be the featured tailback and benched, then forced him to play fullback (for Bo I think). Somehow, Allen finally escaped to the Chiefs and got some yards and TDs but was never that breakaway guy ever again.

 

I'll throw out a couple other pro wrestlers who died way before their time: David Von Erich and Gino Hernandez.

Both were very talented. David was supposed to win the NWA title from Flair, and Vince McMahon was interested in hiring Hernandez to be a top heel.

Yet David died, either of an intestinal disorder or drug use (depending on who you believe), and Gino died of ODing on coke. Who knows how different the wrestling business would have been if they would have lived?

 

Maybe I missed it in scrolling through, but did anyone mention Sean Taylor of the Redskins?

 

The one that sticks out to me:
Davey Allison: Granted, he was a Cup driver for several years and won nearly 20 Cup events (didn't look it up), but the deaths of Allison and Alan Kulwicki practically paved the way for The Intimidator to steamroll to several of his championships. Allison was Jeff Gordon before Jeff Gordon (i.e. clean-cut, sponsor-savvy boys next door). He possessed incredible natural talent and seemed destined to win multiple Cup titles.

Of course, some may argue that drives aren't athletes. To each his own, I guess.

 

Earnhardt only won two titles ('93, '94) after Allison and Kulwicki died. I can't remember where Allison was in the standings when he died, but I'm almost certain he was in the mix for the title that year.

Gordon, and to a lesser extent the Labontes and Jarrett, benefited more than Ironhead.

 

I agree with each. The way Earnhardt did in 2000 and how well his team did with a raw Kevin Harvick in 2001, I'm convinced Earnhardt would have been the man to beat in 2001. But that wouldn't have been his 8th title had Allison and especially Richmond not died.
Allison was struggling in 1993 (at least compared to his 1992 standards) and wasn't challenging Earnhardt when he was killed. But Irvan (his replacement) was battling tooth-and-nail with Earnhardt in 1994 before Irvan was nearly killed at Michigan. The 28 car was a bit off the pace at the start of 1993 for some reason, but was clicking on all cylinders in 1994 and I feel Allison was a better driver than Irvan.
Rick Hendrick finally won a Cup in 1995, but most familiar with NASCAR will tell you Richmond would have won him at least one long before that. Earnhardt vs. Richmond would have been one of the best NASCAR rivalries ever.
I also agree with the subsequent mentions of Greg Moore, Adam Petty and Senna. Moore was signed to drive for Penske in 2000. Castroneves ended up getting that ride. There's no doubt in my mind Moore would have accomplished everything Castroneves has and more. With Petty, it's hard to say. I would love to think he truly was the son Richard never had, but we'll never know. As for Senna, he was back with a top-notch team in 1994 so I'm thinking he had some titles left in him.
Three other racing names I'll throw out: Al Unser Jr. (self-inflicted, just a couple of years after a second Indy win), Rob Moroso (killed himself and a young lady by driving drunk in 1990) and Darrell Gwynn, one of the top NHRA racers at the time when he was in a savage crash in *I believe* 1990.

 

I've been racking my brain trying to remember Rob Moroso's name. Almost everyone who I talk to who was around NASCAR at the time, says he was the real.

 

Robert Edwards had a bad-ass season going at Georgia one year until he broke his foot against Tennessee, I believe. Ended his season and I think he left early for the pros either that season or the next.

 

You could thrown in most of Fritz Von Erich's sons. Of the five who died before their father, Kerry lived the longest - only 33 years old. David was 25 when he died, Mike was 23 and Chris was 21. The oldest son died very young and only Kevin is still living.

What a legacy. Drugs are bad, m'kay?

 

Barbaro.

 

Gino Hernandez could have been one of the top heels of all time. He and Tully Blanchard would have made a hell of a team.

The youngest Von Erich son died at the age of 7 when he was electrocuted by a live wire when they lived in Buffalo.
The whole family was one giant tragedy.