Walter Jerry Payton[1] (July 25, 1954 – November 1, 1999) was an American football running back who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons. Walter Payton was known around the NFL as "Sweetness". He is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in the history of American football. Payton, a nine-time Pro Bowl selectee, once held the league's record for most career rushing yards, touchdowns, carries, yards from scrimmage, all-purpose yards, and many other categories. He was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Hall of Fame NFL player and coach Mike Ditka described Payton as the greatest football player he had ever seen—but even greater as a human being.

In February 1999, Payton announced that he had a rare autoimmune liver disease known as primary sclerosing cholangitis, which may have led to his cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer).[30] He spent his final months as an advocate for organ transplants, appearing in many commercials to encourage others to donate organs, although by the time his first appeal was recorded, his illness was already too far advanced for transplantation to have been a viable option.[10] In April of that year, Payton made a final public appearance at a Chicago Cubs game with Mike Ditka, where he threw the game's ceremonial first pitch.[31][32] Author Don Yaeger worked with him during the last weeks of his life to create his autobiography, Never Die Easy.[5]

On November 1, 1999, Payton died from the complications that arose from his illness. He was 45 years old.

Ayrton Senna da Silva (pronounced [aˈiɾtõ ˈsenɐ da ˈsiwvɐ] ( listen); 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won three Formula One world championships.

Senna was recognised for his qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole positions. He was especially quick in wet conditions, as shown by his performances in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix. He also holds the record for most victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix – six – and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins.

Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a West Indian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is regarded as one of the finest and fastest pacemen ever to have played Test cricket.[1][2][3][4] His Test bowling average of 20.94 is the best of anyone who has taken 200 or more wickets.

In 1996, Marshall became coach both of Hampshire and the West Indies, although the latter's steadily declining standards during this period brought a considerable amount of criticism his way.[citation needed] In 1999, during the World Cup it was revealed that Marshall had colon cancer. He immediately left his coaching job to begin treatment, but this was ultimately unsuccessful. He married his long-term partner, Connie Roberta Earle, in Romsey on 25 September 1999, and returned to his home town, where he died on 4 November aged forty-one, weighing little more than 25 kg.

Benjamin Caine Hollioake (11 November 1977 – 23 March 2002) was a cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. Born in Australia, Hollioake moved to England as a child where he made his first-class cricketing debut for Surrey in 1996. A right-handed batsman and right-arm seam bowler, Hollioake's performances as an all-rounder saw him join his brother Adam in the 1997 England ODI team. Later that year, Adam and Ben Hollioake made their England test debut in the same game, becoming only the third set of brothers to do so.

Ben Hollioake died on 23 March 2002 in Perth, Australia near his childhood school Wesley College, Perth, when he crashed his Porsche 968 convertible into a wall on the Mill Point Road exit of the Kwinana Freeway on his way home from a family celebration.[8][10] His death at the age of 24 years 132 days was the youngest of any England Test cricketer.

Marc-Vivien Foé (1 May 1975 – 26 June 2003) was a Cameroonian international footballer, who played in midfield for both club and country. With success in the French League, and stints in England in the Premier League, his sudden death, while in the middle of an international competitive fixture, came as a shock to the worldwide footballing community.

On 26 June 2003, Cameroon faced Colombia in the semi-final, held at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon, France. In the 72nd minute of the match Foé collapsed in the centre circle,[21] with no other players near him.[22] After attempts to resuscitate him on the pitch, he was stretchered off the field, where he received mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and oxygen. Medics spent 45 minutes attempting to restart his heart, and although he was still alive upon arrival at the stadium's medical centre he died shortly afterwards, in spite of the efforts to save his life.[21] A first autopsy did not determine an exact cause of death, but a second autopsy concluded that Foé's death was heart-related as it discovered evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,[23] a hereditary condition known to increase the risk of sudden death during physical exercise.

Miklós "Miki" Fehér (20 July 1979 — 25 January 2004) was a Hungarian footballer who played as a striker. Fehér spent most of his nine-year career in Portugal, representing three teams as a professional and amassing top division totals of 80 games and 27 goals. He gained nearly 30 caps for Hungary.

On 25 January 2004, Benfica travelled to Guimarães to play against Vitória de Guimarães. The game was being broadcast live on television, and Benfica were leading 1–0. Fehér had just come on as a substitute, and assisted another player brought from the bench, Fernando Aguiar, for the match's only goal, but received a yellow card in injury time and suddenly bent forward, seemingly in pain. He then fell backwards to the ground.

Members of both teams rushed immediately to aid Fehér before medical personnel arrived on the pitch. CPR was performed as match participants looked on in visible distress. An ambulance arrived on the pitch and Fehér was rushed to the hospital. His condition was covered by the Portuguese media throughout the day. However, before midnight, his death was confirmed, the cause of death being cardiac arrhythmia, brought on by Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Reggie Lewis (November 21, 1965 - July 27, 1993) was an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993.

Lewis suffered sudden cardiac death on the basketball court at an off-season practice on July 27, 1993 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He was only 27 years old. Lewis had shown symptoms of heart problems in the preceding months (including collapsing during the opening game of their first-round playoff series with the Charlotte Hornets), and the cause of his death was subsequently attributed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a structural heart defect that is considered the most common cause of death in young athletes.[2][3] James Crowley, a Brandeis University police officer who happened upon the gym on a routine patrol, and another Brandeis University police officer attempted to revive Lewis by using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but they were unsuccessful.[4] Following Lewis' death, it was alleged that Lewis had used cocaine, and that drug use may have been a contributing factor in his death.[5][6][7] However, a doctor who performed an autopsy on Lewis testified that the scarring on his heart was inconsistent with cocaine use.

Eric "Hank" Gathers (February 11, 1967 – March 4, 1990) was an American college basketball star at Loyola Marymount University. He was the second player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season. He originally played at the University of Southern California, but transferred with teammate Bo Kimble to LMU after his freshman year. Gathers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was listed as 6'7" in height.

Gathers' first sign of trouble came on Saturday, December 9, 1989, when he collapsed at the free-throw line during an LMU home game against UCSB.[18]

He was found to have an abnormal heartbeat (exercise-induced ventricular tachycardia), and was prescribed a beta blocker, Inderal.[18] However, Gathers felt that the medication adversely affected his play, and he soon cut back on his dosage.[19] As the West Coast Conference (WCC) Tournament neared, Gathers did not show up for repeated appointments to test if the reduced medication was still suppressing the arrhythmias. It was suspected Gathers was not taking any dosage on game days.[18]

On Sunday, March 4, 1990, in Los Angeles, he collapsed again with 13:34 left in the first half of the WCC tournament quarterfinal game against Portland, just after scoring on his trademark tomahawk dunk on an alley-oop pass pass from point guard Terrell Lowery that put the Lions up 25–13.[14][19] He collapsed a yard or two away from the current head coach of the Miami Heat, Erik Spoelstra, then a point guard for the Pilots.[20] He attempted to get up, telling the trainers, "I don't want to lay down!", then shortly after stopped breathing.[21] He was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital at the age of 23. An autopsy found that he suffered from a heart-muscle disorder, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Sean Michael Maurice Taylor (April 1, 1983 – November 27, 2007) was an American college and professional football player who was a free safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played college football for the University of Miami, was a member of the Hurricanes' 2001 BCS National Championship team, and earned unanimous All-American honors. The Washington Redskins chose Taylor with the fifth overall pick of the 2004 NFL Draft.[1] Due to his ferocious hits, several of his Redskins teammates nicknamed him "Meast," a portmanteau word from the expression "half man, half beast."

On November 26, 2007 at 1:45am EST, Taylor was shot in the upper leg by an armed intruder at his home in Palmetto Bay, Florida, where he had been recuperating from a football injury. He was mortally wounded in his femoral artery. His longtime girlfriend, Jackie Garcia (a niece of actor Andy García), hid under the bedding with their 18-month-old daughter Jackie.[26] Garcia then called 9-1-1 from her cell phone.[8][27]

Taylor was airlifted to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he underwent surgery. He emerged from surgery about 12:30pm. He had lost a significant amount of blood and remained in a coma. His doctors speculated he may have suffered brain damage due to the blood loss, and an unnamed Redskins source reported that Taylor's heart stopped twice during the emergency surgery.[8] The next day, on November 27, Taylor died at the hospital at 3:30am.

Bruce Lee (traditional :李小龍) (born Lee Jun-fan; 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Hong Kongese actor,[3] martial arts instructor,[4] philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, founder of Jeet Kune Do, and the son of Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-Chuen. He is widely considered by many commentators, critics, media and other martial artists to be the greatest and most influential martial artist of all time.

On 20 July 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 pm at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 pm and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting Pei, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.[139][140]

Later Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and the muscle relaxant meprobamate. Around 7:30 pm, he went to lie down for a nap. When Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital.[141]

There was no visible external injury; however, according to autopsy reports, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old. The only substance found during the autopsy was Equagesic. On 15 October 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from an allergic reaction to the muscle relaxant (meprobamate) in Equagesic, which he described as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure".