The Scariest Moment in Sports History

[winghaz]

I saw the film (as they used back then) of Tony Conigliaro getting beaned in the eye in 1967. He never was the same after that.

The horrible ones, of course, are the ones where people die. Like the ump who was having a heart attack. Or Hank Gathers. Or Dale Earnhardt -- I, too, remember it didn't seem like much of a crash, but there was this long delay afterward and every moment seemed to get worse and worse.

As for the most gruesome, the most sickening, though, I'd have to rate Joe Theismann's leg fracture. A leg just wasn't meant to go that way, and we could all see it. Plus, I guess I can feel a little more for Theismann considering I broke my leg this year while slipping on the ice.

[Swiss]

This current thread... is it born thanks to the Clement's scare?

sort of...as I stated- i heard a sports talk show talking about the same subject, so I decided to start a thread...but yes, I assume that is what got THEM on the subject

Why not? It's a good issue to be talked about. The Clement's stuff was one of the strongest scares that I saw.

[rmackman]

clint malarchuk's neck getting sliced to the vertebrae by a skate.

nothing was worse than that.

guaranteed.

click here if you don't know the story.

Yep... that's what I was going to say.

Tim Krumrie's leg breaking still creeps me out a bit, too.

I heard after getting fired by the Panthers, Malarchuk might get re-hired because it pissed off Roberto Luongo.

[goalieboy82]

clint malarchuk's neck getting sliced to the vertebrae by a skate.

nothing was worse than that.

guaranteed.

click here if you don't know the story.

Kids,

that is why you should wear a neck guard.

That's why its mandatory.

not in the league i play in.

[kurtman62]

Here's another one from history, 1965, Juan Marichal of the Giants, bashing John Roseboro of the Dodgers over the head with a bat several times during a tense battle between those two teams.

[gashouser27]

Car racing almost doesn't count. I mean there have been all kinds of accidents and deaths. Some pretty graphic and on TV. Especially in the past

Reading this thread reinforces how violent hockey is and if you go back to the era when there was more fighting there was a lot of bad stuff.

Unfortunately I can't remember his name but how about the arena football guy who died in a game this summer. That was a creepy clip because it looked like they all knew he was dead and were just in this spooky state.

[sp0rtsguy13]

Unfortunately I can't remember his name but how about the arena football guy who died in a game this summer. That was a creepy clip because it looked like they all knew he was dead and were just in this spooky state.

Yea he was already mentioned and it was Al Lucas of the LA Avengers.

[Swiss]

Here's another one from history, 1965, Juan Marichal of the Giants, bashing John Roseboro of the Dodgers over the head with a bat several times during a tense battle between those two teams.

..."funny" thing is that Marichal could sign that terrible photo as if that was a photo of him pitching or smiling...

[winghaz]

I still can't think of Juan Marichal without remembering him doing that to Johnny Roseboro.

[Swiss]

I still can't think of Juan Marichal without remembering him doing that to Johnny Roseboro.

Yes... it's man against man like Abel and Cain...

I never like those sad scenes.

[gashouser27]

Jay Powell just broke his elbow pitching..Threw "out" his arm..Pretty sick

[NJTank]

Yeah another one to add to the list pitcher arm injuries always look the worst.

Heres another scary one Wendell Davis WR of the Bears in 1993 at the Vet running across teh middle suddenly had both knees explode when the hit a seem in the turf he never played again.

[officeglenn]

Another one from the pro wrestling files...

Kurt Angle attempting to give Shane McMahon a belly-to-belly-overhead suplex through the glass partition that's part of the King of the Ring set ... only the glass doesn't break, and Shane lands on the stage pretty much on his neck.

I'm reminded of that one every time I watch the "Don't try this at home" message at the beginning of every WWE DVD.

[bulldogbarks55]

My scariest moments in sports both involve the Rochester Americans. In 1964 Gerry Cheevers played goal for the Amerks. In a game against the Pittsburgh Hornets a Hornet player skated over Cheevers' bare catching hand. It left a long, clean wound, cutting down to the bone. The game was delayed for about an hour while Cheevers was rushed to a local hospital, had the wound stitched up and came back to finish the game as the Amerks won. Gutsy and scary all rolled in to one.

In 1973 madman John Wensink played for Don Cherry's Amerks. In a game against hated Nova Scotia (Habs farm team) Wensink got into it with Len Cunning at the blue line, right in front of our seats. As the two wrestled, Cunning's head hit the ice (no helmet) and knocked him unconcious. Wensink, who they claim was the inspiration for Ogie Oglethorpe in "Slapshot" (big Afro, fumanchu mustache, crazed look) kept pounding his fist into Cunning's head like a piston. Amerk teammate Rod Graham tried to go in and pull Wensink off of Cunning but Jim Cahoon of Nova Scotia thought Graham was trying to aid Wensink and beat up Cunning worse. Cahoon proceeded to tackle Graham and they got into it.

When the referees finally pulled Wensink off Cunning, he laid there motionless. Some feared the worse. The Amerk crowd, normally Wensink lovers, was deathly silent. Cunning was taken off the ice on a stretcher, still knocked out, suffering from a concussion and the beating.

Wensink was suspended for half the season while Cunning's career was over, for the most part. He tried a comeback but soon retired. It was the most sickening night I've ever witnessed in my almost 50 years of watching sports.

[oakland ehs]

Car racing almost doesn't count. I mean there have been all kinds of accidents and deaths. Some pretty graphic and on TV. Especially in the past

Reading this thread reinforces how violent hockey is and if you go back to the era when there was more fighting there was a lot of bad stuff.

Unfortunately I can't remember his name but how about the arena football guy who died in a game this summer. That was a creepy clip because it looked like they all knew he was dead and were just in this spooky state.

a guy getting hit with a shot in the chest, and a goalie having his throat sliced open by a skate hardly makes hockey a violent sport.

BOTH ARE ACCIDENTS THAT RARELY HAPPEN

bertuzzi and perezhogin are a different story though.

[ebod39]

Malarchuck takes the top spot in my book, as a native buffalonian and a goalie

this was horrendous. It was against the Blues and there were about 6 heart attacks in the

crowd from watching it unfold. He was saved only by the trainer jamming his fingers

into his neck and closing off the jugular. They went on and finished the game but you could

tell they were all in a haze, there was no hitting, no spirited play, it was weird to watch.

How can you go on with a "game" when something like that just occured?

As for people we've lost I have to give it up for Jim Valvano, that

guy deserved better, what a spirit.

[SgtCarp]

I remember I was at a UVA football game in 2005 and Cavalier safety Nate Lyles made a tackle. But his head got bent back and he injured his neck, and he stayed on the ground for several minutes until he was carted off. If this had been some game i didnt care about, then i guess i wouldnt have remembered it. But since it was UVA and i was actually there, i don't think i'll forget it.

[nwtrailtrekker]

my personal scariest moment..

my dad was one of the nation's best fastpitch pitchers in his hayday. went to national tournements and stuff. when i was like 4..someone hit a frozen rope straight back at his forehead. it made a huge bleeding lump. i remember it perfectly. he actually drove home with it (terrible idea) and got attention later. i cant believe it didnt in the least bit affect him in any way.

[BB61]

A two year old thread dug up, nice.

It's funny... all of those incidents mentioned -- especially the F1 and auto racing deaths, and not one mention of Tom Pryce, which was probably the most bizzare, tragic, and grusome accidents in all of sports, I think. Probably wasn't mentioned or even a thought until the film surfaced on YouTube, and if you find it -- I hope you have a weak stomach.

The backstory -- 1977 South African Grand Prix. On the 22nd lap, driver Renzo Zorzi pulls over to the side of the track, as his engine is starting to burn and a small fire starts. As Zorzi runs about like a little girl, two volunteer fire marshalls run across the track with extinguishers to put out the fire. As they run across the track, two cars come barrelling down the straightaway. The cars miss the first marshall, but the trail car, driven by Zorzi's teammate, Tom Pryce, hits the trailing marshall, 19-year-old Jensen van Vuuren. Both men are killed instantly -- van Vuuren by the impact, and Pryce by the fire extinguisher that van Vuuren was holding which caused his helmet (and strap) to shift upwards. Van Vuuren was injured so badly that they could not identify him immediately -- they had to do a roll call of the marshalls afterwards.

A tragic occurance, cutting short two young lives and one of the most promising F1 talents of the 70's.

[mydogisgomez]

Daryl Stingley getting drilled in a meaningless pre-season game by Jack Tatum August 12, 1978 . I was very young at the time, and I thought Stingley was dead. It was also the moment when I began to realize football was more than a game. People don't lose the abilty to walk playing games- this was serious. I cringe when I se the footage. Thankfully they don't show it anywhere near as often as Theisman's leg getting broken- I'm guessing because as painful as that was, his life wasn't radically altered the way Stingley's was.

Stingley alomst had to go through that again when 20 years later his own so was involved in a scary hit of his own playing Arena football with the Albany Firebirds. Thankfully, his son ended up walking away.

+1 on the Stingley hit and the realization as a kid that this would affect him the rest of his life OFF the football field.

Also, I'm not big on rodeo, but the shot Tuff Hedeman took to the face from a bucking bull should have killed him. instead it crushed every bone on the left side of his face. The bull was retired because he injured so many.