This article highlights 15 athletes whose careers were severely damaged or ended due to personal mistakes, crimes, or activism. Notable examples include Colin Kaepernick, who lost his career after protesting police brutality.
Key points
15 athletes faced career destruction or severe derailment
Colin Kaepernick protested police brutality
Activism led to significant backlash for some athletes
Personal mistakes and crimes contributed to career endings
Stories range from gut-wrenching to well-deserved karma
Colin Kaepernick
This article mentions ****** assault and suicide.
We've seen so many athletes crash and burn over the years. Some stories are gut-wrenching and sickening. Others feel more like well-deserved karma. While in some cases, we feel bad for the person. Whether through their own vices, crimes, mistakes, or activism, these 15 athletes destroyed or severely derailed their own careers.
1. Colin Kaepernick lost his career not due to any crimes or horrible vices. He lost his career because he decided to protest against police brutality and the murder of unarmed Black people at the hands of law enforcement.
Two football players kneel during the national anthem on the sidelines, while one player stands
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Prior to his viral kneeling campaign, which drew the ire of President Trump, Kaepernick was the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers and led them to an NFC Championship in 2013, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 34–31 in Super Bowl XLVII. He brought the 49ers back to the NFC championship the following year, and earned a six-year contract extension in June 2014.
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Q&A
What happened to Colin Kaepernick's career?
Colin Kaepernick lost his career primarily due to his protest against police brutality, which led to significant backlash.
Which athletes have ruined their careers through personal mistakes?
The article lists 15 athletes who have severely derailed their careers due to various personal mistakes, crimes, or activism.
How did activism impact athletes' careers?
Activism has led some athletes, like Colin Kaepernick, to face severe consequences, including losing their careers and facing public backlash.
What are some examples of athletes who faced career-ending controversies?
The article discusses several athletes whose careers ended due to controversies, including personal vices and criminal activities.
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However, in 2016, Kaepernick began kneeling during the National Anthem in protest, which led to him losing his career and allegedly being blackballed by the NFL, for which he sued the league. Kaepernick settled his collusion grievances against the NFL in 2019, although he never returned to the league.
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2. Mike Tyson is considered one of the most brutal and effective boxers of all time, but his personal controversies derailed his career and have cost him dearly financially.
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He became the youngest heavyweight champion at 20, and held all three major belts (WBC, WBA, IBF) simultaneously. Although he earned over $400 million during his boxing days, he filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
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His lavish spending is almost as legendary as his boxing skills. Reportedly, Tyson blew hundreds of millions of dollars on luxury vehicles, exotic animals like his Bengal tigers (which cost him nearly a quarter million a year to feed and groom), massive mansions, rare jewelry, and on allowing his huge entourage to spend at will.
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But the money is only half the story. Although he has never been convicted of domestic abuse, Tyson's history of it has never left the press. He married actress Robin Givens in the '80s, but their union was brief after she claimed being with Tyson was, "torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could possibly imagine" and that he had an "extremely volatile temper." She filed for divorce, citing his rage and domestic abuse as the main causes.
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Tyson would later admit to hitting Givens, stating in Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson, “She really offended me and I went BAM. She flew backwards, hitting every wall in the apartment. That was the best punch I’ve ever thrown in my entire life."
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In 1992, Tyson was also convicted of raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington in Indiana. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with four suspended, and served three years before being released on probation. And while yes, Tyson is still a celebrity who we have seen in movies, commercials, and ads, his abusive nature and reckless spending habits have put an irreparable dent in his legacy.
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3. Antoine Walker feels like the original blueprint for Victor Wembanyama. He was a big man with a great jump shot and won a championship with the Miami Heat in 2006.
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Although he earned over $100 million during his NBA career, Walker filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2010, just two years after retiring. His spending habits were to blame: Walker was infamous for supporting a large entourage and was known to try to outspend others when the opportunity arose.
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He also had a long list of gambling debts. "When I went through my financial difficulties and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2012, I really got a chance to see all of the mistakes that I made," he stated. Since then, Walker has worked at Morgan Stanley's Global Sports and Entertainment Division, helping to guide others down a smarter financial path.
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4. Tonya Harding's fall from fame was one of the biggest scandals in sports history.
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In 1994, one day before the U.S. Figure Skating Championship Singles match, skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked and suffered a bruised and swollen knee after being struck in the leg with a metal baton. This caused her to withdraw from the competition, clearing the way for Harding to "win" the U.S. title.
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However, the attackers were quickly caught, and admitted they were hired by Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard. Ultimately, Harding confessed to her involvement and took a plea deal, receiving a sentence of three years of probation. The United States Figure Skating Association also banned her for life.
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In 2002, years after losing everything, Harding won a celebrity boxing match against Paula Jones, which jump-started her professional boxing career. Her first professional match ended in defeat, and she competed in only a handful of fights before retiring due to asthma. Her final record was 3-5.
Two female boxers in a boxing match, one landing a punch to the other's face, both wearing protective gloves and athletic gear
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5. Lenny Dykstra was a baseball star who won a World Series with the New York Mets in 1986, but he effectively cratered his legacy after racking up a lengthy rap sheet.
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First, Dykstra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. He was forced to auction off his World Series ring for $56,000 to help pay off over $30 million in debt. However, this entire bankruptcy issue was a scam, as Dykstra was later accused of lying under oath, improperly hiding and selling assets, and acting "in a fraudulent and deceitful manner" throughout the case. In the end, he pleaded guilty to felony bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets, and money laundering.
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Then, in 2011, Dykstra was charged with 25 misdemeanor and felony counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, identity theft, and possession of cocaine, ecstasy, and a human growth hormone. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Dykstra was released in 2013 on probation and was required to serve three years of supervised release, along with being admitted to a substance abuse program and serving community service.
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But the story keeps going. In 2018, Dykstra was arrested for drug possession after allegedly holding a gun to the head of an Uber driver. The driver claimed that Dykstra held a "black pill bag with an object" believed to be a gun to his head after the driver refused to change the destination and threatened to kill him.
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At that point, the driver pulled into a parking lot near a police station, honked the horn, and fled on foot. Although a gun was not recovered, police found cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy in Dykstra's possession. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct and was fined.
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6. Curt Schilling is a legendary pitcher who won three World Series, was named World Series MVP, and is a member of the 3,000-strikeout club, but lost everything he had with one bad investment.
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Ever hear the phrase, "Don't put all your money in one pot?" Schilling may not have. He put his heart and soul (and all his money too) into 38 Studios, a video game company. Famed comic book innovator Todd McFarlane and author R.A. Salvatore joined forces with Schilling to create a single-player RPG game called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The game was released in 2012 in partnership with Electronic Arts for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
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Prior to the game's release, the Rhode Island Board of Economic Development loaned $75 million to 38 Studios in an agreement to expand the studio and bring hundreds of new jobs to the small state. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning sold relatively well, but underperformed overall, and 38 Studios defaulted on their loan to Rhode Island. The studio had to shut down, which was a messy ordeal: They had resettled new workers under a relocation package but failed to sell their old homes under those conditions, leaving those employees with a second mortgage.
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Rhode Island and several affected employees sued Schilling and his company, with total settlements reaching $61 million. Schilling admitted that, "The money I saved during baseball was probably all gone" due to the failed business endeavor.
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7. Marion Jones is a former Olympian and track star who was on top of the world before admitting to using steroids before the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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It all started in 2004, when the founder of BALCO (Bay-Area Laboratory Co-Operative), Victor Conte, revealed that he had personally given Jones four different illegal performance-enhancing drugs before, during, and after the Olympic Games. However, Jones denied these claims and had never failed a drug test.
Three athletes stand on a podium holding medals. They wear tracksuits representing their countries
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There was not enough evidence to move forward with the allegations, so Jones was in the clear. Then in 2006, it was reported that an "A" sample of Jones's urine failed a drug test for PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs). But her "B" sample passed the test, once again clearing her name.
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However, the report poked holes in some of Jones's stories, and soon after, she admitted to lying under oath about her steroid use before the 2000 Olympics. She was stripped of her three gold and two bronze medals, and served six months in prison as part of her plea deal.
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8. In 2007, Michael Vick was at the peak of his career when the Bad Newz Kennels investigation uncovered a dog-fighting ring operating on a property owned by Vick in Virginia.
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This one really hit me in the gut, as I was a HUGE Vick fan at the time. Over 70 dogs, mostly pit bulls, were seized by law enforcement. Many of the dogs showed signs of injury.
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The Bad Newz Kennels was allegedly responsible for dog fighting, gambling, and the brutal executions of dogs. Vick pleaded guilty to financing the dogfighting ring, was suspended indefinitely by the NFL, and sentenced to 23 months in federal prison (of which he served 19 months and was released on house arrest).
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The entire ordeal left a lasting impression on Vick, who has since become a vocal advocate against animal cruelty and works with the Humane Society.
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Although Vick returned to the NFL after his jail sentence and won Comeback Player of the Year in 2010, his reputation and career never fully recovered. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in prison, and lost over $100 million in contractual earnings, deals, and endorsements.
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9. Tight end Aaron Hernandez only spent three seasons with the New England Patriots before he was indicted in 2013 for the murder of Odin Lloyd, a friend of his.
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Lloyd was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the back and chest in a park about a mile away from Hernandez's house. Although a motive was never clearly discovered, some investigators believe that Lloyd had learned of Hernandez's alleged bisexuality, leading the athlete to kill him in fear of being outed.
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The disgraced tight end was also later indicted on murder charges for Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado, although he was later acquitted of their killings.
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After nearly two years of fighting the Lloyd case, Hernandez was found guilty of murdering him, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He spent four years in lockup, before he took his own life. Other prisoners claimed that Hernandez became obsessed with K2, the faux-marijuana drug, which was popular at the correctional facility. He allegedly smoked it heavily in the days leading up to his death.
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After his death, it was reported that Hernandez had "John 3:16" written on his forehead in ink, and that his cell floor was covered in shampoo with cardboard stuck under the cell door to prevent anyone from entering. There were also drawings in his own blood on the walls displaying a pyramid with the all-seeing eye, and the word "illuminati" written underneath.
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10. Oscar Pistorius' career came crashing down when he killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013 on Valentine's Day.
Athlete in a prosthetic sprint race at a packed Olympic stadium, launching powerfully from starting block 7
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Pistorius was released on parole in 2024, so you may have seen his name on your feeds recently. He was born in 1986 without fibulas, so doctors amputated both his legs below the knee at 11 months. Pistorius began racing with running blades in 2004, and naturally acclimated to the sport, becoming a rising star. He is one of only 10 athletes to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics, having won six gold, one silver, and one bronze at the latter.
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All of that is overshadowed by the fact he killed his girlfriend, Reeva. He admitted to killing her, saying he mistook her for an intruder in the early hours of Feb. 14. Prosecutors argued that he murdered her in the heat of a fight. Reeva was shot four times.
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Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, which is comparable to manslaughter. But in 2015, prosecutors appealed this conviction and won, getting the charge upgraded to murder. His sentence was increased to 13 years and five months, but he was released on parole in January 2024.
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11. Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker destroyed his career after making several racist, xenophobic, and sexist statements during an interview with Sports Illustrated journalist Jeff Pearlman in late 1999.
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During the interview, when asked if he would ever play for New York teams like the Yankees or Mets, he responded, "I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-wracking city. Imagine having to take the 7 Train to the ballpark looking like you're riding through Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing."
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"The biggest thing I don't like about New York," he continued, "are the foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?"
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His statement was met with near-universal backlash in the media, and Rocker was initially suspended for a month and fined $20,000, but he appealed, and an arbitrator reduced the punishment to two weeks with a $500 fine. He was also fined $5,000 for threatening Pearlman and took sensitivity training. And yes, Rocker returned to playing professionally after his brief suspension, but the cloud of his comments hung over him, and his career derailed, leading to his retirement three years later.
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In 2014, Rocker appeared on the 29th season of Survivor with his girlfriend Julie McGee. But other competitors recognized him for his controversial statements, and he was one of the first three people voted out.
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12. Lance Armstrong and his Livestrong bracelets are among my most vivid memories from high school. He was a hero, but his career was dogged by doping allegations.
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Still, Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times in a row, setting a record and becoming the poster-boy for redemption after surviving cancer. But in 2012, a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) investigation discovered with "conclusive and undeniable proof" that he had been using PEDs throughout his illustrious career and was also at the center of a massive team-run doping conspiracy.
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The investigation went on to report that continued winning only "led him to depend on EPO, testosterone and blood transfusions but also, more ruthlessly, to expect and to require that his team-mates would likewise use drugs to support his goals if not their own."
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"It was not enough that his team-mates give maximum effort on the bike, he also required that they adhere to the doping programme outlined for them or be replaced," the report continued. "He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team, he enforced and reinforced it. Armstrong's use of drugs was extensive and the doping programme on his team, designed in large part to benefit Armstrong, was massive and pervasive. Armstrong and his co-conspirators sought to achieve their ambitions through a massive fraud now more fully exposed. So ends one of the most sordid chapters in sports history."
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Armstrong was already retired at this point, in what many saw as a step back while he was being investigated. Although the former champion denied all the allegations at first, in 2013, he admitted to doping.
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Armstrong received a lifetime ban from all sports and was stripped of competitive results starting in August 1998, including his seven Tour de France wins. All his major endorsements were lost, including Nike, Trek Bicycles, and Oakley, and he lost approximately $75 million from lawsuits, settlements, and lost deals.
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13. Ray Rice's NFL career ended abruptly in 2014 after TMZ released footage of him assaulting his then-fiancée and now-wife.
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Rice was a beast on the field for the Baltimore Ravens, earning three Pro Bowl selections and winning a Super Bowl. He looked like the next big thing, until his arrest.
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Both Rice and his fiancée, Janay Palmer, were arrested and charged with physical assault in Atlantic City after an elevator argument turned violent. Rice was initially suspended for a couple of games; however, when TMZ released the full video of the elevator attack, it was over. The Ravens released him immediately, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. The video showed Rice brutally attacking Palmer, punching her in the face and knocking her unconscious, then dragging her out of the elevator.
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Rice appealed the NFL suspension because he was already suspended by the Ravens for the same incident, which was against league rules. While he did win his appeal, and was reinstated in the NFL, no team would sign him afterward and he never played another game in the league.
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Palmer, who is still married to Rice, stated, "It was never a thought whether I was going to leave or not because I knew that wasn't him in that moment. This is someone I've known since I was 15. I knew that we had work to do, and I was willing to move forward and put in the work."
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14. Henry Ruggs III only played in the NFL for under two full seasons before he was arrested for vehicular manslaughter.
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Ruggs enjoyed a successful college football career, winning the 2018 championship with the Alabama Crimson Tide. And In 2020, he was drafted by the Raiders.
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However, his career was cut short. In 2021, Ruggs and his girlfriend had spent the night drinking at Top Golf on the Las Vegas Strip. Investigations found that the two left the location and, at around 3:30 a.m., hit a Toyota RAV4 while traveling at 156 mph.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal / TNS
In the RAV4 was 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her golden retriever, Max. The collision caused a massive fire, and Tintor and her dog were burned to death while trapped in the SUV.
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Ruggs III and his girlfriend sustained non-life-threatening injuries. They were brought to a hospital, and a blood test taken hours after the accident revealed Ruggs had a BAC of 0.161%, more than double the limit. The Raiders ended up dropping Ruggs, and he pleaded guilty to DUI resulting in death and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. He is still in prison.
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15. And lastly, it's almost as if Tiger Woods is living in a never-ending cycle of car accidents. He is arguably the most famous golfer of all time, and is a legend on the course. However, he has been embroiled in controversy since 2009.
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That year, the National Enquirer had released a sprawling piece detailing Woods's infidelities. Days later, Woods crashed his SUV into a tree after jumping a curb and striking a fire hydrant. The windows to his SUV were bashed in, which many suspected was caused by his then-wife Elin Nordegren.
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Woods was not charged with a DUI, and got off with a careless driving citation instead. However, the damage from the exposé piece would not be as easily fixed. Public scrutiny and a growing list of women who came forward to reveal they had an affair with the golfer forced Woods to come clean, issuing a public apology and stepping back from golf.
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"I knew my actions were wrong," he stated. "I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled." Woods and Nordegren finalized their divorce the following year.
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Following the scandal, Woods lost an estimated $22–$50 million annually in endorsements, as major sponsors like Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade, and Gillette axed his deals or attempted to distance themselves from him. His sponsors' stock value also took a massive hit, with studies estimating a $5–$12 billion loss in shareholder capital. That wasn't the end of it, though.
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In 2017, Woods was found unresponsive in his SUV, which had flat tires and a damaged bumper. He was initially charged with DUI, although he had a BAC of 0.00. It was later revealed that a combination of prescription drugs had caused an adverse reaction. “I understand the severity of what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions. I want the public to know that alcohol was not involved,” Woods said in a statement. “What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didn’t realize the mix of medications had affected me so strongly." Yet four years later, Woods would crash another vehicle.
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In 2021, Woods hit a center divider and a tree in a rollover accident. He was not charged with any wrongdoing in the crash, with former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva saying the incident was “purely an accident.” Then AGAIN, in March 2026, Woods was involved in another rollover crash. Allegedly, he was trying to pass a truck towing a trailer when he clipped the vehicle, tipping his SUV onto its side. He was able to escape without injury but was taken into custody on suspicion of being intoxicated. However, Woods passed a breathalyzer test, but officers say he showed "signs of impairment." He was released the same day.
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What are some other stories of athletes destroying their careers that you can remember? Let me know in the comment section!